Other mistake: When the opera cast is rehearsing "Hannibal," Carlotta is asked to sing "Think of Me" for the new owners. She begins singing the song in the musical key of F Major, but is then interrupted by the falling oleo. A while later, when Christine is singing this same song for the owners (to fill in for Carlotta), she begins singing the song in the key of D Major (which is 2 whole musical keys lower). Assuming that's the result of the Phantom's tuition (there's no other plausible explanation for the change), the orchestra conductor of the opera couldn't know that Christine needed to sing the song in a lower key. This is also the case since it seems that everyone nearby is very surprised by Christine's beautiful singing, because they had never heard her sing a solo before.
Continuity mistake: As Carlotta is saying "I hope he is as excited by the dancing girls as your new managers", she holds her hand up with one finger in the air, but in the next shot, her hand is near her waist with no fingers protruding. (00:12:15)
Audio problem: During the end of "Prima Donna" when everyone sings "Light up the stage." you can see some actors and actresses singing the word "light" but you don't actually hear it until a few seconds later.
Continuity mistake: When Christine approaches her family mausoleum, behind her you can see an above-ground tomb that has chains around the top cover. There is something on top of the cover that looks like a bouquet of flowers covered in snow, and there is not a lot of snow on the tomb. Later, when Raoul and the Phantom are fighting and the Phantom slashes Raoul's arm. Raoul falls backward onto this same tomb, and when we see him from above, rising, the chains on his side are missing, and there is suddenly lots more snow all over the tomb. The bouqet (or whatever it is) is missing. However, in the next shot that shows the same tomb, now there is much less snow, the bouquet is back, and one-half of the side chains have reappeared. You can see the continuity by the tree at the head of the tomb, and the triangular wreath laid at the head of the tomb. (01:39:05 - 01:40:45)
Visible crew/equipment: During the second kiss, the shadow of a camera is seen on Christine and the Phantom. It's especially obvious behind his neck. (02:06:05)
Visible crew/equipment: When Christine and Raoul are riding the horse out of the graveyard, it is obvious that Emmy Rossum has been replaced by a stunt double.
Continuity mistake: At the end of the first part of Don Juan Triumphant, Carlotta throws her right arm towards her back right, holding a fan. In the next shot, her right arm is at her side and her left arm is pointing forward to her left. (01:47:20)
Continuity mistake: When Christine is in the Phantom's lair for the second time, after the Phantom puts the veil on her head, the camera has a close up of him (during the lines 'an eternity of this before your eyes') and the back of Chirstine's head can be seen not wearing the veil. When the camera pans back to her, she is wearing the veil and removes it a little later.
Continuity mistake: When Christine is taken to the Phantom's Lair the first time (at roughly 38 minutes into the film), as the Phantom sings, he leads her by the hand from the gondola to the "Christine" mannequin. On their way, near the pipe organ is a Roman-style bust of a man's head with a dark strip of cloth askew over its left eye. When the Phantom sings "Let your soul take you." and "Savor each sensation." the strip of cloth is wide (like a sweat band), but when he sings "Let the dream begin." a 10th of a second later, the cloth has become very narrow - thin, like a bow tie. It turns back into the sweat band version again after Christine's nap.
Continuity mistake: When Christine enters Carlottas dressing room after Hannibal, there are two stands of roses by the door. After she's changed there is only a small vase of roses, but the stands must have been way too heavy for her to move herself.
Continuity mistake: When the Phantom first brings Christine to his lair, just as he walks up the steps note the four piece candelabra in the background, it has candles much smaller than they appear later in the scene.
Continuity mistake: After "Think of Me", Meg is pushing through the crowd backstage, searching for Christine and she finally makes her way out of the crowd. Their actions repeat in a shot from a different angle. The next shot is a close up of Andre sharing a cigar with a woman and in the background, you can see Meg pushing through the crowd again, even though she already passed Andre. (00:22:00)
Visible crew/equipment: During the graveyard swordfight, the Phantom's stuntman sometimes visibly replaces Gerard Butler. He has thin and very arched eyebrows and the mask doesn't fit properly around the nose. He is the same stuntman used when Raoul jumps down the hole after the Masquerade. (01:40:45)
Continuity mistake: In the last part of the movie, when Raoul is all tied up, the Phantom pulls the rope around his neck, and mucous comes out of Raoul's nose. The camera turns, and then goes back to him, and the mucous is gone.
Audio problem: When Christine and Raoul leave the lair, singing to each other, she turns her head back toward the Phantom as we hear her singing 'each night, each morning,' but we can see she isn't saying anything: her mouth and lips aren't moving. It can't be that the Phantom is remembering the rooftop scene, because you hear the voices echoing in the cave, resonating differently as they move away. This is confirmed by the screenplay (p. 140 of "The Phantom of the Opera Companion"), which states that the Phantom hears them singing in the distance. (02:09:40)
Continuity mistake: The lower lid of the Phantom changes from looking normal (when he's got his mask on) to deformed (when he takes the mask off). No makeup could hide that and considering the size of the mask's holes, this should be easily visible at all times.
Continuity mistake: When Christine first enters the Phantom's 'lair', one perfectly shaped lock of hair is on her left shoulder. Then, throughout "Music of the Night", it gets thinner, longer, and less curly two or three times. Then it goes back to its original thickness, length, and amount of curl.
Continuity mistake: The aspect of the Phantom's deformity undergoes a major change between when Christine takes his mask off on stage and the later parts of the movie. (01:55:25 - 02:00:00)
Continuity mistake: As Carlotta is finishing the Hannibal song, she looks with contempt at André and Firmin and puts her hands on her hips, but in the next shot, her hands are by her sides. (00:11:45)
Factual error: In the shot where Raoul and Christine are standing at the window of the Swarovski shop, the window shows the current Swarovski logo of a swan. In the time the movie is set, they still used the Eidelweiss as their symbol; it was not changed until the late 1980's.
Answer: First, it is established in the movie that he is dependant on Madame Giry and it is presumed she does his shopping for him. As for learning skills, it is established he is a genius and one can assume he is very well read. Additionally, for single handed skills, like driving a carriage, he can possibly go out at night to learn them. As for his living conditions, the human body adapts well to continuous conditions, it is how the people in Siberia can tolerate lower temperatures better than those who live close to the equator. Lastly, one can easily assume he has other (warmer) clothes that he wears off camera.
OneHappyHusky
There is a character simply known as 'the Persian' He has known the Phantom his whole life and would have taught him horse driving. In the book, the Phantom has a life before the opera house where he would have learned fencing and torture. Also, the phantom knows all the secret passages. When it's cold he leaves his lair and lives someplace warmer.
You're totally right but also, in addition to your mention of The Persian, in the book it is he that is the Phantom's only "friend" or whatever but in the movie there is no Persian exactly but the two Characters Madam Giry and The Persian from The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston L. Are both combined as one, to be know as Madame Giry in the 2004 flim.
debbi.ee