Watching a drama about a character known as the legendary "Demon Barber of Fleet Street" did give me some idea of what I was in for when I sat down to watch Sweeney Todd just after Christmas. Having said that, it would have been all too easy for the writers and producers to write a two-hour script of wall-to-wall slaughter, and I'm glad that they didn't. (Not only because I have no stomach for overtly gory scenes, but because I like to watch something with a little substance to it.)
I watched Sweeney Todd with my mum and, as she pointed out, there was a part of Ray Winstone's Todd that was very benevolent. It might sound at odds with the legendary image of Todd, but to Mrs. Lovett he was capable of well-meaning kindness. (It was very convenient, surely, that Todd knew Mr. Lovett was abusive towards his wife just before Mrs. Lovett called him to assist her ill husband.)
I haven't yet found out much about the real-life (or should that be legendary?) Sweeney Todd, but I think the scriptwriters did well to flesh out a back story for the character. He may have shed more blood on screen than Hannibal Lecter did in The Silence of the Lambs (the throat-cutting scenes - tastefully shot, though they were - I tried to avert my eyes from, gory scenes aren't my thing at all) but Todd clearly wasn't always a maniac, a murderous barber on the prowl, as one might expect. I recognised the beginning of his descent from man to monster when I felt a lot of sympathy for his father as Todd put a stop to him ever being able to give evidence against his own son.
Once the accidental killings occurred and Todd found a rather novel way of disposing of his victims, it took a little longer than you might expect for him to descend into the twisted way of thinking that made him end the lives of so many. Mrs. Lovett was clearly very close to Todd's kinder side, close enough that she was mystified that her multiple lovers never came back to her after a visit to Todd's shop.
I had hoped that the ending might have been a little more positive, but instead both Todd and Mrs. Lovett seemed condemned to a more predictable fate. I'm still undecided whether Todd's final end was a little too obvious, or whether it was a clever way of showing that he was wily enough to gain his jailers' trust enough to be able to end his life in the way that the law dictated.
I watched Sweeney Todd with my mum and, as she pointed out, there was a part of Ray Winstone's Todd that was very benevolent. It might sound at odds with the legendary image of Todd, but to Mrs. Lovett he was capable of well-meaning kindness. (It was very convenient, surely, that Todd knew Mr. Lovett was abusive towards his wife just before Mrs. Lovett called him to assist her ill husband.)
I haven't yet found out much about the real-life (or should that be legendary?) Sweeney Todd, but I think the scriptwriters did well to flesh out a back story for the character. He may have shed more blood on screen than Hannibal Lecter did in The Silence of the Lambs (the throat-cutting scenes - tastefully shot, though they were - I tried to avert my eyes from, gory scenes aren't my thing at all) but Todd clearly wasn't always a maniac, a murderous barber on the prowl, as one might expect. I recognised the beginning of his descent from man to monster when I felt a lot of sympathy for his father as Todd put a stop to him ever being able to give evidence against his own son.
Once the accidental killings occurred and Todd found a rather novel way of disposing of his victims, it took a little longer than you might expect for him to descend into the twisted way of thinking that made him end the lives of so many. Mrs. Lovett was clearly very close to Todd's kinder side, close enough that she was mystified that her multiple lovers never came back to her after a visit to Todd's shop.
I had hoped that the ending might have been a little more positive, but instead both Todd and Mrs. Lovett seemed condemned to a more predictable fate. I'm still undecided whether Todd's final end was a little too obvious, or whether it was a clever way of showing that he was wily enough to gain his jailers' trust enough to be able to end his life in the way that the law dictated.