Sweeney Todd - The devil barber from Fleet Street

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Movie
German title Sweeney Todd - The devil barber from Fleet Street
Original title Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Country of production United Kingdom
United States
original language English
Publishing year 2007
length 116 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
JMK 14
Rod
Director Tim Burton
script John Logan
production John Logan
Laurie MacDonald
Walter F. Parkes
Richard D. Zanuck
music Stephen Sondheim
camera Dariusz Wolski
cut Chris Lebenzon
occupation
synchronization

Sweeney Todd - The Devilish Barber from Fleet Street is a British-American film adaptation of the 1979 Broadway musical by Stephen Sondheim, directed by Tim Burton . The main role of the revenge-killing barber Sweeney Todd is played by Johnny Depp . The film opened in US cinemas on December 21, 2007 and was released in German cinemas on February 21, 2008.

In the German version only the dialogues are dubbed, the songs, however, are played in the original language with German subtitles.

action

Benjamin Barker, happily married and the new father of one daughter, is innocently accused and banished because of an intrigue by the powerful judge Turpin. Benjamin's wife Lucy and daughter Johanna come into the care of Judge Turpin. Lucy is raped by the judge and is at the end of her tether without her husband. It sinks deeper and deeper until it finally disappears. Benjamin's daughter is then adopted by Judge Turpin.

15 years later, Barker returned to his home in London as Sweeney Todd , marked by hardship and misery, rescued and accompanied by the young sailor Anthony. They part ways after arriving in London. Todd returns to Fleet Street and meets Mrs. Lovett, the owner of the meat pie shop under Benjamin Barker's former barber shop. She complains of bad times and few customers. She recognizes Todd as Barker and tells him about Lucy, his wife, who took arsenic and that Johanna is in the care of Judge Turpin. Todd is bitter and wants retribution.

Anthony gets lost in London and ends up at Judge Turpin's house, where he falls in love with Johanna, but is reprimanded by Turpin. Nevertheless, one day he wants to free Johanna. He seeks advice from Todd, who agrees that Johanna can hide with him for a short time during the planned escape.

One day Todd portrays the barber Adolfo Pirelli as a swindler and bungler on London's market square, whereupon the two organize a public shaving duel, which Todd wins by a huge margin. Pirelli, who was once employed by him as a handyman, recognized him immediately. The next day he and his assistant Toby, a poor, good-natured boy, appear in Todd's salon to blackmail him. Todd sees no other way out than to kill him while Mrs. Lovett takes Toby on to help her business.

Shortly thereafter, Judge Turpin appears as a customer in Todd's salon and tells him while shaving that he wants to marry his ward (Todd's daughter Johanna). Todd sees the hour of his revenge coming. But shortly before he comes into play, Anthony bursts in. Turpin is outraged that Todd knows the boy who was chasing Johanna and leaves the parlor on the spot. Todd believes he will never have an opportunity to retaliate again and, in his anger, vows revenge on the world. When asked what to do with Pirelli's corpse, Mrs. Lovett comes up with the idea of ​​turning it into meat pies to boost business. Todd kills several of his customers, whom he lets slip over a trap door into the baking cellar.

Meanwhile, Turpin discovers Johanna's escape plan and has her locked in the madhouse. On Todd's advice, Anthony pretends to be a journeyman wig maker who wants to buy hair from psychiatric patients, so frees Johanna and hides her dressed as a boy in Todd's shop. Todd tries to lure Judge Turpin back into his house by letting him know that he knows where the kidnapped Johanna has been taken. Toby tells Mrs. Lovett that he thinks Todd is dangerous. So that he can't go to the police, she locks him up in the bakery under a pretext. There Toby discovers human body parts next to the meat grinder and he hides in the sewer system. The bailiff Bamford, who was sent to present a complaint from the neighbors because of the recurring odor nuisance from the chimney of the house, is also murdered by Todd and taken to the bakery. Todd finally kills his wife Lucy, who was marked by her poisoning, came to him as a homeless person and whom he does not recognize, but rather considers an unpleasant witness; then he finally murders the newly arrived judge. Johanna, too, who noticed both acts, almost becomes his victim because, like his wife, who was believed dead, he did not recognize her.

