Movie of the week: “The Phantom of the Opera” SPOILERS!

The Phantom of the Opera

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical is without a doubt one of the most famous stage productions, which has been transferred to the big screen by director Joel Schumacher with Gerard Butler as the Phantom, Emmy Rossum as Christine and Patrick Wilson as Raoul. Christine is the rising star at the Opéra populaire in Paris in 1870, with a suitor (Raoul) and a madly jealous mentor (the Phantom) at hand. Who will she choose?

The movie is visually stunning, bombastic and innovative, especially when the transitions between black-white and color take place. However sometimes, even though it’s set in an opera which could – and does – excuse a lot, it is bordering on kitsch and a general tendency to put too much things on the screen. There were scenes in the Phantom’s lair, shot from a distance, where it was next to impossible to find Christine among the rest of the decoration when she didn’t move.

Emmy Rossum as Christine is spectacular and greatly missed when she is not on screen, gladly that doesn’t happen very often. The Phantom as portrayed by Gerard Butler is okay but could be better, and the disfigurement of his face is hardly scaring enough to justify all of this. His rival Raoul (Patrick Wilson) is convincingly cast but a bit too self-confident because the attraction between him and Christine seems entirely based in the past. He simply assumes that she will be swept off her feet again by his mere presence (as she is) but I can’t really say I want him to end up with Christine since he doesn’t seem to grasp her as well as the Phantom does. And last but not least, someone I almost didn’t recognize: Minnie Driver in the role of the diva Carlotta seems to enjoy herself immensely but never manages to be more than a stereotype.

Webber’s music is great and quite fitting for the overboarding images, however the famous Phantom theme has been updated not really to its favor. I would have liked Butler to be a bit darker in the role of the Phantom, but Rossum’s voice is brilliant. There were some slight problems to understand what the singers were saying during scenes in which three or more persons sang, but I’m not sure if this can’t be tributed to the German dubbing. What certainly is the same in every version is the fact that the movie is longer than it necessarily needs to be, because there is more than one scene in which what could have been said in 2 minutes is instead sung in 4. This pleagues especially the Phantom, who hardly says his lines but sings them all. I would have wished for more breaks without singing even though I’m aware this is, after all, a musical.

Certain parallels to “Moulin Rouge!” can’t be denied, which is more than evident in the beginning (a black and white still coming to life, and it’s Paris no less) and also when the first play is rehearsed. The overall structure of a frame enclosing the main narrative told in flashback is the same, too, however Schumacher loves this device far too much. We don’t need the interspersed b/w scenes with Raoul in the wheelchair – they force us out of the more interesting story of the Phantom and feel unnecessary. In my eyes it would have been enough if we had seen the first scene with the auction and than the last one at Christine’s grave.

3 1/2 out of 6 Meeps – good with serious flaws