Recently I watched the world renowned movie The Phanton of the Opera, the  magnificent scene, the misery of the phanton had experienced, the true love of Christine and Raoul,the power of music—all of them streched me into the hall of music.

As a matter of fact, years ago, one of my best friends had recommended me the movie, she copied a piece of song from it into my MP3. With delightment, she introduced it to me:“ You should listen to it, it’s amazing!”Well, I didn’t know where her passion came from,why did she so devoted into these fancy things?I’m not that into opera, atress in the play always wear thick cosmetics, painted various color on face, and their facial look ridiculous all the time, not to mention the songs they sang! I admit I have no taste in art, I just like some normal things, like popular songs, that suit me well. Clearly I remembered that I didn’t finish listening to the song but turned the MP3 off, it’s not my cup of tea.

One year ago, I borrowed a book from the liberary, just because of my sudden interest of the novel. Two days later, I put down the book, fancied about the whole story, the phanton’s ugly face, the sweet songs of Christine, the horror made by the phanton and the deep love he expressed to her. I don’t like the phanton not that much, but I do feel sorry for him. He is a genius, but no one would dare look into his eyes just because he is ugly. He deserves love, however, he shouldn’t make use of his talent in music and architecture to win Christine, the one who fell in love with Raoul. He is evil to those people killed by him, he is poor in the eyes of Christine, he just desperate of love, while the bottom rock of his desire never come true.

 Here I will briefly introduce the story of The Phanton of the Opera:

Christine Daaé, she is the heroine of the novel. When she was young,her father told him many stories, the angel of music figured heavily in them. Christine meets and befriends the young Raoul. Later, Father Daaé pass away,before he died,he told Christine that when he dies he will send the Angel of Music to her.

Christine is eventually given a position in the chorus at the Paris Opera House. She get help from the phanton of the opera,but believe he must be the angel of music. Erik, a disfigured genius who was one of the contractors who built the opera and secretly built into the cellars a home for himself. Unknown to Christine, he fell in love with her.

With the help of the Voice, Christine triumphs at the gala on the night of the old managers' retirement. Her old childhood friend Raoul hears her and remembers his love for her.The ghost, Erik, he kidnaps her and decides to keep her with him forever, but after two weeks, when Christine requests release, he agrees, on condition that she would wear his ring and be faithful to him.

Christine tells Raoul of Erik taking her to the cellars. Raoul promises to take Christine away where Erik can never find her and to take her even if she resists. The two leave. But neither is aware that Erik has been listening to their conversation. The following night, Erik kidnaps Christine during a production of Faust. Back in the cellars, Erik tries to force Christine into marrying him. If she refuses, he threatens, he will destroy the entire Opera using explosives he has planted in the cellars, killing everyone in it. Christine continues to refuse, until she realizes that Raoul and an old acquaintance of Erik's known only as "The Persian," in an attempt to rescue her, have been trapped in Erik's torture chamber.In order to save them ,she agrees to marry him and kisses him. Erik, who admits that in his life he never received a kiss even from his mother , he lets her go and tells her "go and marry the boy whenever you wish, I know you love him." They cry together, and then she leaves. The Persian, being an old acquaintance, is told of all these secrets by Erik himself, and on his express request, the Persian advertises in the newspaper about Erik's death.

Some says the movie is both a tragedy and a comic,but to me, it’s a sincere love picture painted by Erik, he loves Christine, but in a twisted way. Maybe he lives too long alone, he doesn’t know how to deal with relationship between people, all he knows is that: the world owes so much to him, compared with all his suffering, his revenge means nothing. I pitied him, but moved by his deep love. At the end of the movie, you can see the scalet rose with dew on it. Secretly, his love never dare to show in the sun, only Raoul knows where the rose come from. Can you imagine it ,fall in love with someone with no pay back, Erik loves Christine all his life without any requirment. Yes, the director designed a beautiful ending for us, in the book, all we know is Erik’s fake death, but no mention of years later. I like this edition, for its different understanding of the whole story.