Les Misérables - the movie
I've loved the musical version of Les Miserables since the first time I saw it back in 1986. It was initially a co-production with the RSC and the cast included a number of their company, such as Roger Allum as Javert and the redoubtable Alun Armstrong as Thénardier, as well as a few 'ringers' like Michael Ball and Colm Willkinson (!) I was fortunate enough to see it twice during that initial six week run.
A few years later, after it had been running in the West End for a while, I took my mum to see it at the Palace Theatre - that must have been in the early 90s.
I've never lost my fondness for it, and my belief that it's one of the strongest musicals around - it works incredibly well on a purely musical level (I won't spout off here about the use of leitmotif and how all the themes work together) and I believe it contains some of the most emotionally intense music to be found anywhere.
Just over a year ago, Mr Caz saw either a telly programme or a DVD of the 10th Anniversary concert, and absolutely loved it - seriously, it was watched over and over Chez Caz - and the kids also got really into it. So we took out a bank-loan to buy tickets to go to see it on stage, which we did just before Christmas. That makes the fourth time I've seen it, the umpteenth time I've heard it, and although I know what's coming, I'm in floods of tears by the end. Gets me every time.
So, I had mixed feelings about the film. On the one hand, I jumped for joy when I heard it was being made and on the other I was worried in case it didn't do justice to the original. Casting - Hugh Jackman - yes, great idea; he can sing and is a big-enough name to pull in the punters. Russell Crowe? Hm. Anne Hathaway? Not sure.
Well, I can report that the film does do justice to the source material. The director has stuck pretty much to the show as is, although there are a few changes along the way which work well and make sense. Of course, the film allows for much more spectacle than a stage show, and while there are certainly some absolutely break-taking set pieces - the opening shot of the prisoners pulling in the damaged ship is awe-inspiring - the director hasn't gone mad with the extra potential offered by the medium so the whole thing still retains the feeling of intimacy you can get sitting in a theatre audience.
The overall look of the film is superb - from the opening shot, to the funeral scene, the battles; to the smaller scenes set in the chapels and cloisters.
The performances were on the whole very good indeed. Often, in cases like this, a compromise will have to be made between the actors ability to sing and their ability to bring in an audience. Fortunately, in Hugh Jackman, we have someone who can do both. In fact, it got me thinking that that might be one of the reasons it has taken twenty-five years for this film to be made; there aren't many big-name movie stars who could have played Valjean because it's such a demanding role vocally. The same is true of Javert.
I think that in a film like this, there has to be a certain trade-off between the acting and the singing, and I felt that the right balance had been struck. Jackman is no Colm Wilkinson vocally, and there were times his voice had more than a bit of a rough edge, but that was in keeping with his character and what he was going through at that particular time. Less positively, there were quite a few times when he seemed to be singing through his nose (Russell Crowe was guilty of this also)' which is a pet peeve of mine; but maybe he was on the fifteenth take at the time, so I' ll cut him some slack. He pulled off Bring Him Home, which is Valjean's big number in the second half quite well, although it didn't - for me - pack the emotional punch of other performances I've seen and heard. But in other places, like his final scenes, he had me in floods of tears, so his performance by no means lacked emotion.
The big surprise for me was how good Anne Hathaway was as Fantine. I doubt she could sustain the role eight times a week on stage, but she's got a good, clear voice, and her performance was excellent. Also a surprise was how good Eddie Redmayne's voice was - Maruis will always be Michael Ball for me, but Redmayne came a bloody good second.
The weak link though was Russell Crowe. He can hold a tune, there's no doubt, but his vocal performances lacked Javert's dynamism; whether it was ferocity in his exchanges with Valjean, the conviction and fervour of Stars and certainly his despair in the scene where he takes his own life. It's a shame, because Javert is such a big part of the whole - and with all the other star names in the cast, one has to wonder if they couldn't have cast a lesser known but vocally stronger actor in the role.
Oh, and kudos to them for including Colm Wilkinson in the cast as the priest who turns Valjean's life around, and for that little touch at the end as the 'ghost' of Valjean walks into the priest's waiting arms. For many, including me, Wilkinson IS Valjean and it was absolutely right to include him in the cast.
There were some differences in the orchestrations of course, but nothing disastrous and overall, I thought the method of having the actors sing live on set rather than synching to their previously recorded tracks worked very well. It really heightened the emotion and brought an immediacy and intimacy to the performances.
