One Wedding, One Groom, Two Brides...........

Tim Burton's Corpse Bride (often abbreviated as Corpse Bride) is a 2005 stop-motion-animation film based loosely on a 19th century Russian-Jewish folktale version of an older Jewish story and set in a fictional Victorian era village. It was directed by Tim Burton and Mike Johnson, and filmed at 3 Mills Studios in London. Johnny Depp led an all-star cast as the voice of Victor and Helena Bonham Carter (for whom the project was specially created) as the voice of the title character. This is the first animated film in which Johnny Depp has been a voice actor.

The story is set in a cold, gloomy Victorian era town, a parody of aristocratic Europe. A nervous young man by the name of Victor Van Dort, son of nouveau riche fishmongers Nell and William Van Dort, is due to be wed to beautiful young Victoria Everglot, daughter of bankrupted hereditary aristocrats Maudeline and Finis Everglot. Victor isn't too keen on the idea of an arranged marriage with a woman he's never met before until he meets the charming Victoria face-to-face. The two hit it off from the start despite their earlier misgivings, falling in love with each other almost instantly. But after botching the wedding rehearsal (and accidentally setting Victoria's mother's skirt on fire in the process), Victor is banished by Pastor Galswells and forbidden to return until he can memorize his wedding vows properly.

The morning of the rehearsal......

Mayhew, an employee of the Van Dort's fish business, and the family carriage driver. He has a persistent cough (aggravated by his constant pipe-smoking), which proves fatal during the second half of the film.

The main antagonist of the film, Lord Barkis is a mysterious individual whom no one knows when he strolls into town. When he first arrives, he hears of rehearsal of the wedding between the Van Dort and Everglot families and attends it under the guise of a relative who had mistakenly arrived too early for the wedding, presumably to seek lodgings and food from the two distinguished families.

Victor's father, he appears far more concerned towards Victor's wellbeing than his wife, the latter who is constantly influencing his actions. He appears easily excitable and generally kindly and good-natured, and works as a successful fishmonger.

Victor's mother, she is often seen with expensive clothing, some kind of animal around her neck, and a folding fan.

........She dislikes her carriage driver Mayhew for his persistent coughing fits...........

Along with her husband, she dreams of standing alongside the upper echelons of society, believing that she deserves more than a fish merchant's life.

Victor is a bashful, shy, good-hearted young man who hails from a family of nouveaux riches, or "new money". Victor isn't too keen on the idea of an arranged marriage with a woman he's never met before ..........His social-climbing parents have made a fortune, but hail from humble fish-mongering origins. They are eager to join the ranks of the aristocracy through the arranged marriage of their son with Victoria Everglot, the daughter of a titled, but penniless, family.

Lord Everglot, Victoria's father, a land-rich, cash-poor aristocrat whose fear of being forced penniless into the streets leads him to arrange a marriage for Victoria as to save their family from the poorhouse. Finis displays hardly any emotion throughout the entire film and is generally quite hard faced much like his wife and finds it very difficult to smile.

Victoria is the daughter of Maudeline and Finis Everglot, a repulsive couple in a "sad, sad state of affairs." Victoria's arranged marriage to Victor was supposed to be her parents' "ticket to [their] rightful place", which means that Victor's family's money would save them from the poor-house.

While Lady Everglot the dominant person in hers and Lord Everglot's relationship, Maudeline is Victoria's austere and hard-faced mother. She feels that love has nothing to do with marriage, as marriage is simply a partnership. She and Finis deny loving or even liking one another.

The Van Dorts meet the Everglots

Victoria is an unassuming but cheerful and good-natured person despite her somewhat unpleasant family.

She also appears to be very beautiful as Victor immediately falls in love with her as she does with him. The two hit it off from the start despite their earlier misgivings, falling in love with each other almost instantly.

The wedding rehearsal...

......Banished to practise his vows

Taking a Jewish folk tale as its inspiration, the film tells the story of a touching romantic triangle between the nervous Victor, the downtrodden Victoria, and the Corpse Bride herself, Emily. Victoria’s parents only want her married so they can get to Victor’s money, while Victor himself doesn’t seem ready for marriage, as we witness in an amusing rehearsal scene where he almost burns the house down.

A grave misunderstanding..........

Meet the Corpse Bride!!!!

You may kiss the Bride!!!!

When Victor goes into the woods to practice his vows and inadvertently proposes to the Corpse Bride, he finds himself whisked away with her to the land of the dead. Victor is terrified at first and just wants to escape,.........................

Finding joy again !!!!!

A grave introduction!!!!

The origin of the folktale can be traced back to Rabbi Isaac Luria of Safed, a 16th century mystic. In the original folktale, "The Finger", the "corpse bride" in question is not a deceased woman, but a demon. In the 19th century Russian-Jewish adaptation, a woman is killed on her wedding day and is buried in her wedding gown. Later, a man on his way to his own wedding sees her ring finger poking out of the ground and thinks that it's a stick. As a joke, he puts his bride's wedding ring on the finger and dances around it, singing and reciting his marriage sacrament. The woman's corpse emerges from the ground (with the man's ring on her finger) and declares herself married to the man.

The folktale adaptation was born of the anti-Jewish Russian pogroms of the 19th century, in which young women were said to have been ripped from their carriages and killed on the way to their weddings. The folktale usually ends with the rabbis deciding to annul the corpse's marriage and the live bride swearing that she will live her marriage in the corpse's memory, part of the Jewish tradition of honoring the dead through the lives and good works of the living.

The allegorical theme of the two brides, one living and one dead, occurs from ancient times in Christian (especially monastic) spirituality. The first evidence comes from the fourth century. It focuses on the differing meanings of the English word "love", which come out better in Latin. Christian love, or "caritas" (hence the English "charity"), is the willful seeking for the good of the other person in all ways. "Amor", which is the main meaning of the word in modern English, concerns the emotional and passionate attraction to the other person. In the allegory, "caritas" is the living, shy, quiet bride (i.e. "Victoria"), whereas "amor" is the dead, extrovert, flagrant bride (i.e. "Emily"). The lesson is that "amor" by itself is selfish and essentially dead, and can only be redeemed by making way for (and being incorporated into) "caritas", which is the true love for the other.

A recurring image through the movie is that of a blue butterfly, ranging from a drawing Victor makes at the beginning, using a live model, to the Corpse Bride herself dissolving into mass of butterflies. This resonates with a European folktale in which a brutally murdered woman would be reborn as a butterfly.