Christine Daaé


Christine Daaé is a fictional character and the female protagonist of Gaston Leroux's 1910 novel The Phantom of the Opera and of the various adaptations of the work. Erik, the Phantom of the Opera and Viscount Raoul de Chagny both fall in love with her.

Character history

Biography

Christine Daaé was born in a town near Uppsala, Sweden. Her mother died when she was six years old. Raised by her father, they constantly traveled to Paris where he played the violin and she sang. They were discovered at one of these fairs by Professor Valérius, who took them to Gothenburg and then to Paris, providing for Christine's education.
Christine was extremely close to her father, who told her Scandinavian fairy-tales; the tale of the "Angel of Music" was her favorite. Christine entered the Paris Conservatoire and trained for four years to become an opera singer to please her father and Mamma Valérius, the bedridden wife of the late Professor. However, by the end of the four years, she had lost her passion for singing and the music.
When Christine arrives at the Opéra Garnier, she was described as "sounding like a rusty hinge", but one person found the beauty hidden in her voice. When Erik, the Phantom of the Opera began to tutor her, he told her that he is the "Angel of Music" of whom her father had spoken. She believed him, and he inspired her soul back into her voice. Christine debuted at a gala at the opera in place of the singer Carlotta, who had fallen ill. Christine's singing was described as "seraphic".
Christine became torn between her loyalty and sympathy for her mentor, Erik, and her love for her childhood friend Viscount Raoul de Chagny.
In the Lofficier translation of the novel, Christine's age is given as 15 years old. However, this is a mistranslation of a passage that says her heart was "as pure as that of a 15-year-old". The evidence of Christine's childhood friendship with Raoul, and her studies at the Paris Conservatoire, put her age at 20 years old.

Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical ''The Phantom of the Opera''

Christine is a chorus girl, who becomes the object of obsession, passion and love for the mysterious Phantom of the Opera. He becomes her mentor, and with his help, she is chosen to replace the company's prima donna, Carlotta. When she falls in love with her childhood sweetheart, Raoul, the Phantom kidnaps Christine in a jealous rage and drags her down to his lair. She is forced to choose between the Phantom and Raoul, but her compassion for the Phantom moves him to free them both and allow them to flee.

2004 film

The film version of the musical follows the musical's script closely, but Christine's age is reduced. Her gravemark says that she was born in 1854, and the beginning the movie shows the setting as 1870, making her about 16 years old when the events of the movie take place.

Father's name

In the novel, Christine's loving father is named Daddy Daaé. In the musical, he is called Gustave, and in Sarah Brightman's music video version of "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again", his name is Charles.

Films

The novel was adapted several times. The first film iteration was produced in Germany in 1915, with Nils Chrisander as the Phantom and Aud Egede-Nissen as Christine. Many critics consider the film of 1925 by Carl Laemmle's Universal Pictures as the most successful. The role of the Phantom played here by Lon Chaney. The same studio tried in 1943 with a sound film of Arthur Lubin to follow this success. The film used to a large extent the still existing scenes of the silent film. Claude Rains played the phantom.
In 1960, a Spanish society turned a very free adaptation of the subject under the title El Fantasma de la Operetta. In 1962, British production company Hammer Films focused on the horror genre.
Another adaptation was produced in 1974 by 20th Century Fox, who moved the event to New York and significantly altered the story to be more Faustian. This film was released as Phantom of the Paradise, with Jessica Harper in the Christine-esque role of Phoenix, and William Finley as the eponymous Phantom.
The 1989 version, Jill Schoelen played Christine opposite Robert Englund in the title role.
In 1998, Italian horror film director Dario Argento cast his daughter Asia Argento as Christine.
Most recently, in 2004, Joel Schumacher produced a film version inspired by the musical of Andrew Lloyd Webber. This iteration starred Gerard Butler and Emmy Rossum as the Phantom and Christine. Originally, there was already a filming based on the musical in the early 1990s, with the main actors of the premiere: Michael Crawford as the phantom and Sarah Brightman as Christine. Brightman was married to Lloyd Webber at the time, but shortly before the planned pre-production the marriage was broken and the filming was canceled.

Popular movies

Loose Adaptations

Basis

Several researchers claim the character Christine Daaé was based upon the real-life Swedish-born opera star Christina Nilsson, also known as Kristina Nilsson or Christine Nilsson. This claim is unverified by any official source, but it is supported by several biographical similarities between Nilsson and Daaé. The most obvious is that Nilsson, like Daaé, was born in Sweden and trained in Paris.

Actresses

The first actress to portray Christine Daaé was Aud Egede-Nissen in the 1916 German silent version by Ernst Matray, Das Gespenst im Opernhaus or Das Phantom der Oper.
as Christine Daaé