MovieChat Forums > The Phantom of the Opera (1989) Discussion > Erik really should have read the fine pr...

Erik really should have read the fine print

posted 14 years ago by HikerBoy57
3 replies | jump to latest

Did he get screwed by the Devil or what? OK, the deal was for him to become a FAMOUS composer, right? He was already gifted, as we saw from him playing before, so he wasn't asking for talent, just recognition.

Sure, says the Devil, and before you know it Erik's signing his soul away... not realizing, to his sudden horror, that he's losing his face in the bargain. Must've been in the fine print.

OK, the Devil tricked him there, but at least he has to stand behind the fame bit, right? After all, he said "The world will love you for your music..." even if Erik is hideously disfigured, he's still got that small comfort to look forward to, right?

Apparently not. Years later, he's still unknown, composing in secret, and can only get his work even acknowledged by KILLING PEOPLE. Even then, nobody except Christine really seems to appreciate it. The world is hardly loving him for his music.

Then, 100 years later, Erik is STILL trying to get his work performed. It's taken him all that time to mount what I have to assume is the FIRST staging of any of his operas, because he doesn't appear to be that well known even in the 1980s. Erik has gone all these years unloved and unknown for his music as well.

Moral of the story: if you make a deal with the Devil, always read the fine print.

The war is not meant to be won... it is meant to be continuous.

[–] HenryCW 12 years ago

No, it was not just the fine print. Obviously Erik Destler had been shortchanged by the Devil. According to the film, the Devil promised that Destler would be loved for his music but not for anything else, and that was why he was disfigured. But what evidence was there in the film that people loved him for the music?! No one had heard of his name after a century; his music was found covered with multiple layers of mildew and dust in some obscure library, and only Christine Day (and possibly the street performer at the end) liked his music. Destler should have sued the Devil for not fulfilling his part of the bargain!

[–] LunaRaven 12 years ago

I would say the moral of the story is to never make a deal with the Devil, regardless of the fine print. I mean, it's the devil. Who in the world would think the devil would play fair?

What I always wondered about this film is if Erik is supposed to be the original Faust whom the stories were based off of, and if his Marguirite is stuck in some sort of chain of reincarnation. I mean, we know Christine lived at least one prior life. This film had so much potential but it really fell short in the story department. I still love Englund's interpriation though.

"Like most hearts, it was complicated, shaded with dark and dappled with light."—Dicamillo

[–] jeff-1076 9 years ago

There definitely was a Faust parallel there. Also I don't remember the Devil including superhuman strength, speed, and immortality to the deal in that scene.