After weeks of revision, essay writing and recovery, I finally got round to having time to watch films again (it also doesn't help that the student cinema has had a few Peter Jackson weeks...I really don't want to see King Kong again). So I figured that the best way to start off the new year was to go and see the most anticipated movie musical ever to be released. I have no shame in saying that I may be a bit of a Les Mis geek. I have seen it several times in the West End and was essentially brought up listening to the soundtrack as it was my Mum's favourite musical and so, naturally, it has also become one of my favourites. Therefore it is probably understandable that I was a bit trepidatious about seeing it. Even after one of my friends saw it and told me it was incredible, I still had my reservations. Let's face it, it had a lot of expectation and hype to live up to!
At the beginning of this rather epic story, a French prisoner, Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman), is being released from jail by the ruthless officer Javert (Russell Crowe), who promises to keep an eye on Valjean and make sure he is always reminded of his crimes. After struggling to find work, Valjean is helped by a priest and decides to change his life, break parole and use his new faith to become a good man. A few years later and with a new identity, Valjean has become a factory owner and mayor of a small town. One of his workers, Fantine (Anne Hathaway) is fired from her job and slowly spirals into despair and hardship, becoming a prostitute in order to support her daughter Cosette. After finding Fantine in a bit of a state, Valjean promises to take care of Cosette and take her away from the Thenadiers, the thieves she is currently staying with (Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter) but not without being discovered by Javert and having to go on the run. Several more years later, the story is picked up when Cosette (Amanda Seyfried) is an adult with her and her new father now living in Paris where a peasants revolt is set to take place, led by the students including Marius (Eddie Redmayne) and his friend Eponine (Samantha Barks) who just happens to be the Thenadiers daughter (it's a small world). Even though this only takes us about a third of the way into the film, I will leave it there as I wouldn't want to give away what happens and who dies (or more likely those lucky people who manage to survive).
For starters, anyone going into this expecting a typical movie musical that will make you laugh, sing along and leave with a smile on your face, think again. This is NOT a happy musical! If you manage to get through it without crying then you may have a heart missing. One of my friends cried pretty much all of the way through (which is quite impressive for a 3 hour movie). Without a shadow of a doubt the most heart wrenching moment is the song 'I Dreamed A Dream' sung by Anne Hathaway when Fantine is well and truly at her lowest low. Lets just say there is a reason she is winning every award going at the moment. For someone who is on screen for about 15 minutes, Anne Hathaway well and truly steals the film. This is no mean feat when you take into consideration the standard of performing from all of the other actors, and whilst some may not be great singers (*cough* Russell Crowe *cough*) the overall acting is pretty incredible. Other stand out moments go to Hugh Jackman, just generally but also specifically his transformation from a broken prisoner to a successful business man (apparently he didn't drink water for 36 hours to make him look that awful), Eddie Redmayne, who I had no idea could sing as well as he can, and Samantha Barks' performance of 'On My Own'.
The decision to record all of the singing live whilst they were filming was definitely the best thing to do. I understand that when doing it this way you may not get the most perfect version of the song or every note superbly hit, but that's not the point. In a musical where every performer is doing cartwheels while singing an insanely high note, it may be a good idea to pre-record the song so they don't sound like they are dying, but with Les Mis, sounding like they are dying is quite often what they are going for. This a musical where the emotion needs to be in the songs for it to work, and a pre-recorded soundtrack just wouldn't have looked or sounded right in this context. Also, the decision to include a new song, 'Suddenly', definitely helped to tie up story-lines that are maybe glossed over a bit in the stage show.
Tom Hooper, the director, also really managed to get across the epic nature of the musical and story very well. From the vast opening scene of the prisoners pulling a boat into the docks to the final barricade scene with all of the students waving their flags, this film is truly epic. However, this is perfectly balanced with the close up intimacy of some of the songs, with Hooper often choosing to do some of the slower songs in just a few takes or even one shot.
If I were to have to nitpick and choose some things that weren't great, I think the obvious one would be Russell Crowe's singing. Personally I don't think he was bad at all, but when you put him next to a Broadway professional like Hugh Jackman, the fact the he is not as strong a singer is blatantly obvious. Also, the Thernadiers were not portrayed as well as I feel they are in the stage show, but that's probably just a personal preference.
Overall, I would say that this film deserves the hype and build up that it was given, and any awards that it or its stars win are equally merited. If you have seen the stage musical and are a fan it will not let you down, and if you haven't seen it before and have no idea what to expect, be prepared to cry...a lot...but in a good way.
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