After watching Les Miserables a second time, I have some further thoughts -I want to discuss the pluses and minuses more thoroughly. There are more pluses.
I am a tough critic when it comes to Les Miserables, having a great passion for the musical, and very high expectations. I thought that this first musical film version did an overall excellent job of bringing a complicated and beautiful story to the big screen; however, there are some things that didn't work for me.
First, I would like to look at some of the pros:
1) Translation from stage to screen: They did an excellent job adapting the stage production into a movie. Instead of trying to just film the musical (Think The Producers), they did a great job of making it work on screen. It had terrific cinematography and took full advantage of the benefits of the film medium by using great effects and finding incredible film sets/locations (I am thinking in particular of the opening sequence where they are hauling in a massive ship and the part where Valjean is walking through the gorgeous mountains after his release from prison). The main focus was on the acting (Again, unlike The Producers, a perfect example of a very bad stage to film adaptation, with massive amounts of overacting as the stars continue to emote like their audience is far, far away instead of watching a few yards away on the couch -Will Farrell is the exception, he was great), which is why the music doesn't work very well if you're just listening to it without watching the film -this isn't the soundtrack to buy, stick to a Broadway cast version. For example, if you just listen to Russell Crowe, you're going to think it's pretty bad. If you watch him, however, he acts the part so well that his singing works. They are performing for the camera, which is as it should be. It works perfectly on the screen. Which brings us to the second pro...
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| Idina Menzel and Lea Michelle. |
3) Eddie Redmayne: Eddie Redmayne as Marius was incredible. His voice and his performance (particularly in Empty Chairs at Empty Tables, where he laments the loss of his friends in battle and ponders why he is the one to survive) were amazing. I was really impressed with his singing and his acting. Blew me away.
There's a grief that can't be spoken.
There's a pain goes on and on.
Empty chairs at empty tables
Now my friends are dead and gone.
Here they talked of revolution.
Here it was they lit the flame.
Here they sang about `tomorrow'
And tomorrow never came.
From the table in the corner
They could see a world reborn
And they rose with voices ringing
I can hear them now!
The very words that they had sung
Became their last communion
On the lonely barricade at dawn.
Oh my friends, my friends forgive me
That I live and you are gone.
There's a grief that can't be spoken.
There's a pain goes on and on.
4) Colm Wilkinson's cameo as the Bishop: It was thrilling for me (and my for my dad -another huge Les Mis fan) to see the original and quintessential Jean Valjean make an appearance in the movie -and his voice is still amazing.
5) Suddenly: The new song written for the movie, sung by Valjean in the carriage as Cosette sleeps next to him after he has rescued her from the Thenardiers. It really highlights the fact that Valjean has finally found a purpose in his life when he adopts her.
How was I to know at last
That happiness can come so fast?
Trusting me the way you do
I’m so afraid of failing youJust a child who cannot know
That danger follows where I go
There are shadows everywhere
And memories I cannot share
Nevermore alone
Nevermore apart
You have warmed my heart
Like the sun.
You have brought the gift of life
And love so long denied me.
Suddenly I see
What I could not see
Something suddenly
Has begun.
6) Javert and Valjean's final confrontation: It's so powerful when Javert tells Valjean that he will shoot him if he takes another step, but then lets him go. Javert's inner turmoil is evident. Great stuff. Also, when Javert pins his medal on a fallen rebel boy, Gavroche, even though they had been enemies, it brought tears to my eyes.
7) The finale: The emotional high as Jean Valjean enters heaven -the expansive barricade holding all the lost characters singing in triumph gave me goosebumps.
Do you hear the people sing
Lost in the valley of the night?
It is the music of a people
Who are climbing to the light.
For the wretched of the earth
There is a flame that never dies.
Even the darkest night will end
And the sun will rise.
They will live again in freedom
In the garden of the Lord.
They will walk behind the plough-share,
They will put away the sword.
The chain will be broken
And all men will have their reward.
Will you join in our crusade?
Who will be strong and stand with me?
Somewhere beyond the barricade
Is there a world you long to see?
Do you hear the people sing?
Say, do you hear the distant drums?
It is the future that they bring
When tomorrow comes!
Will you join in our crusade?
Who will be strong and stand with me?
Somewhere beyond the barricade
Is there a world you long to see?
