Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street - A bloody good flick

I don’t go to the movies very often. Only about once a year. The cost of the ticket annoys me, the cost of popcorn angers me, and sounds of people yapping, coughing, and crunching thru the whole movie and forgetting to turn their cell phones off irritate me. That said, it takes one hell of a movie to get me to endure all of the accompanying annoyances and go to the cinema.


Back in the early 80s I was introduced to the story and music of Sweeney Todd. My dad took me to see the stage production in Detroit when I was about 11 years old. It was disturbed and scared but simultaneously intrigued with and fascinated by the tale of the vengeful barber. Dad and I both loved the story and musich so much that when we traveled to London a few years later he insisted on visiting Fleet Street so he could have his picture taken under the street sign.


Although I seem somewhat normal on the outside, there’s a dark and twisty Goth chick bubbling just below the surface itching to get out. I gravitate toward things dark and mysterious; a trait I inherited from my dad. And today I got the chance to return the favor by taking dad to see the screenplay of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street starring Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. It was one hell of a show and quite the holiday memory for both dad and me.



The plot
There was a barber named Benjamin Barker (Depp). He lived in London with his beautiful wife, Lucy, and their daughter, Joanna. But there was another man in town, a corrupt judge named Turpin (Alan Rickman), who had eyes for Lucy as well. He arrested Barker under false charges and had him sent off to prison far away. While Barker was away, Turpin made his move on his wife who later poisoned herself. Turpin eventually adopts Joanna who he keeps locked in a room in his home.


When Barker's sentence was completed 15 years later, he returns to London and assumes the name Sweeney Todd. In a rented room above Mrs. Lovett's (Bonham Carter) meat pie shop he resumes his barber business and swears to seek revenge on Turpin and those who had wronged him and his family so many years ago.


There is also a bit of a side story. A young man whom Todd met on the ship coming back to England has fallen in love with Joanna and wishes to steal her away from the evil Turpin. When Todd finds out that it is Joanna he becomes even more steadfast in his determination to seek revenge by giving “the closest shave they’ll ever know”.


Though Todd had not intended to seek revenge against anyone but Turpin and his sidekick Beedle Bamford, he finds himself stuck between that proverbial rock and hard place and ends up making Signor Pirelli (Sacha Baron Cohen) his first victim. It’s here where the bloodletting and adventure beginsas Todd and Lovett need to figure out what to do about the body. A barber shop above a meat pie bakery, a body to be disposed of. The barber business flourishes, the bakery has customers line up out the door, you go ahead and do the math.



My thoughts
Freddy Krueger and Jason have met their match in Sweeney Todd which is by far the bloodiest, goriest movie I have ever seen in all my life. Not saying that’s a bad thing, just sayin. That said, Sweeney Todd is not for everyone. One has to possess a dark sense of humor to find this movie bearable, let alone funny or enjoyable. Two gals walked out in the middle of the movie this afternoon completely grossed out and not enjoying themselves whatsoever. What possessed them to see a movie about a demon barber in the first place is beyond my understanding.


They were grossed out and I was laughing myself onto the floor during the height of the violence in this movie which lasted about five minutes. Each slash of the straight edge razor was so shockingly dramatic and disturbing that it resulted in giggles, groans, and screams from the audience. Although the story is quite dark and gruesome, it’s actually quite funny. I mean, the idea, the lyrics about the flavors and contents of meat pies, Lovett bashing cockroaches with her rolling pin, and the nonchalant manner in which some of the lines were delivered made me laugh out loud. Of course, I have that dark and twisty sense of humor which causes me to find things to laugh about at funerals so take that for what it’s worth.


The limitations of the stage production are overcome when this story is brought to the big screen. In the play the slashing is calm, quiet, slow, and only slightly bloody. In the screenplay, it is exactly opposite. In typical Tim Burton fashion (which I like very much), the set is dark, dreary, and lacking in color. With the exception of the early scenes with Lucy and Joanna and Pirelli’s brighly colored garb the scenery, costuming, and make up are nearly colorless. Black, white, lots of grey, all of which made the bloody scenes all the more shocking as the color was so vivid against the gloomy surroundings. It reminded me of the scenes in Schindler’s List where the director sometimes colored only one object in a sea of black and white. Very dramatic, very sinister.


Although lacking in color, I enjoyed the costuming, hair, and make up as well. Depp’s and Bonham Carter’s faces were made up to look very fale and waifish. Their eyes were lined in smudgey black and sometimes lined in red and their hair was out of control. Both looked slightly tired and ghostlike. Depp’s hair is a wild cross between Edward Scissorhands, Beethoven, and Cruella Deville with that crazy white stripe and style.


Another aspect of the movie that I really enjoyed was the room in which Todd’s barber shop is set up and the manner in which it changes throughout the course of the movie and seems to take on some symbolism. The room is oddly shaped and worse for wear after being left neglected for fifteen years. When Todd first comes back and sets up shop, the mirror’s glass is shattered yet remains intact in its frame. As Todd and Lovett sing and chat about patiently waiting for sweet revenge their faces are reflected in the broken pieces and are distorted somewhat like a funhouse mirror. As business increases the place becomes a little brighter. The glass in the mirror is replaced, the old wallpaper comes down, he acquires more furniture, and more confidence as well. It’s as if his life was shattered but the concentration on revenge is causing his life to come together again. And as Todd sings to his friend the straight edge razor, his face is clearly reflected in the shiny silver blade while Lovett’s face in the background goes out of focus and appears almost ghostlike. She so much wanted for him to see her as his mate but he never really did and she remained out of focus.


The casting and acting were terrific as well. I’ve always loved Johnny Depp and thought he was a great actor but I have a new respect for him having seen him perform in this role. I loved the two men who played him in the stage play and the concert I saw all those years ago as they were good actors and great singers. But Depp really seemed to truly became one with the character. The vengeance in his eyes, the occasional slight growl in his voice, the curl of his lip and the crease of his brow as he prepared to kill were so expertly delivered that they drew me into the screen with him and I felt like I was right there in the room with him.


Bonham-Carter did an excellent job as Mrs. Lovett as well delivering the bulk of the witty lines in the script although I at times had trouble understanding some of what she said due to her accent.


Alan Rickman also did a nice job as Turpin however his creepy demeanor was so similar to his role as Snape in the Harry Potter movies that he was almost too perfect and, as much as I like him, I think I would have preferred someone else for the role of Turpin. Sacha Baron Cohen as Signor Pirelli was a nice surprise as well. He played the slippery Pirelli quite well and I really enjoyed his small part in this movie.


But most surprising to me was the singing. Typically the role of Todd is given to a strong male singer. Knowing that none of the players in the movie is known for their singing talent, I was quite surprised at how good they sang. Not great, not even good, but definitely acceptable and not awful at all. I truly expected the singing to be dismal but it was just fine. Depp’s singing voice sounds a bit like Donny Osmond. The singing voice of Lovett is not typically cast to a great singer so Bonham Carter’s performance was just fine, although again I couldn’t understand some of it.


There were very few things I did not like about this movie. Actually only one thing. The blood looked really fake. I'm sure there's a good reason for it and if I called Tim Burton right now he'd tell me why, but it was very orangey in color and was alternately very thick or very thin and did not look real at all which kind of disappointed me.



Bottom Line
Burton and the screenwriters did an outstanding job with the screenplay of Sweeney Todd and I was very happy with the movie. The story remained surprisingly true to the stage play, the acting was excellent, the singing perfectly fine, and the cinematography was visually stimulating. Both dad and I found Sweeney Todd to be very enjoyable.