In the bakery, Todd then recognizes the dead Lucy and freaks out of desperation. Mrs. Lovett, who out of love for him has kept secret that Lucy survived the poisoning, is pushed into the furnace by him and burned alive. While Todd is still mourning Lucy, the service boy Toby, who has returned from the sewer and wants to avenge Mrs. Lovett, cuts his throat. The dying Todd holds the dead Lucy tight in his arms.

Reviews

In addition to reviews that saw the whole ensemble shine, the world said that Sacha Baron Cohen offered a terrific one-man act, and epd Film thought he was stealing the show from Depp. Helena Bonham Carter, who was described as the ideal cast by the Frankfurter Rundschau, received less attention . The critics disagreed on the vocal performance. It is sung wonderfully, Depp is also a stroke of luck in this regard, he sings "as if he had never done anything else," said some. The others complained that Depp had a pretty bad singing voice and that the other actors weren't nice to listen to either. Outside of the singing scenes, they were more convincing; Without the vocals the film would have turned out better. In other categories, the Frankfurter Rundschau thought : Depp's rather weak natural voice made the role more human and threatening. A voice that was too good, as in Kurt Weill's operas , might have ruined the horror effect. There were also contradicting judgments about the function of the songs within the whole. They harmonized with the designed world, said the Süddeutsche Zeitung , meanwhile the FAZ found that the film was “staged without any feeling for music and choreography” and did not contain any lasting songs.

Numerous reviews stated that Burton was designing a more serious, colder, darker, more hopeless and hopeless world than ever before. There was a lack of wit and irony, or they were rarely expressed in grim form. The plot is banal, the film has the dramaturgy of a number revue. Epd Film found similarly that Burton created an "infernal hell machine", in which blood is supposed to connect the action scenes as a red thread, which however does not succeed over long distances. In addition, the poorly imaginative staging adheres too strongly to genre conventions and the sparse scenery looks too reduced and unspecific. Only with a few brief excesses does the work become impure and beautiful. The FAZ was bitterly disappointed that Burton was not adding anything new to its formula for success. He has an exuberant imagination, but Sweeney Todd has run out of it and has even become a trademark like Disney. According to the taz , the film is “less grand opera than bitter morality, a ballad of shudders performed on the street corner to the horror of the audience, a tribute to the early forms of exploitation.” Burton's usual anarchic fantasy is missing; If his works were characterized by the magic of the handmade and self-made, one can see in Sweeney Todd many pictures that they have been generated on the computer. According to the Frankfurter Rundschau , his ingenuity is paralyzed, and hyperrealism suppresses the imaginative. After all, the blood splatter scenes are terrific, for the first time you can see splatter effects "being drilled on a product of high culture." Conversely, the FAZ assessed that it was a "splatter film that claims to be high art." The dry, dead story is what is necessary Blood from your heart.

The Süddeutsche Zeitung experienced a “bizarre and gruesome mass extermination trip” and the slashing was really shocking. Cinema valued the ending, which offered “probably the most poetic bloodbath in film history”. The world declared the film to be a great cinema opera that can be heard and seen. Although not suitable for minors, he is entertaining and evil. It comes up with “naturalistic red fountains of life juice and a sooting oven that definitely evokes Auschwitz memories.” For a visual and acoustic pleasure, the Tagesspiegel also declared the film and the barber to be a “gruesome, but also romantic- lost figure, for whom one can understand despite their horrible deeds. ”According to film-dienst , this is not a good musical à la Webber , here“ all the dirt, all the angularity, all the roughness comes into play . "

Filmstarts described the film as “not just any of those very handsome, star- studded musicals that Hollywood produces year after year and puts it in the running for the Oscars for the best film music and for the best equipment. 'Sweeney Todd' is a brilliant combination of things that you wouldn't have believed would go together, a one-of-a-kind work of art that deserves all of the Oscars in all categories and doesn't need a single one because it's going to stay. " es: "Anyone who has prejudices against musicals and expects that sporting dance and singing performances would be paid for with imprecise and pretentious acting gestures will be impressively taught better."

