It's the story of one who turned from hating.
Saw an advance screening of Les Miserables today. Loved it!
Les Miserables is such a complex book and condensing it into a three hour musical, and then that musical into a movie was always going to be difficult. There were always going to be cuts, there were always going to be casting issues, and no one is ever going to be 100% happy with it.
I am about 87% happy with it, which is more than enough for me. Much has been made of the live singing and I was sceptical, but it actually worked really well. In terms of sound quality, if you didn’t know it was sung live most wouldn’t pick it and the point of using live singing to draw out the best performances of the actors is a valid one. It’s very clear from Hooper’s direction that he wanted this to be driven by the performances, by raw emotion and a sense of reality - les miserables in all of their gritty, painful, heartbreaking glory.
The directorial choices are interesting - yes, there’s plenty of Hooper’s style, dutch angles and stylistic, unconventional framing that I noticed in The King’s Speech - but also in terms of the “character” songs - Valjean’s Soliloquy, I Dreamed a Dream, Stars, On My Own and Empty Chairs at Empty Tables are all very focussed on the actors, in close-up with long, continuous takes. Which is interesting because the temptation would be to use the film medium to add, for example, flashback to I Dreamed a Dream or ghosts to Empty Chairs at Empty Tables, but there is a restraint and a conscious choice to allow the actor to convey all of the emotion of the song. And boy, do they ever - the result is that much of the film feels very intimate.
There are also several nods to the book, which I loved - Gavroche’s elephant home, the Café Musain, Valjean and Cosette’s hide-out in the Convent, Marius’ grandfather, the Bishop being present at Valjean’s death. All wonderful touches. I didn’t mind the switch and leaving Eponine from that part of the Epilogue and having the Bishop be present instead - on stage I think they can get away with it, as Eponine is meant to be present to represent Marius to some extent, rather than to be a reflection on who Valjean really would be seeing in that moment. But in the film Valjean never meets Eponine (Gavroche brings him the letter as it is in the book) and so having her pop up would have made no sense - she's better placed with the student's singing the reprise of Do You Hear the People Sing. The Bishop brings the story full circle and is a wonderful addition - I actually hope they incorporate this change into the show.
And the cuts actually paper over some of the plot holes - the 24601 brand is removed entirely, which makes Javert look like less of an idiot. Instead, he suspects Valjean immediately, writes to Paris and receives word that they’ve already re-captured “Valjean.” The Thernadiers are visited by Javert after Valjean takes Cosette, making their displeasure that they “let her go for a song” more plausible.
I didn’t have any qualms about the song rearrangements - the setting of I Dreamed a Dream after Fantine’s descent into prostitution worked well, and changing Do You Hear the People Sing as a call to arms on Lamarque’s funeral procession was a stroke of genius.
Valjean
Hugh Jackman is wonderful. I never had any doubt (having seen him on stage in The Boy From Oz) even though the role is not really in his roundhouse. He doesn’t have the voice of Colm Wilkinson or Alfie Boe, but he puts his entire soul into the performance and becomes Jean Valjean. There is a kindness to his performance that really reminded me of the Valjean in the book, as I find it quite easy to become somewhat disconnected from Valjean once the action moves to Paris, but Hugh keeps him very real and he embodies the nobility and selflessness in the character. There is a scene late in the piece which I found very affecting, after he has saved Marius from the barricade, and it really comes across that he has spent his last strength to do that, and he is struggling to lift a travelling case into a coach. When earlier in the movie he lifted a ship’s flagpole, the runaway cart, and dragged Marius through the sewers, to see him with nothing left and unable to lift a simple suitcase is heartbreaking. It is a small moment, but really got to me. His death scene is also wonderful - his take on Yes, Cosette/Forbid me now to die is wonderful and I loved the lyric change for On this page I write my last confession to shift from It’s a story of those who always loved you to It’s the story of one who turned from hating/ a man who only learned to love when you were in his keeping which sums up Valjean’s journey and effectively one of the major themes of the piece.
