Sweeney Todd

Probably the best way to describe Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is the Anti-Hairspray.

There are no cheerful hyper-choreographed musical numbers; frequently there are only 2 performers on the screen. Instead of colourful, sunny 1960s Baltimore as a backdrop, Sweeney Todd and his cohorts skulk around in the monochrome gloom of 19th Century London. And while Hairspray maintains faith that mankind is inherently good, Sweeney Todd has nothing but contempt for humanity as a fundamentally greedy and evil species. Playing the title character, Johnny Depp even sings in the film’s opening scenes:

“There's a hole in the world like a great black pit
and the vermin of the world inhabit it
and its morals aren't worth what a pin can spit
and it goes by the name of London.”

Then again, Sweeney Todd is a serial killer musical. In between the songs cutthroat razors gleam, throats are slit, blood sprays, and skulls smack into stone with a sickening crack.


The film is fundamentally a revenge tale focused on a young barber falsely accused of a crime and shipped off to a penal colony for 15 years, leaving his virtuous young wife and baby daughter in the hands of lecherous Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman). When the barber returns to London, and discovers the fate of his family, he swears revenge on Turpin, his Beadle underling (Timothy Spall) and society as a whole. Mrs Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter), the owner of the “Worst pie shop in London” becomes Todd’s accomplice and devises a stomach-churning way to dispose of the corpses.

South African audiences probably won’t be familiar with the stage musical on which Tim Burton’s film is based. Even if the film’s songs aren’t widely known, however, it doesn’t mean that they aren’t good. There are a number of memorable musical numbers and the repetition of certain refrains throughout the film is a very clever way to convey the emotional state of characters.

As for the singing, for two actors with little to no musical theatre experience, Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter carry things off surprisingly well. Depp’s voice is especially impressive during the soaring choruses.

At this point it’s worthwhile noting that Johnny Depp does not play a quirky Jack-Sparrow-eque rogue in Sweeney Todd. Depp’s tormented barber is dour and cynical throughout the film. It’s such a change of pace for the actor that it’s easy to view his Oscar nomination (one of three for this film) as Academy voters acknowledging his substantial talent and continued willingness to challenge himself as a performer.

Helena Bonham Carter, meanwhile, reigns in her usual over-the-top weirdness to add some much needed laughter and tenderness to the film. Her song “By the Sea”, in which Mrs Lovett fantasises about a future with the indifferent Todd, is one of the highlight sequences of the film.


In terms of the other Sweeney Todd performances, Borat star Sacha Baron Cohen has a lot of fun in a small role as a rival barber.

The only real failure of Sweeney Todd is its ending, which seems to fall a bit flat because of its abruptness – it feels as if a final wrap-up scene has been edited out. As it stands the closing sequence doesn’t quite have the emotional impact or tragic resonance that it should. But then again, director Tim Burton’s strength has always been his distinctly Gothic visual style (which is very strong in Sweeney Todd); not stirring emotion.

Still, Sweeney Todd is worth seeking out for anyone who enjoys movie musicals, appreciates striking stylised visuals and has something of a macabre sense of humour.