Who Directed The Film Sweeney Todd And What Is It About?

“Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” was directed by Tim Burton. It was released in 2007 and is based on the popular Victorian story. The film is a musical.

Set in London, the film introduces Benjamin Barker, a barber who lives happily with his wife, Lucy and daughter, Johanna. The story begins with Judge Turpin, who is attracted to Benjamin's wife, falsely charging Benjamin and sending him away to Australia. Upon his return to London, Benjamin has a much darker look and now goes by the name “Sweeney Todd”. He moves back into his old home in Fleet Street and is distraught to learn that his wife is now dead and that his teenage daughter is being kept by Turpin. Full of revenge, Todd opens up his barber shop in fleet street above Mrs Lovett's pie shop.

Meanwhile, a young sailor named Anthony, who Todd travelled home with, falls for Johanna and makes plans for them to run away together. Whilst out at the market, Todd meets a man named Pirelli, who is selling fake hair tonic with the help of his assistant, a young boy named Toby. Pirelli later visits Todd in Todd's barber shop, whilst Toby waits downstairs with Mrs Lovett. In the barber shop, Pirelli drops the accent that he put on during the sale of his hair tonic and reveals to Todd that he knows his real identity. Pirelli then attempts to blackmail Todd, saying that in order for him to keep Todd's true identity a secret, Todd will have to pay Pirelli half of his earnings. Todd is initially worried that Pirelli knows his true identity, but as Pirelli continues to taunt him he becomes angry, which results in him murdering Pirelli in order to protect his true identity.

Meanwhile, Judge Turpin, who is planning to ask Johanna to marry him, visits Todd's shop for a shave. Todd recognises him and is just about to kill him when Anthony arrives. Distracted by Anthony's presence, Todd does not kill Turpin. Anthony reveals that he plans to run away with Johanna, which angers Turpin. Turpin leaves and Todd is frustrated that he has missed the opportunity to kill him. He comes up with the idea of murdering his customers. He does so, stopping once to spare a man whose family have accompanied him to the barber shop.

During the killings, Mrs Lovett decides to work with Todd and comes up with the idea of making the dead bodies into pies for her pie shop so that there is no evidence of Todd's murders. Todd agrees with her idea and the two work together by using a trapdoor, which Todd activates whenever he kills a customer and causes the customer to fall directly into Mrs Lovett's shop.

Whilst Todd continues to murder his customers, Johanna goes missing and Anthony searches for her. Her disappearance turns out to be a result of Turpin sending her to a mental hospital after she rejected his offer of marriage. Anthony, with the help of Todd, plans to rescue Johanna. As Todd plans to get Turpin to return to the shop, Toby, who is now living with Mrs Lovett, becomes suspicious of him. Toby voices his concerns to Mrs Lovett, not realising that she is involved with the murders. She later locks him in the basement and informs Todd that the boy is suspicious of him. Todd and Lovett then search for the boy, who managed to make his way into the sewers after witnessing one of Todd's victims coming out of the trapdoor. Toby also becomes even more suspicious when he finds parts of human bodies in Mrs Lovett's pies.

Johanna, with Anthony, appears at the shop in disguise and hides in the room. Around the same time, a homeless woman, who appears at several points throughout the film, also makes her way into the shop. Todd appears and she tries to talk to him and tells him that she recognises him. As she talks, Turpin, who suddenly appears at the shop, calls out to Todd. Eager to get his revenge on Turpin, Todd kills the homeless woman and sends her body through the trapdoor. He then prepares Turpin for a shave and kills him after revealing his true identity.

After Turpin disappears through the trapdoor, Todd spots Johanna. He does not recognise her and is just about to kill her when he is distracted by Mrs Lovett's screams from below. He rushes to her and she tells him that Turpin was still alive when he came down from the trapdoor, but is now dead. Todd glimpses at the corpses and his gaze settles on the homeless woman that he killed a few minutes before. As he moves closer to her and studies her face in the light, he realises, with horror, that the woman was in fact Lucy, his wife. Todd then looks up at Mrs Lovett, who was the one who told him that his wife was dead when he arrived back in London. Mrs Lovett, who realises that Todd has discovered her lies, tells him she loves him and that the reason that she lied was because she believes she is better for him than Lucy was. Todd gets Mrs Lovett to dance with him, leading her to believe that he has forgiven her for her lies. However, as they waltz near to an open furnace, Todd throws Mrs Lovett into it and locks her inside, leaving her to burn to death. Afterwards, he approaches Lucy's body and grieves for his loss. As he does so, Toby, having made his way out of the sewer, walks up to Todd and kills him in the same way that Todd killed all of his customers. In the final tragic shot of the film, a dead Sweeney Todd is seen leaning over his wife, his blood flowing onto her.

A demon barber on fleet street