Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Benjamin Barker is a barber unfairly sentenced to a life of hard labor by Judge Turpin, who lusted for the man’s beautiful and virtuous wife Lucy and daughter Johanna. Assuming the name Sweeney Todd, he escapes from prison and returns to London, assisted by sailor Anthony Hope. There he is told his wife has poisoned herself and his daughter has become the ward of the villainous judge. The home he once shared with his wife and daughter has now been transformed into the worst pie-shop in London by his departed wife’s former friend, Nellie Lovett, and she takes him in and becomes his sole confidante and co-conspirator in revenge. Not distracted by Mrs. Lovett’s bourgeois ambitions or attempts at seduction, Todd spirals deeper into despair, nihilism, violence and insanity, slitting the throat of most customers who enter his shop. Due to the high price of meat, the bodies of his victims go into Mrs. Lovett’s pies, allowing her shop to finally prosper. The first to fall is Adolfo Pirelli, a rival barber who threatens to expose Todd’s past; his young assistant Toby, who knows nothing of this murder, goes to work for Mrs. Lovett.
Meanwhile, Anthony catches sight of Johanna at a window of Turpin’s home but is told to stay away from her. Turpin decides to marry her himself upon discovering that his warning has had no effect, but her rejection of his advances leads him to throw her into an insane asylum instead. Rescued by Anthony and disguised in men’s clothing, she hides in Todd’s shop and watches him kill both Turpin and a beggar woman who has been hanging around the area. Before he can do the same to Johanna, he is distracted by Mrs. Lovett and later recognizes the beggar’s corpse as that of Lucy Barker, who survived her suicide attempt fifteen years ago. Enraged at not having been told the whole truth, Todd dances Mrs. Lovett around the basement bake-house before hurling her into the oven and letting her burn to death. As he laments his actions, Toby (who had recently discovered Pirelli’s murder and promised to protect Mrs. Lovett) emerges and acquires the razor. With silent acceptance, Todd’s throat is slit in a final act of revenge.
Starring : Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Sacha Baron Cohen, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall
Directed by : Tim Burton
Produced by : Patrick McCormick, Laurie MacDonald, Walter F. Parkes
Genres : Drama, Musical/Performing Arts, Thriller and Adaptation
Running Time : 1 hr. 57 min.
Release Date : December 21st, 2007 (wide)
MPAA Rating : R for graphic bloody violence.
Distributors : DreamWorks SKG, Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures International
