Les Miserable - a spoilerific review!

Kelsey

WARNING - DO NOT READ IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS

That said, anyone who's missed out on the main thrust of this story that's been around for 150 years has probably been living under a rock.

Introduction
I'm writing this from the perspective of an ex-professional singer. Les Mis is without a doubt my favourite musical, so I'm a bit passionate about it's portrayal. I've been excited about what I've seen in the leadup to its release, but wasn't thrilled with some of the casting choices, particularly Russell Crowe.

So I went in with high expectations, tempered by the knowledge that some aspects would be a let down.

Overview
Overall, this is a fantastic adaption to the screen. There are some absolutely brilliant, inspired moments in there and some truly lovely singing. The performances from some of the cast are first rate.

It's a pity the producers felt the need to put some name stars in the lead and some of the choices overall were questionable in my opinion.

One big bugbear that got me from the outset was the decision to shoot in 1.85:1. I don't think I've seen a film in anything less than the current widescreen standard of 2.40:1 in a long, long time and it really threw me in the cinema.

For those that don't know, the producers have done something they're claiming is unique in the filming of a movie musical. Rather than recording the score first, then having the actors individually record their parts in the studio, then mime to it on set, they've allowed the cast to have a greater degree of influence over the musical direction by recording them singing on set (piano accompanist in a hidden earpiece following their lead) and then conducting the orchestra to the actor's singing instead.

At some points it works, at others it's incredibly distracting and I believe contributed to some truly poor vocal performances by the leads.

Some may forgive the poor vocal performance in favour of the acting, but I'd like to point out that musical theatre has been turning in stellar acting performances for quite a long time now, thank you very much - we've got enough talent out there that we don't need to hire poor vocalists for their acting skills alone.

Similarly, the cinematography was by turns brilliant and just odd - going from realistic portrayals of 19th century France to glaring caricatures - particularly the staging of the barricade.

The addition of a new song "Suddenly, a Generic Marketing Ploy Appears" (Wait, that's not right....) written just for this production was forgettable, trite and unnecessary.

However, even with its faults, some of the performances turned in were nothing sort of spectacular and this version has transformed how I see this musical - I've always felt the first act 'made' Les Mis. This production has given me a new appreciation for the second and third acts.

Jean Valjean - Hugh Jackman
In the trailers Jackman really sold me on the 'record first, ask questions later' production ploy.

In the film, he ruined it for me. Overacting absolutely every solo he could get his hands on, his voice could go from wonderful to a ruinous pitchy mess within seconds. He destroyed one of my favourites "Bring Him Home" by belting it out and overaccted a lot of what I consider to be the critical first act. He had some stunning moments and really pulled out some great singing - when he allowed himself to forget about overacting.

Javert - Russell Crowe
This was the choice that nearly made me not see the film at all. I don't like Crowe's body of work, he grates on me in general and the trailers made it clear he was vocally not up to the job.

He surprised me - in the end, I preferred his performance to that of Jackman's.

Despite not being nearly as competent a singer, Crowe at least respected the music and his acting choices didn't negatively impact his singing. He also had some truly lovely moments, particularly in the first act with Valjean and Fantine and his voice at times has a lovely resonance.

Unfortunately he absolutely murdered 'Stars' and 'Javert's Suicide' - two critical moments in the film. He doesn't have the control (particularly as he descends down in pitch) and relies on the wrong parts of his body for support. As a result, his tone is plummy, breathy and laboured.

However, I truly enjoyed his performance as a whole - one of the few times I can say that about Crowe.

Fantine - Anne Hathaway
If she doesn't get an Oscar for this I'll eat my hat.

Glorious, incandescent, incredible performance. Marred slightly by the temptation to overact also, but overall a truly stellar, moving performance with fantastic vocals.


Cosette - Amanda Seyfried
An odd choice, Seyfried looks the part but sounds like a tweeting bird when she sings. Pretty, even beautiful sound at times - but lacks power and control and couldn't sustain her sound in the face of the more demanding songs. She didn't flub them, not even close and she wasn't the disappointment that Jackman and Crowe were. She also did a lovely job of the duets and trios.

Th

hiphipharar

Unfortunately he absolutely murdered ...'Javert's Suicide'

Huh?    :D Good review Kelsey. I'm one of the few that has ventured out from under my rock to see 'Les Mis' (a French production with the ubiquitous Gerard Depardieu as Valjean).  Musical and acting performance aside, do you think the story was adequately conveyed in this production. I know you said "fantastic adaption". This on IMDB: "every single song was recorded live on set to capture the spontaneity of the performances. Everyone involved, from Hugh Jackman to Russell Crowe to producer Cameron Mackintosh, have praised this approach as it allowed them to concentrate on their acting as opposed to lip-syncing properly. They have also praised director Tom Hooper for attempting this on such a scale; something no director has ever done before.." http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1707386/

