Highly anticipated, Tom Hooper’s Les Miserable had a lot to live up to as a musical. Considering it was based on the classic musical from the 80s (which in turn was based on the classic French novel from Victor Hugo), this should come as no surprise. The movie featured Hugh Jackman in the lead as Jean Valjean with Russell Crowe as Javert, Anne Hathaway as Fantine, Amanda Seyfried as Cosette, and Eddie Redmayne as Marius. And the cast was rounded out by Sasha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter as Mr. and Mrs. Thenadier with Samantha Barks as their daughter Eponine and Colm Wilkinson in a cameo as the Priest.
1812 was the year of this film’s beginning with Jean Valjean being given his parole from prison. This led to him being given a second chance by a priest and eventually becoming mayor of a town. Over time, he indirectly contributed to a young woman being forced into prostitution. And to make up for his mistake, as she was dying he promised to take care of her daughter. This led to him getting involved in the French Revolution, as well as his identity being discovered by Javert (who had been chasing Valjean for nearly 20 years).
Of course, since this was a musical the thing that needs to be talked about most is the music. Having previously seen the stage version, it should come as no surprise that I was already a fan of the music. But Anne Hathaway’s performance of “I Dreamed A Dream” is worth singling out for praise and so is Samantha Barks’ performance on “On My Own,” even if both songs were sung on the same melody. And speaking of both Hathaway and Barks, they both deserve tremendous praise not just for their singing but also for their acting (as do both Redmayne and Jackman). Hathaway is already considered to be the frontrunner for best supporting actress as the Oscars, but I think Redmayne also deserves a nomination for acting). Beyond that, there wasn’t really anything major to criticize the movie for. Some people may not like that the whole movie was told through song (with very little dialogue), but that was the same way the stage musical was. And I admit, it did take a little while getting used to but there were enough good songs to make up for it. Also, being a historical epic the pacing could be a little slow (especially early on) but like I said, nothing major.
That being said, I thought this movie was brilliant. Is it the best movie of 2012? I wouldn’t know, for I haven’t seen every movie released this year. And is it perfect? I can’t say it is, but I can say that it is pretty damn good. Maybe not deserving of five stars, but it’s definitely deserving of four. So I give it four out of five stars.
I hated this film primarily because of Tom Hooper’s suffocating direction. The material called for a grand, majestic film, and all Hooper gave us was medium to extreme close-ups. His dedication to showing off the actors live-singing created a boring film in terms of cinematography. There was no sense of space in Les Miserables. Characters would appear out of thin air because we would be given no indication of their presence or arrival. He constantly shifted between stationary, dollied, and handheld cameras on a shot to shot basis, creating a lack of flow and unnecessary disorientation.
As for the performances, I agree about Hathaway and Barks, but do not think that all the actors should be commended. Russell Crowe was dreadful as Javert, unable to hit the high notes without sounding like his tongue was swollen. Helene Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen were awful as the innkeepers, their words unintelligible through garbled music.
This is a film that will receive many Oscar nominations, and deserves only one: Anne Hathaway for Best Supporting Actress.