The legendary tale of a barber who returns from wrongful imprisonment to 1840s London, bent on revenge for the rape and death of his wife, and resumes his trade while forming a sinister partnership with his fellow tenant, Mrs. Lovett.
In the Victorian London, the barber Benjamin Barker is married to the gorgeous Lucy and they have a lovely child, Johanna. The beauty of Lucy attracts the attention of the corrupt Judge Turpin, who falsely accuses the barber of a crime that he did not commit and abuses Lucy later after gaining custody of her. After fifteen years in exile, Benjamin returns to London under the new identity of Sweeney Todd, seeking revenge against Turpin. He meets the widow Mrs. Lovett who is the owner of a meat pie shop who tells him that Lucy swallowed arsenic many years ago, and Turpin assigned himself tutor of Johanna. He opens a barber shop above her store, initiating a crime rampage against those who made him suffer and lose his beloved family.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Benjamin Barker, arguably the most accomplished barber in all Victorian London, is married to the pretty Lucy, the two who have an infant daughter, Johanna. Lusting after Lucy, a sadistic judge named Turpin wrongfully has Barker sent to prison in Australia so that he can have Lucy to himself. Fifteen years later, Barker, who has rechristened himself Sweeney Todd, returns to London to seek revenge by killing Turpin and his accomplice Beadle Bamford, using the instruments of his trade to slit their throats. Below Todd's old barber shop is now a meat pie shop run by Mrs. Lovett, who admits to making the worst meat pies in London. She tells Todd that Lucy poisoned herself after being raped by Turpin, and that Johanna, now a young woman, is Turpin's ward. Johanna and a young honorable sailor named Anthony Hope, who Todd met sailing into London, have fallen in love with each other from afar. Much like his feelings for Lucy, Turpin lusts after Johanna and wants to marry her, and thus he will do whatever he needs to to get Anthony out of the way. Back at the barber shop, Todd changes his plans for revenge solely on Turpin and Beadle out of circumstance, which includes an encounter with a rival barber named Adolfo Pirelli and a close encounter with Turpin himself. Including Turpin and Beadle, Todd's revenge is now directed at all mankind that has wronged him. Todd is helped in his new endeavor by Mrs. Lovett, who has an interesting role in their collective scheme. Todd may reconsider his new collaboration with Mrs. Lovett if he were to learn her true motivations.—Huggo
A barber named Benjamin Barker had a beautiful wife named Lucy and an infant daughter named Johanna. A corrupt judge named, Turpin accuses Benjamin of a false crime. After years of exile, he comes to London to seek vengeance from judge Turpin. He founds his shop on top of a meat-pie shop and the shop's owner, Mrs. Lovett tells him that Turpin had taken his daughter and his wife had suicided due to Turpin's greed for her. Now, Benjamin slits throats of his customers and sends their corpses in the basement using a mechanism which was made by himself. The corpses are turned into meat-pies. All what he needs is to convince Turpin of getting a shave and slit his throat to avenge his wife's incident.—ahmetkozan
Based on true events, this darkly comic musical tale tells the story of London barber Benjamin Barker (Depp, in an Oscar-nominated performance) who returns from wrongful imprisonment to 1840s London, bent on revenge for the rape and death of his wife, and resumes his trade while forming a sinister partnership with his fellow tenant, Mrs Lovett (Bonham Carter).
In the 19th century, Benjamin Barker (Johnny Depp), a skilled barber, returns to London assuming the alias "Sweeney Todd", accompanied by sailor Anthony Hope (Jamie Campbell Bower). Fifteen years earlier, Barker had been falsely charged and banished by the corrupt Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman), who had lusted after his wife, Lucy (Laura Michelle Kelly). At Mrs. Nellie Lovett's (Helena Bonham Carter) meat pie shop on Fleet Street, he learns that Lucy poisoned herself with arsenic. Todd's teenage daughter Johanna (Jayne Wisener) is now Turpin's ward and, like her mother before her, is the object of Turpin's unwanted affections. Todd vows revenge, reopening his barber shop in the upstairs flat after Mrs. Lovett returns his old straight razors to him.
While roaming London, Anthony spots Johanna in an upstairs room of a large house singing to her birds, and a beggar woman tells him her name. Anthony is instantly smitten with her, and Turpin invites him in, only for Turpin's associate Beadle Bamford (Timothy Spall) to throw him out. Though Bamford warns Anthony that he will be punished if he is seen there again, the sailor becomes convinced that he and Johanna are meant to be together.
