'Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street'

I feel that these videos, about Tim Burton's 'vision' of Sweeney Todd, are really useful and inspiring, giving information about all different elements in the film from a wide array of people involved - including actors, the composer, producers, the screenwriter, and Tim Burton himself, who directed the film.

The film itself, although classified under the genre of a musical, has elements of other genres too - it is a horror, but is also funny, using a lot of black humour. In the second clip [above], Helena Bonham Carter, who plays Mrs Lovett and is Burton's fiancé, talks about how "Tim's always loved horror movies", [as does Johnny Depp who frequently works with Burton and plays Sweeney Todd], and how they "looked back at their old favourites for a lot of inspiration".

CHARACTER

Sweeney Todd - played by Johnny Depp

Sweeney Todd started out as Benjamin Barker, a barber, living happily with his beautiful wife Lucy, and their baby daughter, Johanna, in Victorian London. However, Lucy's beauty catches the eye of Judge Turpin, who convicts Benjamin of a crime he did not commit and deports him to Australia.

On his return to London fifteen years later (which was illegal and accomplished with the help of Anthony, a young sailor), he learns from Mrs Lovett, owner of a (highly unsuccessful) pie shop and an old friend, that after deporting him, Judge Turpin raped his wife, and she then poisoned herself and is dead. Johanna was put into Judge Turpin's care. Benjamin tells Mrs Lovett that he's not Benjamin Barker anymore, but Sweeney Todd, and he reopens his barber shop above Mrs Lovett's pie shop. With Mrs Lovett's help, he plans to rid London of the corrupt aristocracy, wreaking his vengeance upon them and particularly Judge Turpin, by luring in unsuspecting victims to his barbershop before cutting their throats and delivering the bodies to Mrs Lovett, who uses them for her meat pies - which are hugely successful with her unknowing customers...

Todd is a character who has had a deeply traumatic experience, and cannot find happiness again. He chooses a path of revenge, which only makes him worse. All his experiences and emotions are conveyed extremely well through Johnny Depp's fabulous acting and the appearance of the character, involving costume and makeup. Todd is one of those Tim Burton characters that sticks in your head and creates a lasting impression, and the mise-en-scène of the whole film fits his mood - e.g. at the beginning of the film, when his blissful life before his deportation is shown, the lighting is much more high-key, the saturation is higher, and brighter colours are used - there are pretty flowers and even Todd's suit is a brighter, warmer shade of brown. When he returns to London in his misery, his life ruined, the colours are all cold and are mainly shades of grey, brown, blue, and white, which really reflects his mood.

The Demon Barber's Look
Todd is instantly recognisable - firstly, he's played by Johnny Depp, who has a great talent in adapting to his different roles and making the audience forget previous characters he's played in his new role. Costume-wise, his hair is wildly unkempt (though of course, he is clean-shaven), and has, as stated in one of the videos, a Bride of Frankenstein style white streak running through it. His face is made to be very pale, with his eyes emphasised, as is Mrs Lovett [see below]. His costume is kept to dull, cold shades.

He is clearly a very disturbed character, unsurprisingly, after everything that has happened to him - not too long into the film Judge Turpin decides to marry Johanna - yet he is still attractive, particularly to Mrs Lovett, who fantasises about the two of them being together - something which plays a part in the twist in the film. What Todd wants most is revenge, and he strikes out at his corrupt aristocratic customers, killing a great deal of them, but he wants to get his hands on Turpin, the one who ruined his life. This desire, this need for revenge fuels his madness and he ceases to think about his actions, ultimately leading to his chilling demise at the end of the film, when he feels he has been betrayed and used by Mrs Lovett.

His relationship with her, though she would like it to be something more, is never seen by him to be a lot more than a matter of convenience and partnership in crime, because he will never stop loving Lucy, who is dead...

Todd is a very intriguing and, despite being a murderer, quite likeable character, as audience sympathy is created for him, as we know the whole story. The film is about him, and so he needs to have the qualities of creating this enigma, in order to attract the audience to want to find out more, which I feel it does very successfully.

Sweeney Todd & Mrs. Lovett