A Film Canon

Despite lacking a strong directorial or cinematographic signature, Julian's film is a consistently well-crafted adaptation of Gaston Leroux's iconic novel. The narrative is rapid moving and exciting, mainly because characterisation is efficiently subsumed into spectacle. Virtually every space is interesting, whether as a result of set design (the Opera Cellars), special effects (the magic mirror in Christine's bedroom), costumes (the masked ball), crowd choreography (the Opera Theatre) or, most strikingly, the persistent permeability of the Opera House-Dungeon membrane. It seems as if the Phantom's hands are constantly emerging from chinks in walls, gaps behind seats and folds between curtains, while the entire building functions as a tympanum for his mysterious commands. In fact, the Phantom is most compelling when he exists as this personification of his dwelling-place. As soon as he removes his mask, the delight of his extraordinary makeup is offset by the individuation it enables, particularly noticeable in a medium in which identity is effectively facial, and most ridiculously palpable in his insistence that Christine call him by his proper name: Erik! Fortunately, his participation in the masked ball temporarily softens this revelation, as well as resulting in a short, rudimentary Technicolour sequence.