Awards

  • Tim Burton was awarded the 2007 Best Director Award of the National Board of Review Award.
  • In 2008 , the film received two Golden Globes from four nominations ; In addition to the award for “best film (comedy / musical)”, actor Johnny Depp was also given a prize for “best leading actor - comedy / musical”.
  • At the 2008 Academy Awards , for which the film was nominated three times (best leading actor, best costume and best production design), the film won in the category “ Best Production Design ”.
  • In 2007, the film won the Saturn Award in the categories of “Best Horror Film” and “Best Costumes” . There were further nominations in the categories "Best Lead Actor", "Best Lead Actress", "Best Supporting Actor", "Best Director", "Best Screenplay" and "Best Make-Up"
  • The German Film and Media Assessment FBW in Wiesbaden awarded the film the rating “particularly valuable”.

background

production

Financial success

The film grossed around $ 52.9 million in the United States, where it opened on December 21, 2007, and has already exceeded film costs (around $ 50 million).

Sweeney Todd has grossed $ 152.5 million worldwide (as of March 12, 2010).

Soundtrack

The music for Sweeney Todd, unlike most of Tim Burton's films, does not come from Danny Elfman ; Instead, in close cooperation with Stephen Sondheim, most of the music in the musical was also used in the film and only slightly changed in small details, which are related to the individual interpretation of the texts and the expressiveness of individual pieces, whereby the singing actors also had the task themselves to think about the representation of the different vocal parts.

The soundtrack has been available in Germany since February 15, 2008. It was published in two versions. On the one hand as “Motion Picture Soundtrack”, which contains 17 tracks, some of which are in abbreviated form; on the other hand as a complete film music with 20 tracks in full length.

Previous film adaptations

There have already been several film versions of this topic:

  • Sweeney Todd , Comedy, England 1926, directed by George Dewhurst, silent film, black and white
  • Sweeney Todd , England 1928, directed by Walter West, silent, black and white
  • Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street , crime / horror, England 1936, directed by George King, mono, black and white
  • Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street , Musical / Drama / Thriller / Horror, USA 1982, directed by Terry Hughes and Harold Prince , stereo, color - TV production with Angela Lansbury , p. o. stage version
  • Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street in Concert , Crime / Musical, USA 2001, directed by Lonny Price , stereo, color - TV production (remake of the 1982 version)
  • Sweeney Todd , crime / drama / horror / thriller, England 2006, directed by Dave Moore, stereo, color - TV production

synchronization

The German dubbing was based on a dialogue book by Jan Odle under his dialogue direction on behalf of Interopa Film in Berlin .

figure Original speaker German speaker
Sweeney Todd / Benjamin Barker Johnny Depp David Nathan
Mrs. Lovett Helena Bonham Carter Melanie Pukass
Judge Turpin Alan Rickman Bernd Rumpf
Adolfo Pirelli Sacha Baron Cohen Tobias Master
Anthony Hope Jamie Campbell Bower Konrad Bösherz
Beadle Bamford Timothy Spall Gudo Hoegel
Beggar woman Laura Michelle Kelly Victoria Storm
Fogg Michael N. Harbor Olaf Reichmann
Johanna Jayne Wisener Millie Forsberg
Toby Ed Sanders David Wittmann

literature

conversations

  • With Tim Burton and Johnny Depp on Cineman

Review mirror

positive

  • film-dienst No. 4/2008, pp. 24–25, by Jörg Gerle
    ("the most perfect film musical of the last two years" because it is dirty, angular and rough)
  • Der Tagesspiegel , February 21, 2008, ticket p. 3, by Daniela Sannwald: Der Razor Avenger
    ("visual and acoustic pleasure"; role for Depp as tailor-made, Cohen and Rickman outstanding)
  • Die Welt , February 20, 2008, p. 29, by Manuel Brug: Bloody musical becomes great cinema
    (“great cinema opera”, can be heard and seen; entertaining-evil, unironic, not suitable for young people, grandiose Cohen)

