Eyes Wide Shut for the gory bits

Rating: 9/10 (20 January 2008)

I really don't like musicals, or violent films, or anything pseudo-Gothic, but I thought this was wonderful. The look of the film was sublime - nearly all black and white, just dashes of colour used with precisely-calculated economy. The music never takes over from the story - it's used to tell the story. Depp is very good, HBC is excellent - this part was made for her and I think Mrs Lovett is really a more interesting and complex character than ST himself. If HBC sang her own parts, she is also a decent singer. Everyone else(Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall) is good enough at singing to hold their own. I loved the way Old England is portrayed with such unremitting bleakness, as a place of corruption, human rights abuses and violent social conflict: ST's own story seems much more convincing (and his character more sympathetic) against this backdrop. Most of the light relief is provided by Sacha Baron-Cohen in a nice comic turn as Adolfo Pirelli. I strongly recommend this film but those who are squeamish, like me, should look away at the gory bits. They are pretty well telegraphed, so it shouldn't be too hard.