The new song “Suddenly” is beautiful, and actually adds a lot to the Valjean character - it makes his attachment and selfless love for Cosette seem far more real, and puts into perspective his willingness later on to save Marius and sacrifice everything for her happiness. The lyrics:
How was I to know at last
That that happiness can come so fast
Trusting me the way you do
I’m so afraid of failing you
imo really articulates his devotion to her. I have to say this is the best interpretation of the Cosette-Valjean relationship I have seen.
Bring Him Home was always going to be a struggle, and the choice was obviously made for Hugh not to sing falsetto. I was a bit wary at first but started to like it from about halfway though, and listening to just the vocal afterwards it’s grown on me. There is a sense of desperation to the interpretation, rather than a solemn prayer, which made it seem more real.
Cosette
I’m not sure who plays little!Cosette, but she is wonderful. Amanda Seyfried is also very good - vocally and performance wise. She does come across as everything pure and virtuous and good which is refreshing given all of the darkness going on around. Either you buy the Marius/Cosette love-at-first-sight, or you don’t. I go with it, since I prefer it to the book, where Marius is actually a real douche and only notices Cosette when she gets pretty.
But it is Cosette’s relationship with Valjean which is the most affecting - from her instant attachment to him as her rescuer from the Thenardiers, her utter trust in him even when he’s smuggling her into Paris (by hauling her over walls with rope!), to her slight rebelliousness and frustration with his secrets, to her grief at his death, it is wonderfully done. I actually think the movie gives her greater respect than the stage version - even with the little touches like adding a scene where she questions Valjean’s disappearance.
Marius
I’d seen Eddie Redmayne in My Week With Marylin and whilst I thought he was good, I was pleasantly surprised with his performance. He really has a wonderful voice, and embodies Marius perfectly - not quite at Michael Ball levels vocally, but there is nothing wanting about Empty Chairs at Empty Tables, where his voice is beautifully raw and his performance powerfully moving. He is given a bit more revolutionary zeal than perhaps book!Marius or even stage!Marius, but it’s not an unwelcome change, even if it does take away ever so slightly from Enjolras.
The inclusion of Marius’ grandfather is nice, and explains why he’s able to afford a lavish wedding to Cosette (another musical plothole!) Also Marius waking up in his grandfather’s house and the setting of Every Day there is a nice touch - again, it also makes Marius look like less of an idiot when it comes to it being completely obvious that Valjean saved him from the barricade.
Enjolras and the Students
The barricade section of the novel is my favourite, and I love all of the students. I was hoping that they would get a bit more depth to them, particularly the Enjolras-Grantaire relationship, but cuts had to be made and this was obviously some of what had to go. I suppose on stage it’s easier to get that stuff in because the actors can just play it in the background, but there is no background here.
The changes to Look Down work well in the favour of the students, and especially Gavroche. I particularly liked the new lyrics about the old revolution and King very fitting, rather than the song being taken up by whores fighting over their pitch, and the overall shift to making the latter half the students preaching new revolution.
All of the battle scenes are intense and well played - the students are not simply killed on the barricade, they are overrun, refused refuge in the neighbouring houses and driven upstairs to the Café Musain. To be honest, sometime I had a bit of trouble recognising which student was Combeferre and which was Grantaire, as they both seemed to have dark curly hair, but I’m pretty sure Grantaire was the last left standing with Enjolras, which I liked (and Combeferre was the one going spare over Gavroche's death, I think). And Enjolras’ death, back out the window tangled in the red flag was a nice tribute to the musical staging.
Eponine
Samantha Barks is wonderful - and it is nice to see her be able to play off a Marius who can actually act and sing (unlike that Jonas Brother). Although much of A Little Fall of Rain is cut, it is nicely played, and her dying saving Marius’ life (again, as in the novel) is a good change. Her Own my Own, out in the rain is just heartbreaking, as is her binding her breasts during One Day More in order to dress as a boy and join the revolutionaries.
Thenardiers
I always thought Sasha Baron Coen and Helena Bonham Carter was great casting, and they add a nice comic relief, even if most of the material cut is theirs. Master of the House is more subdued and less rousing than the stage version, but well crafted in seeing the couple as true grifters. Beggars at the Feast is also very short, and is actually quite different from the stage version - in the film they sing as they are being carried down the stairs and thrown out of the wedding, and is thus a bit more ironic, rather than it being a victory dance.
