Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street (Tim Burton, 2007) ***

Rating: 7/10 (26 February 2008)

I knew of the gory exploits of the Demon Barber via the 1936 barnstorming vehicle for British ham extraordinaire Tod Slaughter, though I haven’t watched that particular film itself; on the other hand, I was vaguely aware that Stephen Sondheim had turned it into an unlikely but, by all accounts, successful musical.
Tim Burton is a genuine but somewhat erratic talent but, whenever he joins forces with one of today’s finest actors – Johnny Depp – he seems to be particularly inspired, and this one’s no exception. As ever, the film’s visuals (of a seedy and forbidding 19th century London) are impeccable – and SWEENEY TODD deservedly emerged the Oscar winner in the art direction/set decoration category last Sunday night! Interestingly, Depp had never sung on film previously but he does extremely well and, indeed, figured prominently – somewhat surprisingly (this is a horror musical, after all) but rightly so, in my opinion – among the year’s Best Actor nominees; his brooding good looks are perfect for the character’s mix of pent-up emotions and cool viciousness. He’s matched by Helena Bonham-Carter, the director’s own mate, as the pie-shop owner who decides to spice up her traditional recipe – and is delighted to see the formerly dormant business flourish (with the helping hand of revenge-seeking barber Depp)! The supporting cast is headed by reliables such as Alan Rickman and Timothy Spall and newer star acts like BORAT (2006)’s Sacha Baron Cohen as a pompous traveling barber/charlatan (and, hence, a rival/victim for Todd).
SWEENEY TODD has been criticized for its vigorous blood-letting, and I do concede that Burton should have restrained his predilection for these grisly scenes – since they tend to become repetitive and, eventually, lead the film towards overlength at almost two hours. A local critic whose opinion I usually respect and value was underwhelmed by the film and only gave it **; he was also unimpressed by the songs or the actors’ idiosyncratic rendition of them; I personally found Sondheim’s score quite effective and rousing at just the right moments…though, admittedly, it could also be grating i.e. whenever the actors have to sing separate choruses on top of one another. Similarly, Mrs. Lovett’s fantasy beach scene comes across as a distraction – as if we’d been suddenly thrown back to the environment of Burton’s own BIG FISH (2003)! The narrative’s overwhelming Gothic bleakness remains unrelieved till the very end – with events leading to the inevitable frenzied climax tinged with a tragic irony; we should perhaps have been allowed a ray of hope by being shown the young lovers united but, since the film is really about the plight of Depp’s character and his luckless wife, it’s appropriate that we stick with their fate.