The Phantom Of The Opera by Joel Schumacher Review
The Phantom of the Opera, directed by Joel Schumacher , is an adaptation of the Broadway musical The Phantom of the Opera, music and book by Andrew Llyod Webber. The musical The Phantom of the Opera is based on the novel by Gaston Leroux. The movie stars Gerard Butler as The Phantom, Emmy Rossum as Christine, and Patrick Wilson as Raoul, in the leading roles. While watching the movie, you can’t help but notice all of the spectacular sets. Each of the sets matches the time period perfectly and the details that are put into the sets is beyond mazing.
The Phantoms underground lair is a great example of an exquisitely detailed set. The lights and the sets work together hand in hand to create an atmosphere of mystery and sadness. The lights depict the pre electric era when stage lighting was done with gas light. It provided a warm-looking environment. An example of this lighting would also be the Phantoms lair. While he uses an abundance of candles, those candles still create shadows in which he hides his deformity. The costumes and make up in this movie are absolutely phenomenal.
They portray the extravagance of the opera performers using bright and colorful make up and huge dresses, to the simple and lightly colored white dresses that Christine wears that represents her youthful purity and innocence. Christine’s lack of makeup enhances her look of youthful innocence also. The Phantom, on the other hand, with his stark white mask, his black slicked back hair, and sweeping black cape represents the mystery of the character. The direction of this movie starts with it being well cast, especially the three main roles.
The lead actors are realistically portrayed, while the characters taking part in the opera performance are more presentational. The gravelly sound of Gerard Butlers voice add s to the tragedy of his character, the Phantom. In the direction of the movie, Joel Schumacher aids with the development of his actors characters. One thing that stood out for me was when the Phantom leads Christine down to his underground lair, and all she’s looking at is him. She is memorized by the Phantoms mystery and almost starts to fall in love with him.
The overall theme of this movie is love goes deeper than what is shown on the outside. When Christine pulls of the Phantoms mask for the second time, she finally sees what his deformity is. The fact that she is not disgusted and appalled by what she sees shows that she really truly loves him for who he is and not what he looks like underneath the mask. The Phantom of the Opera is by far one of the best movies I have honestly ever seen. It has such a beautiful and powerful message that I think everyone can learn something from watching the movie.