What I do have a problem is the excising of Dog Eat Dog in its entirety. I think it was either Cameron Mackintosh or Trevor Nunn who described the three songs Stars, Bring Him Home and Dog Eat Dog as the true expressions of the character's thoughts on life and God - Javert that God is rewards the just, punishes the wicked and that sin is sin which cannot be undone - Valjean in a merciful God who grants forgiveness and provides comfort in times of need - and Thenardier that there is no God. For this reason, I always found the song to be rather important, and was sorry to see it cut.
Javert
*sigh* Russell Crowe is adequate. He tries so very hard, and I think that is most of the problem. The strain to sing comes through his performance. Visually, he is the perfect Javert, and when the notes aren’t a strain he’s rather good. He’s at his best when in a scene with Hugh Jackman, with Confrontation being a brilliant moment and Crowe’s best - I even like to choice to remove Valjean’s counterpoint in the final verse so I was born with scum like you/I am from the gutter too is heard clearly. Stars and the Suicide don’t fare as well, although they don’t ruin it.
There is just a lack of depth to the performance, I suspect due to the effort put into the singing. For example - Hugh’s performance in the Soliloquy is packed with emotion, even to the point that it could be seen as slightly overcooked, but it really is a character-defining song with Valjean making the choice to turn away from hate and become a good/honest man. That decision is clearly telegraphed by the performance, and you are with Valjean all the way. The same could not be said of Stars, which is meant to convey Javert’s life philosophy, or Javert’s Suicide, which is the companion piece to Valjean’s Soliloquy, in which Javert makes the opposite choice and decides he cannot go on living. And yet, the moments leading to that choice and his reasons for making it are not equally well conveyed by Crowe, which robs the moment of its power. Obviously Javert is a far more reserved character, but there is a glassy-eyed look to Crowe when he sings that doesn’t lend itself to a great performance. But he’s alright, and I think on re-watch it will improve on me.
And I will be watching again! ASAP.
Les Miserables is such a complex book and condensing it into a three hour musical, and then that musical into a movie was always going to be difficult. There were always going to be cuts, there were always going to be casting issues, and no one is ever going to be 100% happy with it.
I am about 87% happy with it, which is more than enough for me. Much has been made of the live singing and I was sceptical, but it actually worked really well. In terms of sound quality, if you didn’t know it was sung live most wouldn’t pick it and the point of using live singing to draw out the best performances of the actors is a valid one. It’s very clear from Hooper’s direction that he wanted this to be driven by the performances, by raw emotion and a sense of reality - les miserables in all of their gritty, painful, heartbreaking glory.
The directorial choices are interesting - yes, there’s plenty of Hooper’s style, dutch angles and stylistic, unconventional framing that I noticed in The King’s Speech - but also in terms of the “character” songs - Valjean’s Soliloquy, I Dreamed a Dream, Stars, On My Own and Empty Chairs at Empty Tables are all very focussed on the actors, in close-up with long, continuous takes. Which is interesting because the temptation would be to use the film medium to add, for example, flashback to I Dreamed a Dream or ghosts to Empty Chairs at Empty Tables, but there is a restraint and a conscious choice to allow the actor to convey all of the emotion of the song. And boy, do they ever - the result is that much of the film feels very intimate.
There are also several nods to the book, which I loved - Gavroche’s elephant home, the Café Musain, Valjean and Cosette’s hide-out in the Convent, Marius’ grandfather, the Bishop being present at Valjean’s death. All wonderful touches. I didn’t mind the switch and leaving Eponine from that part of the Epilogue and having the Bishop be present instead - on stage I think they can get away with it, as Eponine is meant to be present to represent Marius to some extent, rather than to be a reflection on who Valjean really would be seeing in that moment. But in the film Valjean never meets Eponine (Gavroche brings him the letter as it is in the book) and so having her pop up would have made no sense - she's better placed with the student's singing the reprise of Do You Hear the People Sing. The Bishop brings the story full circle and is a wonderful addition - I actually hope they incorporate this change into the show.
