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Phantom of the Opera

January 21, 2005

Phantom of the Opera
Starring: Gerard Butler, Emmy Rossum, Patrick Wilson, Miranda Richardson, Minnie Driver

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s: The Phantom of the Opera the movie is a nearly 100% faithful adaptation of ALW:TPotO the musical, which isn’t necessarily a good thing.
The musical is extremely popular but has several flaws in the story. The movie keeps those flaws and adds a few more of its own (like Gerard Butler is way too handsome to be the Phantom and he isn’t the world’s strongest singer.) Luckily the movie is played to the hilt in flash and style so at the very least it is fantastic eye candy.

You all know the story: Girl finds devil boy in a gypsy act, girl frees devil boy, devil boy lives in the bottom of an opera house, boy grows up to be phantom. Phantom obsesses over new girl, phantom kills to be with girl, girl falls under phantom’s spell, town’s people revolt, phantom disappears. The end. Oh, plus singing.

The musical relies on the fact that from the audience you can’t see the phantom too well and you just imagine his hideousness. The movie doesn’t have that luxury and as previously noted, Gerard Butler is a very handsome man and thus is not a very scary phantom, so I didn’t find him exceptionally menacing. Another problem with both the musical and the movie is that the last original song is about two-thirds of the way into the movie. After that you are subjected to about 30 “Music of the Night” reprises, that get to be a bit much. Around the time Christine went to the cemetery to visit her father’s crypt I was like “Can we speed this along, please!”

Christine’s fiancé, Raoul, is played by Patrick Wilson as kind of wimpy and whishy-washy, and quite frankly the phantom is hotter. There is a really good scene with Raoul and Christine retreat to the rooftop of the Opera house and profess their intentions toward one another while the phantom overhears and sets out to destroy them. This scene could have been even more menacing except that the director, Joel Schumacher, chose to show the Phantom’s good side the entire time. Even his bad side is not so bad – there are no scars or burn marks or disfigurements. They are entirely hidden beneath his pristine white mask. When he finally does tear off his mask we see how hideous he is (supposed to be) but wait a minute! His ear and forehead were fine the entire movie and now they are scared? Does the mask have hair and skin and ears on it as well? I am confused.

Schumacher did expand on the role of Madame Giry offering more of an important part than just being Meg’s mother. Madame Giry has a scene where she tells Raoul to “keep your hand at the level of your eye!” I know what she meant because I remember reading up on the story but in the movie that line (which is repeated several times) is not explained at all. (What she means is that the Phantom has a lasso that he will throw around your neck and strangle you but if you keep your hand up at the level of your eye you can block the lasso.) A little explanation would have gone a long way to clear that up for the general audience.

I am jumping around a bit but I want to note that in the stage production when the Phantom first takes Christine down under the opera house the stage fills with fog and candelabras emerge from the floor – which represents the lake. It is stunning visual effect on stage but made no sense in the movie. I mean, how exactly do lit candles emerge from a lake? And the Phantom doesn’t have magical powers so what caused these candles to arise from the depths of an underground body of water? Just wondering.

Aside from the above-mentioned stupid things the movie is good. It’s no Chicago or Moulin Rouge but it is amazing to look at. The opening musical number is very frenetic and ‘Masquerade’ is stunning. Minnie Driver is hysterical as Carlotta the resident diva and is worth the price of admission alone. I was a little bothered by all the singing (I know that is a really stupid thing to say but in other musicals it doesn’t bother me when people break out into song but for some reason here it did a little bit. I can’t explain it.) However, the woman that plays Christine is a trained opera singer and she is phenomenal!

This is one of those movies that require it be seen on the big screen with surround sound. It is a good weekend movie and since wintry weather is fast approaching it would be nice to curl up in a comfy movie chair with a hot chocolate and just enjoy the spectacle that is The Phantom of the Opera!

My Grade: B