Rather positive

  • Cinema No. 3/2008, pp. 55–58, by Alex Attimonelli: Sweeney Todd
    (thumbs half raised, praise for Depp and Cohen, breathtaking optics, a must despite its flaws; would be better without singing, depth is missing)
  • Frankfurter Rundschau , February 20, 2008, p. 31, by Daniel Kothenschulte : Heads will roll
    (product of high culture with splatter effects; takes topic seriously, suitable singing voices, imagination is neglected)

Mixed

  • epd Film No. 2/2008, p. 44, by Volker Hummel
    (resinous and uninspired dramaturgy, too genre-conventional, some unclean and beautiful excesses, Cohen steals the show from Depp)
  • Süddeutsche Zeitung , February 21, 2008, by Anke Sterneborg: Sweeney with the knife hands
    (no recognizable evaluation; Burton cold, serious and cruel as never before, songs harmonize with the bizarre and gruesome cosmos)

Rather negative

  • FAZ , February 23, 2008, p. 3, by Michael Althen: Aufs Blut
    (exuberant fantasy, but Burton repeats himself stylistically, the humor of earlier films is missing, unfeeling characters)
  • taz , February 21, 2008, p. 16, by Dietmar Kammerer: In lively fountains / The hairdresser of horror
    (Burton darker than ever, his usual imagination is missing, images visibly computer-generated)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sweeney Todd - The Devilish Barber from Fleet Street . In: BFI .
  2. ↑ Clearance Certificate for Sweeney Todd - The Devil Barber of Fleet Street . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , January 2008 (PDF; test number: 112 641 K).
  3. ↑ Age rating for Sweeney Todd - The Devilish Barber from Fleet Street . Youth Media Commission .
  4. ↑ a b c d Der Tagesspiegel, February 21, 2008, ticket p. 3, by Daniela Sannwald
  5. ↑ a b c d film-dienst No. 4/2008, pp. 24–25, by Jörg Gerle
  6. ↑ a b c d Cinema No. 3/2008, pp. 55–58, by Alex Attimonelli
  7. ↑ a b c Die Welt, February 20, 2008, p. 29, by Manuel Brug: Bloody musical becomes great cinema
  8. ↑ a b c epd Film No. 2/2008, p. 44, by Volker Hummel
  9. ↑ a b c d Frankfurter Rundschau, February 20, 2008, p. 31, by Daniel Kothenschulte: Heads will roll
  10. ↑ a b c Süddeutsche Zeitung, February 21, 2008, by Anke Sterneborg: Sweeney with the knife hands
  11. ↑ a b c d Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, February 23, 2008, p. 3, by Michael Althen: Aufs Blut
  12. ↑ a b c taz, February 21, 2008, p. 16, by Dietmar Kammerer: In munteren Fontänen
  13. ^ Criticism from Filmstarts.de
  14. ↑ Nominations and awards on imdb.com
  15. ↑ Sweeney Todd - The Devilish Barber from Fleet Street on fbw-filmb Bewertung.com
  16. ↑ Sweeney Todd - The Devilish Barber from Fleet Street on boxofficemojo.com
  17. ↑ cf. IMDb ( Memento of the original from November 25, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / german.imdb.com
  18. ↑ a b Sweeney Todd. In: synchronkartei.de. German synchronous index , accessed on September 21, 2012 .