In the ALW version (movie and stage) of PotO, Eric has the following lines:
That fate which condemns me to wallow in blood
Has also denied me the joys of the flesh.
This face, the infection which poisons our love.
Now, is he simply saying that his face has prevented him from getting any (now, really- I’m sure there are prostitutes with a mask fetish who wouldn’t think twice), or does the underlying cause of his disfigurement also effect his naughty bits?
That was Michael Crawford’s interpretation. I can’t cite, but it was on an interview; he claimed that when he performed the scene in which Christine kissed him he did it as near to an orgasm as he could manage within decency because it was the closest thing the Phantom could have.
Personally I took it to mean that “the girls won’t play with me”. Considering that the deformity seemed to be limited to his face and that Chang & Eng Bunker and numerous other people far more deformed than Erik found women, it didn’t make sense to me either way.
In context, Christine has more or less just asked him if he’s going to rape her, so I’ll plunk $0.02 down on the side of his answer meaning “No, you tactless hussy, I can’t”.
For a while I assumed he was physically incapable, but later I started to think it was more that he was just really Ugly and there’s the fact he’s physcotic, and lives in a basement. But then again, there are women out there who continue to live with men who are ugly, unemployed and who regulary abuse them, so I guess the phantom could get some.
The movie doesn’t really do the deformity justice(and doesn’t make any sense when his mask gets ripped off), particulary since in the book it’s described as looking much like a skull.
The Phantom is not about to bed down with some prostitute.
He’s mesmerized by Christine – not simply because of her physical beauty, but because of her voice and ability.
I never got the sense he was impotent – his injury left him unable to woo the girls he would possibly be interested in. In other words, his standards are unrealistically high.
Now, if only he could have lived in our time, and seen Courtney Thorne-Smith married to Jim Belushi, he would have been much more hopeful.
Just a slight nickpick. The Phantom’s condition has nothing to do with Injury either in the book, the musical or the 1920’s movie. He was born looking like that. The “Acid” thing came from the badly done 1940’s version with Claude Rains.
[musical geek] Christine:
“Have you gorged yourself at last in your lust for blood?
Am I now to be prey to your lust for flesh ?”
Eric:
“This fate which condemns me to wallow in blood
Has also denied me the joys of the flesh.
My face, the infection that poisons our love.
This face which earned a mother’s fear and loathing,
A mask my first concealing scrap of clothing…”
Then there’s the line from the deleted scene of the musical in which he sings to Christine:
“Your face, which makes my love flow like Niagara…
a shame we live twelve de-cades before Viagra…
or then I’d sex you up
instead of messing French dudes up
and to the editors of Penthouse I would write…
Let Me Tell You Bout the French Babe I banged last night…”
He’s not about to bed down with a prostitute now that he’s become infatuated with Christine, certainly, but considering he was supposed to be significantly older than her, what about the intervening years? Sure, living in a sewer would limit the possibilities a bit, but he appears to have normal male urges… what’s prevented him from pursuing others?
Doesn’t the book make reference to a wife (a member of Persian aristocracy, as memory serves) married when he was working for the Shah? I’m not positive of this (and of course it was taken out of the movie where his backstory was, in a word, stupidly simplistic [the play still made mention of the maze of mirrors he designed in Persia]) but I seem to remember that he abandoned his fortune, estates and wife when he had to flee Persia.
I coulda sworn it was “unfeeling” (this is especially noticable in the cast recordering with Crawford. The man announciates well).
I never once thought that he was impotent, just a crazy dude who was obsessed (or beautifully in love) with Christine. The way I see it: he could have raped some woman or gotten a hooker, but he wanted JUST Christine. He wouldn’t rape her because he wanted her to actually want him.
It was the closest thing I had to hand to check… sorry to remind you of its existence.