The Phantom of the Opera歌剧魅影

The Phantom of the Opera(歌剧魅影) is a 2004 film adapted from Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1986 musical of the same name. Directed by Joel Schumacher, the film was also produced and co-written by Lloyd Webber. The film was announced as early as 1989, but production only started in 2002 due to Lloyd Webber's divorce and Schumacher's busy career. It was entirely shot at Pinewood Studios, with scenarios also being depicted with the help of miniatures and computer graphics. Most of the actors had no singing experience, and had to receive music lessons. The Phantom of the Opera grossed $158 million worldwide, and received mostly negative reviews, praising the visuals but considering the film overblown and lacking emotion.

Directed by: Joel Schumacher

Produced by: Andrew Lloyd Webber

Written by:Joel Schumacher Andrew Lloyd Webber

Music by: Andrew Lloyd Webber

Cinematography: John Mathieson

Editing by: Terry Rawlings

Studio: Warner Bros. Really Useful Films Joel Schumacher Productions Odyssey Entertainment Scion Films

Distributed by: Warner Bros.

Release dates:

United Kingdom: December 10, 2004
United States: December 22, 2004

Running time 143 minutes

Country United States United Kingdom

Language: English

Genre: Drama Musical

Rating: PG-13 by MPAA(PG: paternal guidance, MPAA: 美国电影协会 ) 

Emmy Rossum as Christine Daaé

Patrick Wilson as Raoul, Vicomte de Chagny

Miranda Richardson as Madame Giry

Minnie Driver as Carlotta Giudicelli

Jennifer Ellison as Meg Giry

Ciarán Hinds as Richard Firmin

Simon Callow as Gilles André

 

 

Gerard Butler as The Phantom

Victor McGuire as Ubaldo Piangi

Murray Melvin as Reyer

Kevin R. McNally as Joseph Buquet

James Fleet as Monsieur Lefevre

Ramin Karimloo as Gustave Daaé, Christine's father.

Raoul the Vicomte de Chagny (Patrick Wilson), now an old wheelchair-bound man, purchases a coveted music box. During the auction, Raoul recognizes Madame Giry (Miranda Richardson), whom he met as a young man. Madame Giry is now an old woman, almost 50 years later. But he is distracted for the next piece, a broken chandelier now restored and electrically wired known as Lot 666. As the auctioneers display the restored chandelier, the scene goes back in time to 1870, the beginning of the story, when the opera was in its prime.

A disfigured musical genius called "The Phantom" (Gerard Butler), lives within the deepest recess of the opera house. Tormented by his scarred face due to his memories of being abused as a child. After nearly ten years of quiet obsession with the delicate, ethereal voice of Christine Daaé (Emmy Rossum) and the beautiful young soprano herself, he plots to place his protégé(被保护者，门生) at center stage.
With the Phantoms help, Christine becomes the venue's leading lady, but tragedy awaits as the young soprano has fallen for the charms of handsome noble Viscount

Raoul De Chagny, not realizing her Angel of Music is deeply in love with her. Jealous and possessive, the Phantom plots to make Christine his, resorting to stalking her wherever she goes as well as killing several people. A swordfight later ensues in the cemetery, where Raoul eventually disarms him and is about to kill him when Christine pleads for him not to. His rage seemingly augmented, the Phantom angrily states as Christine and Raoul walk away: During the night's play, he steals Christine away and avoids the trap to be captured by Raoul and the managers. After a series of tense, chaotic sequences, including dropping the chandelier and setting the opera house on fire, the Phantom imprisons Raoul, who attempts to save Christine, and threatens to strangle him to death if Christine does not choose the Phantom.

Struck by the desperation of his actions as well as a revelation of how dark his past must be, Christine kisses the phantom and displays her pity and compassion for him. Her kindness and the love in her eyes so deeply touches the Phantom that, ashamed of what he's done, he allows Christine and Raoul to leave. Just before she departs with Raoul on the boat, Christine approaches the Phantom, who helplessly tells her that he loves her, and she gives him the diamond ring from her finger. Heartbroken, the Phantom begins to cry. Christine and Raoul row away singing to each other and Christine glances back at the Phantom. After they leave, the Phantom then uses a candelabra to smash every mirror in his underground lair and he disappears behind a velvet curtain into an empty glass mirror portal, before the police arrive. Upon entering, Meg, the ballet mistress's daughter, finds only the phantom's white mask. As she takes the mask, the camera focuses on the toy monkey which then turns to the present.

Later, the scene focuses away from the monkey and dominates as the elderly Raoul rides to a cemetery where he goes to visit Christine's tomb, which reveals that she died only two years before, in 1917, at age 63. Her tombstone says "Vicomtess of Chagny" and "beloved wife and mother", suggesting she married Raoul, had children and died of old age. He lays the toy monkey at her grave site, and notices that on the left of the tombstone lies a red rose with a black ribbon tied around it, which is a trademark of the Phantom with the engagement ring attached to it and the scene fades to black.

Hugh Jackman was offered the chance to audition for the Phantom, but he faced scheduling conflicts with Van Helsing. Director Joel Schumacher had been impressed with Gerard Butler's performance in Dracula 2000. Prior to his audition, Butler had no professional singing experience and only undertook four whole lessons before singing in front of Lloyd Weber with "The Music of the Night." Katie Holmes, who began working with a vocal coach, was the front-runner for Christine Daaé in March 2003, before she was replaced with Emmy Rossum. The actress modeled the relationship between the Phantom and Christine after Suzanne Farrell and George Balanchine. Patrick Wilson was cast as Raoul based on his previous Broadway theatre career.