If you enjoy musicals, I can highly recommend this one, but I would say that if you've never seen the show or heard the music, it would be an idea to familiarise yourself with the story. There is more dialogue in the film than in the show, but that's not saying much as there's practically no dialogue at all in the show - everything is sung as it would be in an opera. The recording of the 10th anniversary concert is available on Spotify and is a good place to start.
A few years later, after it had been running in the West End for a while, I took my mum to see it at the Palace Theatre - that must have been in the early 90s.
I've never lost my fondness for it, and my belief that it's one of the strongest musicals around - it works incredibly well on a purely musical level (I won't spout off here about the use of leitmotif and how all the themes work together) and I believe it contains some of the most emotionally intense music to be found anywhere.
Just over a year ago, Mr Caz saw either a telly programme or a DVD of the 10th Anniversary concert, and absolutely loved it - seriously, it was watched over and over Chez Caz - and the kids also got really into it. So we took out a bank-loan to buy tickets to go to see it on stage, which we did just before Christmas. That makes the fourth time I've seen it, the umpteenth time I've heard it, and although I know what's coming, I'm in floods of tears by the end. Gets me every time.
So, I had mixed feelings about the film. On the one hand, I jumped for joy when I heard it was being made and on the other I was worried in case it didn't do justice to the original. Casting - Hugh Jackman - yes, great idea; he can sing and is a big-enough name to pull in the punters. Russell Crowe? Hm. Anne Hathaway? Not sure.
Well, I can report that the film does do justice to the source material. The director has stuck pretty much to the show as is, although there are a few changes along the way which work well and make sense. Of course, the film allows for much more spectacle than a stage show, and while there are certainly some absolutely break-taking set pieces - the opening shot of the prisoners pulling in the damaged ship is awe-inspiring - the director hasn't gone mad with the extra potential offered by the medium so the whole thing still retains the feeling of intimacy you can get sitting in a theatre audience.
The overall look of the film is superb - from the opening shot, to the funeral scene, the battles; to the smaller scenes set in the chapels and cloisters.
The performances were on the whole very good indeed. Often, in cases like this, a compromise will have to be made between the actors ability to sing and their ability to bring in an audience. Fortunately, in Hugh Jackman, we have someone who can do both. In fact, it got me thinking that that might be one of the reasons it has taken twenty-five years for this film to be made; there aren't many big-name movie stars who could have played Valjean because it's such a demanding role vocally. The same is true of Javert.
I think that in a film like this, there has to be a certain trade-off between the acting and the singing, and I felt that the right balance had been struck. Jackman is no Colm Wilkinson vocally, and there were times his voice had more than a bit of a rough edge, but that was in keeping with his character and what he was going through at that particular time. Less positively, there were quite a few times when he seemed to be singing through his nose (Russell Crowe was guilty of this also)' which is a pet peeve of mine; but maybe he was on the fifteenth take at the time, so I' ll cut him some slack. He pulled off Bring Him Home, which is Valjean's big number in the second half quite well, although it didn't - for me - pack the emotional punch of other performances I've seen and heard. But in other places, like his final scenes, he had me in floods of tears, so his performance by no means lacked emotion.
The big surprise for me was how good Anne Hathaway was as Fantine. I doubt she could sustain the role eight times a week on stage, but she's got a good, clear voice, and her performance was excellent. Also a surprise was how good Eddie Redmayne's voice was - Maruis will always be Michael Ball for me, but Redmayne came a bloody good second.
The weak link though was Russell Crowe. He can hold a tune, there's no doubt, but his vocal performances lacked Javert's dynamism; whether it was ferocity in his exchanges with Valjean, the conviction and fervour of Stars and certainly his despair in the scene where he takes his own life. It's a shame, because Javert is such a big part of the whole - and with all the other star names in the cast, one has to wonder if they couldn't have cast a lesser known but vocally stronger actor in the role.
Oh, and kudos to them for including Colm Wilkinson in the cast as the priest who turns Valjean's life around, and for that little touch at the end as the 'ghost' of Valjean walks into the priest's waiting arms. For many, including me, Wilkinson IS Valjean and it was absolutely right to include him in the cast.
There were some differences in the orchestrations of course, but nothing disastrous and overall, I thought the method of having the actors sing live on set rather than synching to their previously recorded tracks worked very well. It really heightened the emotion and brought an immediacy and intimacy to the performances.
If you enjoy musicals, I can highly recommend this one, but I would say that if you've never seen the show or heard the music, it would be an idea to familiarise yourself with the story. There is more dialogue in the film than in the show, but that's not saying much as there's practically no dialogue at all in the show - everything is sung as it would be in an opera. The recording of the 10th anniversary concert is available on Spotify and is a good place to start.