And the cuts actually paper over some of the plot holes - the 24601 brand is removed entirely, which makes Javert look like less of an idiot. Instead, he suspects Valjean immediately, writes to Paris and receives word that they’ve already re-captured “Valjean.” The Thernadiers are visited by Javert after Valjean takes Cosette, making their displeasure that they “let her go for a song” more plausible.
I didn’t have any qualms about the song rearrangements - the setting of I Dreamed a Dream after Fantine’s descent into prostitution worked well, and changing Do You Hear the People Sing as a call to arms on Lamarque’s funeral procession was a stroke of genius.
Valjean
Hugh Jackman is wonderful. I never had any doubt (having seen him on stage in The Boy From Oz) even though the role is not really in his roundhouse. He doesn’t have the voice of Colm Wilkinson or Alfie Boe, but he puts his entire soul into the performance and becomes Jean Valjean. There is a kindness to his performance that really reminded me of the Valjean in the book, as I find it quite easy to become somewhat disconnected from Valjean once the action moves to Paris, but Hugh keeps him very real and he embodies the nobility and selflessness in the character. There is a scene late in the piece which I found very affecting, after he has saved Marius from the barricade, and it really comes across that he has spent his last strength to do that, and he is struggling to lift a travelling case into a coach. When earlier in the movie he lifted a ship’s flagpole, the runaway cart, and dragged Marius through the sewers, to see him with nothing left and unable to lift a simple suitcase is heartbreaking. It is a small moment, but really got to me. His death scene is also wonderful - his take on Yes, Cosette/Forbid me now to die is wonderful and I loved the lyric change for On this page I write my last confession to shift from It’s a story of those who always loved you to It’s the story of one who turned from hating/ a man who only learned to love when you were in his keeping which sums up Valjean’s journey and effectively one of the major themes of the piece.
The new song “Suddenly” is beautiful, and actually adds a lot to the Valjean character - it makes his attachment and selfless love for Cosette seem far more real, and puts into perspective his willingness later on to save Marius and sacrifice everything for her happiness. The lyrics:
How was I to know at last
That that happiness can come so fast
Trusting me the way you do
I’m so afraid of failing you
imo really articulates his devotion to her. I have to say this is the best interpretation of the Cosette-Valjean relationship I have seen.
Bring Him Home was always going to be a struggle, and the choice was obviously made for Hugh not to sing falsetto. I was a bit wary at first but started to like it from about halfway though, and listening to just the vocal afterwards it’s grown on me. There is a sense of desperation to the interpretation, rather than a solemn prayer, which made it seem more real.
Cosette
I’m not sure who plays little!Cosette, but she is wonderful. Amanda Seyfried is also very good - vocally and performance wise. She does come across as everything pure and virtuous and good which is refreshing given all of the darkness going on around. Either you buy the Marius/Cosette love-at-first-sight, or you don’t. I go with it, since I prefer it to the book, where Marius is actually a real douche and only notices Cosette when she gets pretty.
But it is Cosette’s relationship with Valjean which is the most affecting - from her instant attachment to him as her rescuer from the Thenardiers, her utter trust in him even when he’s smuggling her into Paris (by hauling her over walls with rope!), to her slight rebelliousness and frustration with his secrets, to her grief at his death, it is wonderfully done. I actually think the movie gives her greater respect than the stage version - even with the little touches like adding a scene where she questions Valjean’s disappearance.
Marius
I’d seen Eddie Redmayne in My Week With Marylin and whilst I thought he was good, I was pleasantly surprised with his performance. He really has a wonderful voice, and embodies Marius perfectly - not quite at Michael Ball levels vocally, but there is nothing wanting about Empty Chairs at Empty Tables, where his voice is beautifully raw and his performance powerfully moving. He is given a bit more revolutionary zeal than perhaps book!Marius or even stage!Marius, but it’s not an unwelcome change, even if it does take away ever so slightly from Enjolras.
