Sweeney Todd Movie Review Thread — Page 15

Pippin, that is exactly how I felt about HBC's performance. The subtle gestures and expressions were just priceless and pitch-perfect for this role. (an often-mentioned example is her expressions during "Not While I'm Around," but of course there are many others). I think that a "broadway version" of this role would have been too exaggerated and would not have translated well to the big screen. Next to Julie Christie, this was the best performance by an actress that I saw this year.

I agree that seeing the film a second time is a must. The first time all you can think about is what's been cut, or how they sound, etc.

The second time you can just enjoy it as a movie.

I loved it even more the second time!

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As several people have recommended, I saw the movie twice. Both times the theatre was fairly full, with varied demographics (from elderly people who had obviously seen the stage version to clueless teenagers.) Helena got precisely one laugh (of any kind) during both showings, and it was the same one--the post-Pirelli "Well, that's a different matter!" Not a sound during "Worst Pies", "By the Sea", "A Little Priest", or (what is arguably the most surefire laugh line in the show)--the post-"Epiphany" "Well, that's all very well, but what are we gonna do about him?"

There was also a palpable slump in energy during all of her songs at both showings, as one note after another wilted and fell into the chasms in between pitches. I noticed anew how static and claustrophobic most of the Sweeney/Lovett scenes and duets were (especially during "My Friends", which was also way under tempo.) An awful lot of Lovett slo-o-o-o-o-owly coming up behind Sweeney and putting her face next to his ear, as if the two of them were posing for stills for an Ingmar Bergman remake.

Other new questions---Why on earth did they keep "Wait" in its entirety? It's eminently cuttable--it would have been a kindness to Bonham Carter not to leave her vocal inadequacies so cruelly exposed for an entire lyrical solo. More to the point, why DIDN'T she cheer up Sweeney's tonsorial parlor as the money started coming in (with daisies, gillyflowers, or anything else?) If the barbershop had regained some of its former glory, the throat-slashings that take place there would have become both more horrifying and more domestic--we might have been shocked into laughter, instead of wondering why any sane Londoner would venture into that dark, dusty rat's nest for a shave.

Afterwards, there was a lot of "She really couldn't sing", "Well, she's the director's wife", etc., etc. And that's going to be the perception no matter how many times Sondheim insists he approved her casting. This movie had a chance to expand its appeal to people who don't go to movie musicals and who may never have heard of Stephen Sondheim. Because of Bonham Carter, I can't see that happening.

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I really liked the movie as a whole. I did feel like it was sort of like Sleepy Hollow but that's just the look of the film. I thought Depp did a great job with his performance. All of my friends who I saw it with (btw they are not theatre people) were really impressed with him. I wish they would have kept more of the beggar woman in the film and they cut a good portion of the beadle out as well. I didn't really like HBC's singing but here's one thing I think they could have done to improve it. They should have made her louder. Maybe it was the theater I was in I'm not sure, but I couldn't hear her over the music half the time. Luckily, I knew a lot of the words otherwise I wouldn't have been able to understand what she was saying at all. I thought the best singer was the little boy who played Tobias. He was great! And did anybody else think the girl who played Johanna looked a lot like Christina Ricci in Sleepy Hollow? It freaked me out.

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I am passionate about this movie, and it's great to see it discussed so much on this board (more than any other recent movie musical). I am enjoying reading everyone's opinions about it.

I saw the film in a full house today, and HBC got several laughs in many different points in the movie, not just after the Pirelli killing. It's interesting that there are so many divergent opinions here about her performance. I thought that she was devastating in the role, even moreso than I had before (this was my 3rd viewing). I found that I could rarely take my eyes off of her when she was on the screen, just waiting to see her reactions. I now can't imagine anyone else playing Lovett on screen.

I thought that the action of Sweeney Todd took place in just a few days. So maybe there wasn't enough time to "fix up the place?" Still, I can see how customers would be a little uneasy walking into that place, lol.

I suspect there will be a lot of extras on the DVD.
Note: In a (short) interview in New York Magazine Burton states that the Ballad of Sweeney Todd was recorded but that when they started filming they couldn't find away to make it work (pax)
Hey I'd buy the DVD for that alone!

I thought that the action of Sweeney Todd took place in just a few days. So maybe there wasn't enough time to "fix up the place?" Still, I can see how customers would be a little uneasy walking into that place, lol.

I never gotten the impression that it was only a few days.

There are lines in "Kiss Me" that denote at least a few days ("he plans to marry me Sunday", but I would think that everything up to that point (Sweeney's arrival, setting up shop, Pirelli) all happened over some stretch of time.

Could be wrong, never really thought about it.

I just remember in the 2005 revival, 1st to 2nd act showerd a clear change due to the booming business of Mrs Lovett's Meat Pies which upgraded her wardrobe (and cleavage... and skirt length) and made me think more time had passed.

Updated On: 1/1/08 at 07:52 PM

I think even though it was her fantasy, she knows Sweeney would always be that way... I guess its a reality thats so known to her that it would even be incorporated in her fantasies... and really she loves Sweeney even like that (in reality) so it would be only fitting for him to be like that in her fantasy.

I don't know thats how I think about it at least.

I actually worked on a production of SWEENEY in the late 1990s where the idea of the child criminal was used (a girl in our production; she also played the role of a child who comes into Sweeney's shop with a customer, preventing him from killing said customer.) I'm thinking of suing the movie's producers...

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I'm surprised how most of the discussion has centered around HBC.

Personally, I loved her. I understood everything fine and she got huge laughs all three times I've seen it.

And I can't remember a better or more heartbreaking moment in any film as that shot of her closing and locking the door on Toby.

I guess it's odd that I disagree with people about the singing, since I so spritedly detest Gerard Butler in Phantom mostly because of his lack of singing ability. Because that was made as a grandiose, over-the-top musical, whareas her performance matched the film. It's like acting to fill a room--you make huge movements if you're in a big house, but this was so up close and claustrophobic that a real singer probably would've been too much. Perhaps I would have trouble hearing Helena some of the time if I weren't so familiar with the lyrics, but I don't really see the problem with her audibility.

As a theater fan, I can see why some people are complaining, especially after Angela Lansbury, etc. As a movie fan, I think she's pretty much perfect.

Updated On: 1/2/08 at 05:49 PM

It wasn't the fact that Helena Bonham Carter isn't a singer. It's the fact that her voice had absolutely no personality--it was the same irritatingly high, unmodulated tone throughout. She couldn't act through song, as has been claimed. Nicole Kidman's singing voice in MOULIN ROUGE was barely passable (and studio-mixed to death) but she managed to get several variations into her limited instrument--adding coy little rasps and growls during "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend", thinning her tone out to a near-whisper for the romantic suffering of "Come What May." Watch Helena in the climactic scene of SWEENEY--her "I love you/I'd be twice the wife she was" isn't about passion or desperation or pain--it's about straining hopelessly for notes. (I think that's why Depp killed her--to get away from that SOUND.)

I must confess, when people on this board refer to her "acting", I don't know what they're talking about. She's the most vague, listless film star I've ever seen--in movie after movie she wanders around in some private haze. Her eyes never connect with anyone else; she always seems to be reading the lines directly out of the script, for the first time.

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