Running time: 144 minutes
Rating: 6 out of 10
Cast: Gerard Butler (The Phantom), Emmy Rossum (Christine Daae),
Patrick Wilson (Raoul), Minnie Driver (Carlotta), and Miranda
Richardson (Madame Giry).
Whatever else may be said about the film version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's monumentally successful stage musical The Phantom of the Opera, let
it be said that Joel Schumacher has given it a stunning look, with its
most striking visual image coming near the beginning, when the Opera
Populaire of 1919 is magically restored to its former 1871 glory.
Unfortunately,
he's rather clueless as how to direct a movie musical, and as a result,
the movie is fairly lumbering, constantly threatening to sink under the
weight of its own excess. As gorgeous as the film is to look at, its
baroque attempts at visual lavishness sometimes induce tedium. Too many
scenes just kind of lie flat, and there's precious little momentum or
build with which to create dramatic tension (this is especially true of
the musical numbers).
Part of the problem is that
Lloyd Webber's musical style isn't really fitted to the movies. I don't
think sung-through (or mostly sung-through in this case) movie musicals
really work, as there's something about the inherent naturalism of film
that seems be weighed down by the near-constant singing. In addition,
the film's score, with music by Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Charles Hart
and Richard Stilgoe, is not exactly up to the quality of say, Rodgers
and Hammerstein, lacking specificity of character, situation, or
dramatic momentum. Instead of songs that advance the plot or reveal
important facets of character, Phantom's songs tend to fall
pleasingly (if repetitively) on the ear, but don't give one any
compelling reason to care about the story or its vapid, generic
characters.
The
story, of course, is one of the most familiar in all of modern
literature. Originally a novel by Gaston Leroux, it has been seen in
innumerable film adaptations going all the way back to the silent era.
This Phantom generally keeps the outline of the famous story,
in which a hideously scarred man who lurks in the catacombs beneath a
famous Parisian opera house and obsessively loves a young soprano in
the company whom he gives private singing lessons. However, she's
merely a chorus girl, so the Phantom terrorizes the opera house's
company until Christine is given leading roles. Complications arise
when she begins to fall in love with a childhood acquaintance, Raoul.
I'll refrain from giving away the rest of the salient plot points,
though they are surely familiar to most readers.
While
the musical is generally faithful to the source material, it adds
virtually nothing interesting or unique to the proceedings. This
material has been served better in previous films, most notably in the
great Lon Chaney silent film version from 1925. It doesn't help that
the musical score is so lacking in invention or dramatic incident,
relying on endless reprises of its few memorable themes instead of
truly fleshing out character or telling the story in a unique way.
Despite the underwhelming nature of the material of the musical The Phantom of the Opera, there is much to enjoy about this film adaptation if you're not looking for the subtlety of My Fair Lady or
the razor-sharp character insight of Stephen Sondheim's musical. Some
of the musical numbers are entertainingly film and manage to land,
chief among them "Prima Donna", "Past the Point of No Return", and the
title song. "Past the Point of No Return" worked especially well
because of the sizzling sexual energy brought by Emmy Rossum (playing
the young soprano to whom the Phantom gives voice lessons) and by
Gerard Butler as the Phantom himself.
The
performances are of variable quality. Rossum is luminous, bringing just
the right combination of youthfulness, compassion, and naivete needed
for Christine. As Raoul, the young man who vies with the Phantom for
Christine's affection, Patrick Wilson does about as well as he can
considering the mediocre material.
Unfortunately,
he seems curiously lacking in screen presence here, but I'm chalking
that up to the weakness of the writing rather than Wilson himself
(Wilson gave an excellent performance in HBO's mini-series Angels in America).
Minnie Driver, though, is fairly horrifying, camping it up outrageously
and managing to make Carlotta into an agonizing caricature.
Then
there's Butler, who fills the screen with his brooding presence and
virile sexuality, but simply cannot sing well enough for the role of
the Phantom. What were they thinking? His high note at the climax of
"Music of the Night" is truly ear-splitting, a primordial yowl of pain
that is far and away the scariest thing in the film. He can carry a
tune, and when the music doesn't lie completely out of his range, he
acquits himself adequately, but his vocal prowess is simply not up to
the demands of this score.
All in all, though, this
is a diverting, entertaining film for those not expecting to be
intellectually edified. Fans of the show should be pleased, for the
film is very faithful to the stage version (except for some rewriting
of the operatic recitative, or sung dialogue). For those unacquainted
with or less enamored of the musical, the film is still worth seeing
for the lavish decor and visual sensibility with which Schumacher has
invested it. Even with its turgid dramaturgy and repetitive musical
score, this film is truly a feast for the eyes.
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