The Phantom of the Opera

Dario Argento has for long nourished a dream of making a film of Gaston Leroux’s classic story of the young opera singer Christine, who becomes enchanted by the phantom lurking amongst the shadows of the opera-house. We can sense the theme already in 1987 in his film Opera which was the fruit of a broken down performance of Rigoletto at La Scala, but it was not until he achieved a well-deserved comeback with the thriller The Stendahl Syndrome that he could see the project through. Filmed in Budapest with one of the largest budgets Argento ever had, he has approached the original story with respect. The framing of the story is a romantic costume drama with delicious photography by Ronnie Taylor, but here are obviously also the slightly bizarre elements that are so significant to the Italian master.Dario Argento takes us on an underground journey to the horrific stray-paths of opera which at the same time symbolise our unconscious where nightmare becomes reality. Here we find Julian Sands, who together with Asia Argento make up the classic couple of the beauty and the beast in an impossible love pact which is doomed to fail.

Medverkande
Asia Argento, Julian Sands: Producent
Claudio Argento: Manus
Gérard Brach, Dario Argento: Foto
Ronnie Taylor: Musik
Ennio Morricone: Talat språk
Italian