The Phantom of the Opera DVD box set opens at the Paris Opera-House in the late nineteenth-century, with the production of “Hannibal” (the elephant-tamer) coming to a halt when its temperamental star, La Carlotta (Minnie Driver), walks out during a dress rehearsal after threats from the mysterious Phantom (Gerard Butler), who has haunted the opera house for years. The theatre’s inexperienced new managers (Ciarán Hinds and Simon Callow) are at a loss, so they replace her with the young ingénue Christine, who has been taking singing lessons from this “opera ghost,” all without ever seeing him, yet believing him to being an “Angel of Music.”
Christine mesmerizes the audience and her new managers and quickly dethrones the arrogant diva, capturing the heart of her unseen tutor, whose facial deformities resulted in him being caged as a freak-show attraction for the first quarter of his life. But she also finds herself the object of affection of a childhood friend, the theatre’s wealthy patron, Vicompte Raoul de Chagny (Patrick Wilson). Torn between the striking Raoul and enigmatic Phantom, Christine sets off a rivalry between the two men for her love.
The music is still a delight. Every song is a rousing piece made up of either haunting lyrics (Christine sings of the “angel” as being sent by her deceased father) or cheerful fluffiness (one number has the two managers singing of the trouble the Phantom is causing). Even if you’ve never heard the songs or seen the show, you may be tempted to sing along.
The Phantom of the Opera DVD box set, much like the play, is about what lies beneath the surface. Beneath the opera house lays the dark, unsettling Phantom, and beneath his silky, featureless white mask is a face horribly deformed. Yet, for all of its references to the deceptions of appearance, there’s actually nothing underneath the surface of this film.
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