Warner Bros. purchased the film rights to The Phantom of the Opera in early 1989, granting Andrew Lloyd Webber total artistic control. Andrew Lloyd Weber and Warner Bros. instantly hired Joel Schumacher to direct, for Lloyd Webber had been impressed with Schumacher's use of music in The Lost Boys. They wrote the screenplay that same year. Filming was set to begin at Pinewood Studios in England in July 1990, under a $25 million budget.

However, the start date was pushed to November 1990. Production for The Phantom of the Opera was stalled with Lloyd Weber and Brightman's divorce and Schumacheris’s busy work. Until December 2002, Schumacher and Lloyd Webber re-started development for The Phantom of the Opera in. It was then announced in January 2003 that Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group had purchased the film rights from Warner Bros. in an attempt to produce The Phantom of the Opera independently. As a result, Lloyd Webber invested $6 million of his own money. The Phantom of the Opera was produced on a $55 million budget. A further $15 million was used for marketing, bringing the final budget to $70 million. Warner Bros. was given a first look deal for distribution; the studio did not sign on until June 2003, when the principal cast was chosen.

Principal photography for the Phantom of the Opera lasted from September 15, 2003 to January 15, 2004. The film was shot entirely using eight sound stages at Pinewood Studios, where, on the Pinewood backlot, the bottom half exterior of the Opera House was constructed. The top half was implemented using a combination of computer-generated imagery (CGI) and a scale model created by Cinesite.
Production designer Anthony D. G. Pratt was influenced by French architect Charle Garnier, designer of the original Paris opera house, as well as Edgar Degas, John Singer Sargent, Gustave Caillebotte, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Schumacher was also inspired by Jean Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast. Costume designer Alexandra Byrne utilized a limited black, white, gold and silver color palette for the custume ball.

The Phantom of the Opera was released in the United States on December 22, 2004, debuting at the tenth spot at the box office ranking, with $4.2 million across 622 theaters. It went on to gross $51,225,796 domestically, and with a further $107 million earned internationally, the film's worldwide total is $158,225,796. The film was released on DVD in May 2005, and was the second most successful title of the month, behind National Treasure. It had sold 3.2 million DVDs, with over $64 million in revenue by July 2005. The Phantom of the Opera was also one of the first titles of the HD DVD format, in April 2006, and was released six months later on the other high-definition format, Blu-ray.

For better or worse, Andrew Lloyd Webber's adaptation of Gaston Leroux's novel of same name — The Phantom of the Opera has done for stage musicals. While director Joel Schumacher's film turns on his typically ambitious visual verve, its new film soundtrack recording has been paradoxically focused in scope, yet beefed up dynamically via the brawny presence of a hundred piece orchestra and The London Boys Choir.

Composed by: Andrew Lloyd Webber

Performed by: Sylvia Addison, Peter Manning with Jose Tirado, Kevin McNally, Jesika Cannon, Miles Western, Murray Melvin, Lorraine Stewart etc. 

Conducted by: Simon Lee

The Music of the Night

Nighttime sharpens, heightens each sensation
Darkness stirs and wakes imagination
Silently the senses abandon their defenses

Slowly, gently, night unfurls its splendour
Grasp it, sense it, tremulous and tender
Turn your face away from the garish light of day
Turn your thoughts away from cold, unfeeling light
And listen to the music of the night

Close you eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams
purge your thoughts of the life you knew before
Close your eyes, let your spirit start to soar
And you'll live as you've never lived before

Softly, deftly, music shall caress you
Hear it, feel it, secretly posess you
Open up your mind,
Let your fantasies unwind
In this darkness which you know you cannot fight
The darkness of the music of the night

Let your mind start a journey through a strange, new world
Leave all thoughts of the life you knew before
Let your soul take you where you long to be!
Only then can you belong to me

Floating, falling, sweet intoxication
Touch me, trust me, savour each sensation
Let the dream begin, let your darker side give in
To the power of the music that I write
The power of the music of the night

You alone can make my song take flight
Help me make the music of the night

"Teen romance and operetta-style singing replace the horror elements familiar to moviegoers, and director Joel Schumacher obscures any remnants of classy stage spectacle with the same disco overkill he brought to Batman Forever."

—Jonathan Rosenbaum of the Chicago Reader

"takes everything that's wrong with Broadway and puts it on the big screen in a gaudy splat."

—Stephanie Zacharek of Salon.com

"Part of the pleasure of moviegoing is pure spectacle — of just sitting there and looking at great stuff and knowing it looks terrific. There wasn't much Schumacher could have done with the story or the music he was handed, but in the areas over which he held sway, he has triumphed."

—Roger Ebert

"It looked gorgeous, the singing for some reason has been slated a lot by critics but I thought the singing was wonderful and everyone should be applauded especially the two leads Emmy Rossum and Gerald Butler they were brilliant."

"I rate this film a 5/5 and definitely recommend it. It sent shivers up my spine and gave me goosebumps. I urge those of you who haven't seen it, to become goosebump friendly by watching The Phantom of the Opera."

Nominations

Academy Awards

the Best Art Direction, Anthony Pratt and Celia
Cinematography, John Mathieson
the Best Original Song, "Learn to Be Lonely" 

Golden Globe Awards

Best Picture - Musical or Comedy,
Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy, Emmy Rossum
Best Original Song, "Learn to Be Lonely".

Saturn Awards 

Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film
Costume Design,
Best Performance, Emmy Rossum
Art Directors Guild
the Costume Designers Guild
the Visual Effects Society. 

National Board of Review

Breakthrough Performance Actress, Rossum

Young Artist Awards

Best Leading Young Actress, Rossum

The Phantom of the Opera