During a visit to the marketplace, Todd denounces a fraudulent hair tonic by faux-Italian barber Adolfo Pirelli (Sacha Baron Cohen), and humiliates him in a public shaving contest, winning £5 and gaining the attention of Beadle Bamford. Todd becomes impatient while waiting for Beadle Bamford to arrive at his shop; Mrs. Lovett consoles him when Pirelli and his boy assistant Tobias Ragg (Ed Sanders) arrive. Mrs. Lovett keeps Toby occupied downstairs, while in the parlor Pirelli reveals himself to be Todd's former assistant, Davy Collins, and attempts to blackmail him, demanding half of Todd's earnings or he will reveal his true identity to Beadle Bamford. Instead of giving Pirelli a payoff, Todd beats him with a boiling kettle. He then stuffs Pirelli in a trunk to hide him from Toby, later slitting his throat upon realizing that he is still alive.
After receiving some advice from Beadle, Turpin, intending to propose to Johanna, pays a visit to Todd's parlor to groom himself. Todd shaves Turpin while preparing to slit his throat; before he can do so, however, they are interrupted by Anthony, who bursts in and reveals his plan to elope with Johanna before he realizes Turpin is there. Turpin leaves enraged, vowing never to return.
His chance at revenge missed, Todd swears revenge on the entire world and vents his murderous rage upon his customers while waiting for another chance to kill Turpin. He is indiscriminate about his killings, believing that he is punishing the corrupt aristocracy for their exploitation of those below them, while saving the lower classes from their misery. Mrs. Lovett becomes his willing accomplice, suggesting they dispose of the bodies by baking them into pies to improve her business. Todd rigs his barber's chair with a pedal-operated mechanism, which deposits his victims through a trap door into Lovett's bake-house. Meanwhile, Anthony begins to search for Johanna, who was sent by Turpin to Fogg's insane asylum upon discovering her plans to elope with Anthony.
The barbering and pie-making business prospers financially, and Lovett takes in Toby. With both of the shops being such a success, Mrs. Lovett informs Todd of her plans to move to the seaside. Anthony finally discovers Johanna's whereabouts, and under advice from Todd, he poses as a wig-maker's apprentice, who are allowed into asylums to collect hair for wigs, thus providing him the access he needs to rescue Johanna. Todd comes up with a new plan to lure Turpin back, and has Toby deliver a letter to him telling him where Johanna will be brought when Anthony frees her.
Toby has become wary of Todd and tells Mrs. Lovett, unaware of her role in the crimes: he promises to protect her, loving her as a surrogate mother. Beadle Bamford arrives at the barber shop, informing them that neighbors complain of the stink coming out of the chimney. He is murdered by Todd, and Mrs. Lovett informs him of Toby's suspicions. The pair search for Toby, whom Mrs. Lovett has locked in the basement bake-house to keep him out of the way. Toby is nowhere to be found, having hidden in the sewers after seeing the Beadle's body drop into the room from the trap door above, as well as finding a toe in a pie. Meanwhile, Anthony frees Johanna and brings her to the shop in disguise, while locking an asylum staff-member in a cell, where it is implied, the inmates kill him. In Todd's shop Johanna hides herself in a trunk in a corner of the room while Anthony finds a coach.
The insane beggar woman who has been pestering Todd, Lovett and Anthony throughout the film makes her way into the shop seemingly searching for the Beadle. As Todd enters, she claims that she recognizes him. Just then, Turpin's voice is heard. Todd quickly slits the beggar woman's throat and deposits her body through the trap door. As Turpin enters, Todd explains to him that Johanna had repented, and offers a free shave.
Todd reveals his true identity to Turpin and stabs him in the neck numerous times before finally slitting his throat and dropping him through the trap door, creating the biggest bloody mess of the film. As Johanna peeks out of the trunk, Todd spots her and prepares to slit her throat as well, not recognizing her as his daughter. Upon hearing a scream from Lovett, he is distracted. He tells Johanna to "forget my face" and leaves her alive in his shop (presumably where she continues to wait for Anthony).
Todd runs to the basement, where she tells him that Turpin had still been alive and tried to grab at her dress before bleeding to death. Viewing the corpses in the light of the bake-house fire, Todd discovers that the beggar woman was his wife Lucy, whom he had believed to be dead based on Lovett's account of the poisoning. Todd realizes that Lovett knew Lucy was alive, and she attempts to convince him that she misled him for his own good, confessing she loves him. Todd pretends to forgive her, waltzing maniacally with her around the bake-house before hurling her into the open furnace and locking her in. He returns to Lucy and cradles her dead body in his arms. Having witnessed the death of the only mother figure he has ever had, an angry and vengeful Toby then emerges from the sewer, picks up the discarded razor and slits Todd's throat (Todd appears to hear Toby, but simply tilts his head upwards, allowing Toby to kill him).
The film ends with Toby walking away as Todd bleeds to death over his dead wife.