The inclusion of Marius’ grandfather is nice, and explains why he’s able to afford a lavish wedding to Cosette (another musical plothole!) Also Marius waking up in his grandfather’s house and the setting of Every Day there is a nice touch - again, it also makes Marius look like less of an idiot when it comes to it being completely obvious that Valjean saved him from the barricade.
Enjolras and the Students
The barricade section of the novel is my favourite, and I love all of the students. I was hoping that they would get a bit more depth to them, particularly the Enjolras-Grantaire relationship, but cuts had to be made and this was obviously some of what had to go. I suppose on stage it’s easier to get that stuff in because the actors can just play it in the background, but there is no background here.
The changes to Look Down work well in the favour of the students, and especially Gavroche. I particularly liked the new lyrics about the old revolution and King very fitting, rather than the song being taken up by whores fighting over their pitch, and the overall shift to making the latter half the students preaching new revolution.
All of the battle scenes are intense and well played - the students are not simply killed on the barricade, they are overrun, refused refuge in the neighbouring houses and driven upstairs to the Café Musain. To be honest, sometime I had a bit of trouble recognising which student was Combeferre and which was Grantaire, as they both seemed to have dark curly hair, but I’m pretty sure Grantaire was the last left standing with Enjolras, which I liked (and Combeferre was the one going spare over Gavroche's death, I think). And Enjolras’ death, back out the window tangled in the red flag was a nice tribute to the musical staging.
Eponine
Samantha Barks is wonderful - and it is nice to see her be able to play off a Marius who can actually act and sing (unlike that Jonas Brother). Although much of A Little Fall of Rain is cut, it is nicely played, and her dying saving Marius’ life (again, as in the novel) is a good change. Her Own my Own, out in the rain is just heartbreaking, as is her binding her breasts during One Day More in order to dress as a boy and join the revolutionaries.
Thenardiers
I always thought Sasha Baron Coen and Helena Bonham Carter was great casting, and they add a nice comic relief, even if most of the material cut is theirs. Master of the House is more subdued and less rousing than the stage version, but well crafted in seeing the couple as true grifters. Beggars at the Feast is also very short, and is actually quite different from the stage version - in the film they sing as they are being carried down the stairs and thrown out of the wedding, and is thus a bit more ironic, rather than it being a victory dance.
What I do have a problem is the excising of Dog Eat Dog in its entirety. I think it was either Cameron Mackintosh or Trevor Nunn who described the three songs Stars, Bring Him Home and Dog Eat Dog as the true expressions of the character's thoughts on life and God - Javert that God is rewards the just, punishes the wicked and that sin is sin which cannot be undone - Valjean in a merciful God who grants forgiveness and provides comfort in times of need - and Thenardier that there is no God. For this reason, I always found the song to be rather important, and was sorry to see it cut.
Javert
*sigh* Russell Crowe is adequate. He tries so very hard, and I think that is most of the problem. The strain to sing comes through his performance. Visually, he is the perfect Javert, and when the notes aren’t a strain he’s rather good. He’s at his best when in a scene with Hugh Jackman, with Confrontation being a brilliant moment and Crowe’s best - I even like to choice to remove Valjean’s counterpoint in the final verse so I was born with scum like you/I am from the gutter too is heard clearly. Stars and the Suicide don’t fare as well, although they don’t ruin it.
There is just a lack of depth to the performance, I suspect due to the effort put into the singing. For example - Hugh’s performance in the Soliloquy is packed with emotion, even to the point that it could be seen as slightly overcooked, but it really is a character-defining song with Valjean making the choice to turn away from hate and become a good/honest man. That decision is clearly telegraphed by the performance, and you are with Valjean all the way. The same could not be said of Stars, which is meant to convey Javert’s life philosophy, or Javert’s Suicide, which is the companion piece to Valjean’s Soliloquy, in which Javert makes the opposite choice and decides he cannot go on living. And yet, the moments leading to that choice and his reasons for making it are not equally well conveyed by Crowe, which robs the moment of its power. Obviously Javert is a far more reserved character, but there is a glassy-eyed look to Crowe when he sings that doesn’t lend itself to a great performance. But he’s alright, and I think on re-watch it will improve on me.
And I will be watching again! ASAP.