Kelsey

Well... Les Miserables is one hell of a slog as a book. I've only read it once and frankly didn't enjoy it - it's laborious and overblown and very very wordy with massive digressions and sub-plots. Some would say the same of the musical itself, and they're right to a degree - it's structured more as an operetta, with solos (arias) and sung dialog (recitative) and it has a simplistic structure to certain elements, particularly the love story. But the musical does away with a lot of pointless babbling (discussions of sewer architecture, for example) and streamlines the story. I think that it manages to do a better job of telling the core story in some aspects - particularly Javert's moral quandary and the identification of Marius as the 'corpse' Valjean carries from the sewers. The movie's editing style I think makes an already tenuous set of circumstances a little more confusing than a staged production. Hooper isn't the only one to have done live set vocal performances, but it's certainly the largest scale ever attempted!

conikal

Good review Kelsey, but  my less professional assessment is slightly different... Even as a musical, the was too much singing in this  film. !  ??? They would have been better to employ dramatic dialogue for some of the "conversation" rather than let Jackman  and others croon through less than entertaining "singalogue" with very variable effect. It may be very worthy to claim "live" recording, but the results were less than impressive in many cases. In particular, i know HJ can perform much better than this....maybe he is just not suited to this "operatic" style and maybe they should leave the great operatic works to great operatic singers ..after all it is a musical But the girls  definitely out performed the guys this time ! PS.. Does Samantha Barks really have that small a waist..it cant be more than 30 cms  ??? :P

hiphipharar

on 1357695367:

  Even as a musical, the was too much singing in this  film. !  ???

Then you might prefer the production I saw which is purely dramatic: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0230534/ I didn't see every episode but found it fairly easy to follow. Apparently it's being repeated on SBS with episode 2 last night. See it again at http://www.sbs.com.au/films/video/13151299700/Les-Miserables-Part-2

conikal

Thanks for that, I will give it a go. guess i have been spoiled  with seeing the stage show several times in London and here, together with my wife having the official sound track CD permanently playing in her car !

Kelsey

on 1357695367:

Good review Kelsey, but  my less professional assessment is slightly different... Even as a musical, the was too much singing in this  film. !  ??? They would have been better to employ dramatic dialogue for some of the "conversation" rather than let Jackman  and others croon through less than entertaining "singalogue" with very variable effect. It may be very worthy to claim "live" recording, but the results were less than impressive in many cases. In particular, i know HJ can perform much better than this....maybe he is just not suited to this "operatic" style and maybe they should leave the great operatic works to great operatic singers ..after all it is a musical But the girls  definitely out performed the guys this time ! PS.. Does Samantha Barks really have that small a waist..it cant be more than 30 cms  ??? :P

In reality, it's not a musical - "Operetta" is a bit offputting but accurate, given the sung dialogue (recitative). And I agree that the live recording really had a negative impact in some cases, particularly in some of the recitative. The thing is that musical theatre performers have been able to act and sing for a very, very long time. The director and Jackman took far too many dramatic licenses at the expense of the music and, I believe, the ultimate enjoyment of the movie goer. There was a scene leading up to the barricade scenes where you can see Eponine unwrapping her cloth 'poor girl's corset' binding - that's where the thin waist comes from.

Kelsey

on 1357696801:

Thanks for that, I will give it a go. guess i have been spoiled  with seeing the stage show several times in London and here, together with my wife having the official sound track CD permanently playing in her car !

And yet ignoring the dubious performance choices, the music and sung dialogue is true to the original stage production. The editing also makes it harder to follow and appreciate, I believe.

RichardM

I'm not a big musical fan, but this one I'm going to see this weekend.  I've never seen the stage production, so I'm trying to go in with an open mind. I'm just hoping I can follow the story line (though this one, I have heard, does have a good musical/theatrical story line, unlike crap like Mamma Mia which just tries to mash some songs into a plot). Hugh Jackman is a larger than life character. Can't think of too many films where anyone else matters when he's on the screen, but can see how that might detract. I was questioning Crowe as a choice, but we'll see how that goes. As for Anne Hathaway, she can turn a bad character good, and a great character into a masterpiece. She can convey raw emotion in a way I haven't seen many other actors do so. Can't wait. Will post back once I've seen it.

Kelsey

Crowe's voice is good in places, it's a shame the character's two main dramatic solos are not done full justice. But he does play the role credibly and with complexity.

RichardM

Just got back from watching this film, and overall, loved it. There were only two things that annoyed me: 1) I could not stand the character portrayal of Marius (Eddie Redmayne). I just found him to be unbelievable. The close ups of his face lacked emotion and feeling compared to the others around him, which was distracting 2) At times, when a character was singing, then the camera switched to another character, the sound levels weren't matched in some places (this is most obvious in a scene where Jean Valjean (Jackman) is singing outside a doorway, and Marius and Cosette are inside the doorway (if I remember correctly). Other than that, brilliant. I really was surprised at Sacha Baron Cohen's acting too. Fun character. I thought Russell Crowe did a great job, as did Hugh Jackman. Anne Hathaway just made me want to see more of her on screen. She was brilliant.

Brett H

Marius/adult Cosette are the worst characters to portray.  I always felt sorry for my young artisits portraying these roles/characters.  They are wet and one dimensional due to the nature of their stage time and content. there are a few things the conductor can do to help but they wouldn't meet with the composer or Mr Macintosh's approval. I've not seen it yet.