Les Misérables

Hardly Master Of The House

I've been struggling over my opinion of Les Misérables since it was released back in January.  Can I start by saying that the musical/opera Les Misérables is, without doubt, one of the most fantastic Broadway musicals ever made.  The longevity it has sustained is evidence enough to how well-crafted it is.  It inspires tears and horror, whimsy and joy, pride and passion, a sense that you’re watching something that will stick with you forever.  However, in my opinion, the film of Les Misérables does not.

Now I don’t want that to sound like a overly negative criticism towards the film of Les Misérables; I did find the storyline transferred well to the screen, the songs were as captivating and entertaining as ever, and the overall theme of national and personal pride shone through, just not in the same way as the stage show.

For those uncultured swines out there, Les Misérables tells the stories of a horribly downtrodden lot of people in Revolution-era 18^th century France.  Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman), a bailed prisoner tries to start a new life by escaping the law, leading him to be hunted by tireless policeman Javert (Russell Crowe).  Whilst starting fresh, he agrees to care for the child of a dying prostitute, Fantine (Anne Hathaway).  Valjean and the child begin to care for each other, forever worried that their true identities will be uncovered.

Years later, the French Revolution begins and a whole mess of stuff happens, but I feel like I've lost your attention already.  In short: Wolverine gets chased by Gladiator, until he meets Catwoman, takes care of the blonde girl from Mamma Mia!, and then participates in one of the biggest political uprisings in European history.  Simples.  Yet it is a mystery as to why I feel Les Misérables failed to live up to my expectations.

Could it be a problem with the director? Not at all, as I'm a huge fan of Tom Hooper's previous films (The King's Speech and The Damned United), and I felt like he brought the same visual technique and personal direction to Les Misérables as he did with Speech and United.

Could it be a problem with the songs?  Hardly.  The songs were thankfully unaltered from the stage production with the odd exception or addition, and now being bellowed out by new actors and actresses with as much blood, sweat and tears as humanly possible.  Seeing these songs sung on film rather than on a stage gave Hooper an interesting opportunity to use a variety of close-ups and long shots to truly experience the pain and anguish these characters live through.  The tears and emotion of Fantine whilst singing 'I Dreamed A Dream' (AKA 'Susan Boyle's Curse') truly transformed Anne Hathaway into a beaten and homeless French prostitute and not the perky, smiley Disney princess we all know.  I feel that this was hugely due to Hooper's use of having the cast properly sing whilst filming, instead of miming and then recording the singing separately afterwards.  It made the emotion and words feel more real and heartfelt, which I'm sure assisted Hathaway onto her path of deservedly winning the Best Supporting Actress Oscar.

Alongside Hathaway bringing the audiences to tears, I personally felt that the female cast were the highlights of the film whilst the men were simply cast for their notoriety rather than their vocal quality.  Undeniably, the human-owl that is Amanda Seyfried carried Cosette’s high notes well and casting Samantha Barks as the over-looked Eponine was a wise decision as she starred in the same role in the stage production of Les Misérables.  However, the main partnership of Valjean and Javert just didn’t have the special quality I felt it needed.  I completely understand how because by being a film, Les Misérables had to feature actors rather than singers for the roles.  If there were no singing involved, I'd be more than content for Wolverine and Gladiator to chew the scenery, but no; this film requires a degree of vocal harmony, of which I felt was lacking with Jackman and certainly Crowe.

It all looks majestic and breathtaking, but personally it just lacked a certain 'je ne sais quoi'.  I'd say the equivalent was attending a Rolling Stones concert, but watching Prince paint it black instead of Mick Jagger; still fantastic set-list, stage design and overall experience, but just not perfect, mainly due to the miscast front man.

Rating: 6/10