Movie Review of "Les Miserables"

[philosoraptor42]

Les Miserables (2012)

Normally when you write a review, you kind of want the final verdict to be a bit of a surprise. If someone doesn't want to wait for the surprise they can rush to the end, but to really understand the final verdict you often need the commentary.

This time I'm shifting that tradition and telling everyone straight off that my rating for this film is *drumroll*:

C-

If I'm really satisfied by a film I'll give it an A. If I think it was pretty good, I'll give it a B. C-, however, is my "your mileage may vary score". It often means that I can recognise that a film is not exactly bad, but for one reason or another it didn't appeal to me personally. C+ is a little different because it means I think there was some small issue that, if corrected, would change my opinion. I cannot say that here.



Les Miserables was just totally NOT my sort of thing. I've never seen the musical on stage and might well have had a different impression there, but judging it as a movie I cannot say that it appealed. However, I can also recognise that certain scenes and performances were incredible and the film benefits from an impressive cast. It's also beautifully shot.

So from this point on I suggest that you disregard my score, because what it comes down to more than anything is "would I enjoy a musical like Les Miserables in the first place?" For me, it seems the answer is no. Ignoring that personal issue though, I do have a number of things to say about aspects I liked and disliked, and those do not always line up with what I heard before I went in...




No doubt some are asking, why did you even go to this if you knew it wasn't your sort of thing? Well, I wasn't going to the cinema alone and I was strongly open to the idea that I might love it, particularly next to someone who was familiar with the stage version.

I have loved musicals before, though normally not as films. I have previously enjoyed stage shows of "My Fair Lady", "Oliver" and "The Producers", but I couldn't really say that I was so fond of the film versions of those musicals. As far as film musicals go, the only ones I think I really enjoyed were "8 femmes" and "Bugsy Malone" which were both written as films first and, in the latter case, became stage a stage show later.



Les Miserables isn't as upbeat as any of the musicals I've mentioned. Perhaps this seems obvious from the name. I was less upset by the sadness of the film (and must admit to often feeling emotionally stirred by the songs and performances), than by the way the songs rarely seemed to have clear choruses. Even in songs with clearly repeated sections, they didn't always feel like a chorus. It is the style of the music more than anything else that held me back from enjoying Les Miserables, with the tendency to have long-winded songs where characters go on about their situation at that point in time being often very unappealing.

While overall this musical didn't really appeal to my tastes, there were certain parts that I enjoyed very much. So without further ado, here are my top 3 favourite parts of this year's "Les Miserables" movie.

1. Anne Hathaway's shocking sequence



This isn't a matter of picking just one song. It's a whole section of the film reaching a peak with "I dreamed a dream". Anne Hathaway notably upstaged and out-sang the majority of the cast. To say "favourite" feels rather out of place though. The scene with Anne Hathaway was absolutely horrible. In my "We Need To Talk About Kevin" review I said I was a little overly disturbed by some of it. This scene really gives that horror film a run for its money. It is unrelentingly tragic. Still, it is also performed very impressively and that the film never flinches from showing the full nightmarishness of the scene is to its credit.

2. "Master of the House"



This was much closer to the sort of musical number I'd normally expect, but that's not really why I'm mentioning it. The jolly style of this song felt out of place in the unending misery and introspection in the rest of the film. Sure the contrast in tone between "Oom-Pah-Pah!" and "As Long As He Needs Me" in the musical "Oliver!" is pretty big, but there wasn't the same feeling like they must belong in different shows. I'm also not sure how much I liked the song "Master of the House" itself.

No, it is the performances and the choreography that appealed to me here. Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen are very expressive and fully invested in their roles as the somewhat darkly comic Monsieur and Madame Thénardier. But what is particularly impressive about this sequence, is the expert chreography, not least because of the way it has to impress us in spite of shifting camera angles. There is so much happening on screen and so much to keep up with and the whole scene has been brilliantly crafted.

3. "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables"



Eddie Redmayne's career is really picking up speed. I first recognised him in the Wicker Man-esque medieval horror movie "Black Death" and was pleased to see him return in the upbeat and sweet "My Week With Marilyn". Now here he is gives what is possibly the strongest male performance. This particular song is a solo for the character of Marius and Redmayne conveys the character's emotions beautifully.


On top of those I must admit that "Do You Hear The People Sing?" was a very good central song for the musical. When that song returned for the finale it was a very welcome finish. While quite upbeat in the music, it also captures the darkness of the story too.



Prior to seeing "Les Miserables" I heard a lot of badmouthing of Russell Crowe's performance. I have to say that I didn't find any problem with him at all. Overall, I thought his performance was pretty consistent and his more rock-based style of singing worked just fine for the part of Javert. There seemed to be some suggestion that he wasn't being villainous enough, but the character of Javert clearly isn't supposed to be a cartoonishly evil villain.



I was rather less impressed, in fact, with the performance of Hugh Jackman. His is essentially the central protagonist of the film and I couldn't help but feel somewhat alienated from him. I never quite felt like I in the audience really got inside his head. Hugh Jackman's performance didn't always seem to gel with the tone of the film as a whole. It's not that I couldn't take Jackman seriously. I was actually pleased to see him returning to a more serious role rather like we saw in "The Prestige". It just didn't work for me somehow and there were certain points where I felt that Hooper had chosen more emotional takes of the songs at the expense of the quality of the singing. While Hugh Jackman clearly has a strong singing voice his "I'm feeling emotional noises" didn't always contribute to my enjoyment of the songs (though admittedly I wasn't that keen on the drawn out, long-winded and chorus-less nature of many of the songs he was singing anyway).



As the film progressed, I eventually realised that I'd seen this story before, albeit not as a musical. The film I saw as a child must have made a pretty big impression on me since I remembered a lot of the details. It turns out that I've seen an adaptation made for tv in the seventies. It seems that the whole thing is available on youtube here (and I'll embed the video at the end of the review for anyone who is interested). While the filming style betrays that it's "made for tv" ,and it looks quite old fashioned as a result, this seventies adaptation had a pretty good cast with a small role for none other than Ian Holm. Comparing my memories of that version with the musical, I couldn't help but be surprised that there was less focus on religion in Tom Hooper's new film. I remembered the old seventies film beating me over the head with ideas about Christian forgiveness in opposition to the ruthless and unforgiving Javert. In Tom Hooper's musical admittedly religion is mentioned, but I didn't feel that it was expressed so clearly how that tied in with the antagonism between Jean Valjean (played by Hugh Jackman) and Javert (played by Russell Crowe), particularly in the later scenes. It seems strange to find myself, of all people, complaining that a film does not preach at me enough. However, there isn't really much time between songs to get to know the characters properly and important lines within a song are easily missed.



Anne Hathaway and Eddie Redmayne are both utterly brilliant in this film, Russell Crowe is also very good and, in spite of my nitpicking, Hugh Jackman is very good too. The execution of the film seemed pretty impressive and so I cannot help but feel that my poor impression is mostly because of the style of the musical itself (though only watching a good performance of the musical on stage could allow me to know for sure). I'm generally hearing that if you are a fan of the original musical you will absolutely love this version. All I'd say is that if you aren't generally a fan of these sorts of musicals, Tom Hooper's new film adaptation is unlikely to change your mind, as well performed and filmed as it may be.


Below (if the link still works) is the entire film of "Les Miserables" from 1978:

(video link)