High on a hill overlooking the Easter-colored Suburbia, a mansion of twisted shapes and dark shadows hides a singularly unusual character named Edward. An unfinished creation with alabaster skin, Robert Smith hair and BDSM leather, Edward lives alone after his inventor (Vincent Price) died suddenly leaving him with giant sheers in place of hands. Wild and quite dangerous looking, Edward is actually charming and gentle with a childlike naivety born from his years of isolation. As one doctor put it his sense of reality is highly underdeveloped.
This changes when the neighborhood Avon lady, Peg Boggs (Dianne Wiest), meets him and decides to bring him to live with her family. Their community is unaffected by change; it seems the day in, day out routine of their existence has gone untouched for eternity and that makes people anxious. The men go off to work in uniform lines and the bored housewives start to talk. Edward's arrival provides some much needed change in their humdrum lives.
In a world with color but void of substance, Edward's highly imaginative mind lends itself to the mystery he has already come with. Hedges, hair and ice make him a local celebrity and earn him the attention and affection of everyone but the one person he wants. Kim (Winona Ryder) is Peg's daughter and a lovely senior in high school. She, unlike most of the town is frightened by Edward, but this does not diminish the affection he shows for her. His love is soft, unspokenly poetic and very sad, but that's the nature of Tim Burton's worlds.
Like Edward himself, Burton is a man with something of an underdeveloped sense of reality who creates fantastical dreamscapes all for himself. Edward is absolutely a reflection of the director as the unusual and gifted outsider, misunderstood for his handicap/exceptional qualities. The film then becomes a fable, a cookie-cutter narrative for which all youth who feel alone can take solace. Edward's story does not end happily (How could it? He has scissors for hands...), but there is a sort of tranquility in that final message of living as you are despite the bored pressures of uninteresting others and from that there will be someone who recognizes your gifts and worth.
It is said that Johnny Depp, who plays our gothic hero, was not Burton's first choice. Others, including Robert Downey Jr., were higher on his list, but after seeing Depp it seems almost impossible to imagine any other person in the role. We all know that this character is what started the love affair between the actor and director, but I would argue that it was also what propelled Depp to stardom. He is graceful, sweet and hilariously out of place and accepts his character with such sincerity that it is impossible not to love the maker and the creation. I almost begrudging admit that I am a huge fan out Depp out of fear of being associated with his gaggle of 16 year old, giggling girls. However, the fact of the matter is that Depp is one of the greatest character actors that we have working and his chameleon face is inspirational. While other great actors find themselves bogged down doing the same roles over and over, Depp constantly finds some new aspect of his inner weirdo to unleash onto the world.
I love this film for it's simplicity and the brave way it has manipulated the story of Frankenstein. It is there for all audiences to laugh and reflect on the ways in which they treat strangeness, but does so without being heavy handed. It is a small gem in our modern cinema and, although not the best of Burton's work, it shall be something of his crown jewel. Beneath pastel polyester their is black lace--something about that image simply seems to resonate.
3/4
No comments:
Post a Comment