Thoughts on Les Misérables
Just got back from seeing Les Miserables. That was fairly heart-wrenching. I counted my cried-up paper tissues afterwards; there were five of them. If it hadn't been for Cohen & Carter (and the occasional lagging in the plot) I might never have stopped crying.
I've never seen the play or read the book, so my knowledge of the story has come through little bits and pieces. The first was probably the Mad Magazine version (from the paperback "Mad klubbar klassikerna"), which I remember mostly for the following exchange:
"I am a poor harlot."
"You mean you actually sell your body for money?"
"Oh, no sir, I give it away for free."
"Then you are indeed a poor harlot."
And also because they named Jean Valjean Jan Baljan, which is a very silly name. :-) But the thing about Mad parodies is that as silly as they are, they usually give a pretty good idea of what the story is like, so I did have a basic idea of Jean Valjean's life.
My next introduction came through a story by Théophile Gautier about his kittens, named Enjolras, Gavroche and Eponine. (ETA: Found the story in English!) This led me to get a somewhat skewed view of who the protagonists were, and also to develop a fondness for Gavroche before I'd ever seen him.
In high school, my music teacher gave me the girls' arias to sing, and a few years later I heard Peter Jöback sing "Bring Him Home". (He must have been about 30 at the time, which made it a little hard to take seriously.) Some time after that, I fell in love with "Do You Hear the People Sing" though I still haven't heard a version that satisfied me.
Everything after that were little bits of pieces that gave me the general shape of the story, but also meant that I was seeing most of everything for the first time.
Which brings me back to the movie. I has been quite some time before I cried this much at the movies. I started tearing up with Valjean in the church, and then it happened over and over again. Every moment that was meant to tug at my heart strings well and truly did. Massive praise, first of all, to Hugh Jackman as Valjean, and to Anne Hathaway for her short bit as Fantine. Eponine and Gavroche (even kittens aside) also stole my heart away. The Thenadiers were a great relief to have between the serious bits, and while Russel Crowe tried a little too hard with the singing for Javert, there's no faulting the acting. (Also realized that this is probably who The Operative is based on.)
The revolution was a little bit hard to get into, knowing that it was doomed, but I was incredibly moved by the end of it anyway. The Marius/Cosette love story was the weakest link, but I think that's inevitable from the way they're written. Oh, and look, there's the feeling of, "Why would you throw away that kind of devotion and go for the first blonde that comes your way?" that I remember from Ivanhoe. (Reminds self that love isn't earned.)
Anyway, I couldn't help side-eyeing Eddie Redmayne a bit. You may seem very sweet and innocent now, but when all goes south, who's to say you don't become a nasty old inquisitor? *grin*
Some reviewers have complained that so much of the singing was half-whispered, but I think that made it more effective. I detest Broadway belting, it sounds like people are more interested in hearing their own pretty voices than they are in the feelings they're supposed to convey. This stuff felt real.
Well. For the most part. Like I said, I have yet to hear a satisfactory rendition of "Do You Hear the People Sing." You're angry men, try sounding like it! If Åsa Bergh kan sound angry pregnant and in concert, it wouldn't kill you to sound like you were actually trying to start a revolution.
Actually, maybe that's what killed them all, insufficient anger. :-)
All kidding aside, very touching movie, slightly lagging at times, but nowhere near as bombastic as I'd feared.
ETA: Oh, I forgot: Does Eponine have a bizarrely small waist, or is her dress just cut that way? Because it looked very small to me. But then, I bought two pairs of pants today and the only ones that fit around my waist were trailing on the floor, so what do I know.
This entry was originally posted at http://katta.dreamwidth.org/607469.html and has
comments there.
I've never seen the play or read the book, so my knowledge of the story has come through little bits and pieces. The first was probably the Mad Magazine version (from the paperback "Mad klubbar klassikerna"), which I remember mostly for the following exchange:
"I am a poor harlot."
"You mean you actually sell your body for money?"
"Oh, no sir, I give it away for free."
"Then you are indeed a poor harlot."
And also because they named Jean Valjean Jan Baljan, which is a very silly name. :-) But the thing about Mad parodies is that as silly as they are, they usually give a pretty good idea of what the story is like, so I did have a basic idea of Jean Valjean's life.
My next introduction came through a story by Théophile Gautier about his kittens, named Enjolras, Gavroche and Eponine. (ETA: Found the story in English!) This led me to get a somewhat skewed view of who the protagonists were, and also to develop a fondness for Gavroche before I'd ever seen him.
In high school, my music teacher gave me the girls' arias to sing, and a few years later I heard Peter Jöback sing "Bring Him Home". (He must have been about 30 at the time, which made it a little hard to take seriously.) Some time after that, I fell in love with "Do You Hear the People Sing" though I still haven't heard a version that satisfied me.
Everything after that were little bits of pieces that gave me the general shape of the story, but also meant that I was seeing most of everything for the first time.
Which brings me back to the movie. I has been quite some time before I cried this much at the movies. I started tearing up with Valjean in the church, and then it happened over and over again. Every moment that was meant to tug at my heart strings well and truly did. Massive praise, first of all, to Hugh Jackman as Valjean, and to Anne Hathaway for her short bit as Fantine. Eponine and Gavroche (even kittens aside) also stole my heart away. The Thenadiers were a great relief to have between the serious bits, and while Russel Crowe tried a little too hard with the singing for Javert, there's no faulting the acting. (Also realized that this is probably who The Operative is based on.)
The revolution was a little bit hard to get into, knowing that it was doomed, but I was incredibly moved by the end of it anyway. The Marius/Cosette love story was the weakest link, but I think that's inevitable from the way they're written. Oh, and look, there's the feeling of, "Why would you throw away that kind of devotion and go for the first blonde that comes your way?" that I remember from Ivanhoe. (Reminds self that love isn't earned.)
Anyway, I couldn't help side-eyeing Eddie Redmayne a bit. You may seem very sweet and innocent now, but when all goes south, who's to say you don't become a nasty old inquisitor? *grin*
Some reviewers have complained that so much of the singing was half-whispered, but I think that made it more effective. I detest Broadway belting, it sounds like people are more interested in hearing their own pretty voices than they are in the feelings they're supposed to convey. This stuff felt real.
Well. For the most part. Like I said, I have yet to hear a satisfactory rendition of "Do You Hear the People Sing." You're angry men, try sounding like it! If Åsa Bergh kan sound angry pregnant and in concert, it wouldn't kill you to sound like you were actually trying to start a revolution.
Actually, maybe that's what killed them all, insufficient anger. :-)
All kidding aside, very touching movie, slightly lagging at times, but nowhere near as bombastic as I'd feared.
ETA: Oh, I forgot: Does Eponine have a bizarrely small waist, or is her dress just cut that way? Because it looked very small to me. But then, I bought two pairs of pants today and the only ones that fit around my waist were trailing on the floor, so what do I know.
This entry was originally posted at http://katta.dreamwidth.org/607469.html and has
comments there.