Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007 film)
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Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a 2007 musical slasher film directed by Tim Burton from a screenplay by John Logan, based on the stage musical of the same name by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler, which in turn is based on the 1970 play Sweeney Todd by Christopher Bond. The film retells the melodramatic Victorian tale of Sweeney Todd (Johnny Depp), an English barber and serial killer who, while seeking revenge on Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman) who wrongfully convicted and exiled him to steal his wife, murders his customers and, with the help of his accomplice, Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter), processes their corpses into meat pies.
Having been struck by the cinematic qualities of the stage musical while young, Burton had entertained the notion of a film version since the early 1980s. However, it was not until 2006 that he had the opportunity to realize this ambition, when DreamWorks Pictures announced his appointment as replacement for director Sam Mendes. Sondheim, although not directly involved, was extensively consulted during production. Depp, not known for his singing, took lessons in preparation for his role, which producer Richard D. Zanuck acknowledged was something of a gamble.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street had its premiere at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York City on December 3, 2007, and was released in the United States on 21 December 2007 and in the United Kingdom on 25 January 2008. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised the performances of the cast, musical numbers, costume and set design, and faithfulness to the musical. It grossed over $153 million against a production budget of $50 million.
Plot
Benjamin Barker, a barber, arrives in London, accompanied by the young sailor Anthony Hope ("No Place Like London"). He explains that fifteen years earlier, he was falsely convicted and exiled to Australia for life by the cruel and corrupt Judge Turpin, who lusted after Barker's wife Lucy. Barker, having escaped from his prison, adopts the alias "Sweeney Todd" and returns to his old Fleet Street shop, situated above Nellie Lovett's meat pie shop, where she sells self-proclaimed terrible pies ("Worst Pies in London"). Lovett tells him that after he was sent to prison, Turpin raped Lucy, who then poisoned herself with arsenic ("Poor Thing"). Todd vows revenge and re-opens his barbershop after Mrs. Lovett, who loves him unrequitedly, presents him with his old straight razors ("My Friends").
The Barkers' now teenage daughter Johanna is in Turpin's custody, and he keeps her locked upstairs in his house, where he spies on her through a hole in her bedroom wall. She sings, longing for freedom ("Green Finch and Linnet Bird"). Anthony hears her singing and becomes enamored with her, but is caught by Turpin and driven away by his henchman, Beadle Bamford. He vows to rescue her from Turpin ("Johanna").
Later, Todd denounces faux-Italian barber Adolfo Pirelli's hair tonic as a fraud ("Pirelli's Miracle Elixer") and humiliates him in a public shaving contest judged by Bamford ("The Contest"). A few days later, Pirelli arrives at Todd's shop, with his assistant, an orphan boy named Toby. Pirelli identifies himself as Todd's former assistant, Davy Collins, and threatens to reveal Todd's true identity unless Todd gives him half his earnings. Todd beats Collins unconscious with a tea kettle, hides him in a trunk, and later slits his throat.
After receiving advice from Bamford ("Ladies in their Sensitivities"), Turpin visits Todd for a shave, intent on marrying Johanna. Todd shaves Turpin, preparing to slit his throat ("Pretty Women"), but they are interrupted by Anthony, who reveals his plan to elope with Johanna before noticing Turpin. An angered Turpin renounces Todd's service and leaves. Todd swears revenge on the entire world, vowing to kill as many people as possible while he waits for another chance to kill Turpin ("Epiphany"). Mrs. Lovett gets the idea to bake Todd's victims into pies ("A Little Priest"), and Todd rigs his barber chair to drop his victims' bodies through a trapdoor and into her bakehouse. Anthony searches for Johanna, whom Turpin has sent to an insane asylum upon discovering her plans to elope with Anthony, as Todd goes on a killing spree ("Johanna Reprise").
With the barbering and pie-making businesses prospering, Mrs. Lovett takes Tobias Toby on as her assistant and tells an uninterested Todd of her plans to marry him and move to the seaside ("By the Sea"). Anthony discovers Johanna's whereabouts and, following Todd's suggestion, poses as a wigmaker's apprentice to rescue her. Todd has Toby deliver a letter to Turpin, telling him where Johanna will be brought when Anthony frees her. Toby has become wary of Todd and tells Mrs. Lovett of his suspicions, vowing to protect her ("Not While I'm Around"). Mrs. Lovett lures him into the basement and locks him in.
Bamford arrives at the pie shop, informing Mrs. Lovett that neighbors have been complaining of the stink from her chimney. Todd distracts him with an offer of a free grooming and murders him. Toby discovers the bodies of Todd and Mrs. Lovett's victims in the basement and hides in the sewers. Mrs. Lovett informs Todd of Toby's suspicions, and the pair search for the boy with the intent to kill him. Meanwhile, Anthony brings Johanna, disguised as a boy, to the shop, and has her wait there while he leaves to find Todd.
A Beggar Woman enters the shop looking for Bamford, and Johanna hides in the trunk. The woman recognizes Todd, but upon hearing Turpin coming, Todd kills her and sends her through the trapdoor in the floor. As Turpin enters, Todd explains that Johanna had repented and is coming to him, then offers a free shave in the meantime. When Turpin finally recognizes Todd as Benjamin Barker, Todd stabs him several times, cuts his throat, and drops him into the bakehouse. Todd finds Johanna, still disguised, and prepares to kill her as well, not recognizing her as his daughter. However, hearing Mrs. Lovett scream in the basement when the dying Turpin grabs at her dress, Todd spares Johanna.
Todd discovers that the Beggar Woman was his wife Lucy, whom he believed to be dead, and that Mrs. Lovett deliberately misled him so she could have him to herself. Enraged, Todd pretends to forgive her and dances with her before hurling her into the bakehouse oven as revenge, then cradles Lucy's dead body in his arms. Toby, who comes out of the sewers, appears and Todd, now wishing to die, allows Toby to slit his throat with his own razor. Toby leaves as Todd bleeds to death over his dead wife ("Final Scene").
Cast
- Johnny Depp as Benjamin Barker / Sweeney Todd
- Helena Bonham Carter as Nellie Lovett
- Alan Rickman as Judge Turpin
- Timothy Spall as Beadle Bamford
- Sacha Baron Cohen as Adolfo Pirelli
- Jamie Campbell Bower as Anthony Hope
- Laura Michelle Kelly as Lucy Barker / Beggar Woman
- Jayne Wisener as Johanna Barker
- Ed Sanders as Tobias 'Toby' Ragg