Do you hear the people sing?
Say, do you hear the distant drums?
It is the future that they bring
When tomorrow comes...
Tomorrow comes!
Cons:
1) Helena Bonham Carter and Sasha Baron Cohen as the Thenardiers: I loved the idea, and had really high hopes, but I found them lackluster. They were a little funny, but considering the actors, I expected more. Watching the two actors at the 25th Anniversary Concert perform on stage really made me feel the absence in the movie of the vulgar, big-boned, boisterous couple as they are traditionally portrayed in Broadway productions. Master of the House should be a raucous, jubilant, hilarious scene, and I just wasn't feeling it. On the other hand, I did like Sasha Baron Cohen's take on The Bargain/The Thénardier Waltz of Treachery -his best comic moment.
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| The Thenardiers on stage. |
2) A Little Fall of Rain: The director chose to follow the book, rather than the musical, when directing Eponine's bittersweet death. It is supposed to be a tragic, but tender moment. In the musical, Eponine climbs the barricade to bring Marius a letter from Cosette and is shot. When he realizes she is hurt, he wants to get her help, but she knows she is dying, and asks him to stay with her, revealing her love for him. He is stunned to discover she loves him, and begs God to spare her. Right before she dies, they kiss, and when he pulls away, she is gone. Or, as in the revival, she leans up to kiss him, but dies before she can. He cries over her body in shock and despair until his comrades take her body away from him. He still loves Cosette, of course, but he deeply feels the sadness of the death of a girl who lived a very hard life and loved him in secret. In the movie, they follow the book instead. In the book, she moves the barrel of a gun away from him and takes the bullet herself (in the movie he never even realizes that she took a bullet for him), and the movie follows this course. She then reveals that she had been hiding a letter from Cosette from him, and gives it to him, before singing her song. He seems a little sorry, but not all that sorry. He feels sad for her, but never seems to have a big moment of realization that she loves him, and when he says "But you will live 'Ponine, dear God above!" he sings sweetly, but without passion or conviction. After she dies, he gives her a kiss on the forehead, just like in the book, then starts reading Cosette's letter without a second thought. I felt even worse about Eponine's death -not only has she died for the man she loves, who never loved her back, but he really doesn't even seem to give much of a crap that she is gone. This must have been the director's choice, and I didn't like it one bit. Of course, I compare every performance of this song with Lea Salonga and Michael Ball -the most perfect performance of this song ever. Lea Salonga sounds so sweetly serene to be in the arms of her love at last, and he seems so tortured and is very loving towards her in her final moments. Romantic and tragic at the same time.  |
| A Little Fall of Rain on stage. |
Don't you fret, M'sieur Marius
I don't feel any pain
A little fall of rain
Can hardly hurt me now
You're here, that's all I need to know
And you will keep me safe
And you will keep me close
And rain will make the flowers grow.
MARIUS
But you will live, 'Ponine - dear God above,
If I could heal your wounds with words of love.
EPONINE
Just hold me now, and let it be.
Shelter me, comfort me
MARIUS
You would live a hundred years
If I could show you how
I won't desert you now...
EPONINE
The rain can't hurt me now
This rain will wash away what's past
And you will keep me safe
And you will keep me close
I'll sleep in your embrace at last.
The rain that brings you here
Is Heaven-blessed!
The skies begin to clear
And I'm at rest
A breath away from where you are
I've come home from so far
So don't you fret, M'sieur Marius
I don't feel any pain
A little fall of rain
Can hardly hurt me now
That's all I need to know
And you will keep me safe
And you will keep me close
MARIUS(in counterpoint)
Hush-a-bye, dear Eponine,
You won't feel any pain
A little fall of rain
Can hardly hurt you now
I'm here
I will stay with you
Till you are sleeping
EPONINE
And rain...
MARIUS
And rain...
EPONINE
Will make the flowers...
MARIUS
Will make the flowers... grow...
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| Frances Ruffelle as Eponine on the stage. |
Mixed Feelings:
1) Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean: I am a definite Hugh Jackman fan, and love what he has done for musical theater, so I hate to say anything disparaging; however, I was torn on his performance. I thought he made a very sympathetic and appealing Valjean. I liked him in the role. His acting in some places was exceptional -when he discovers that he played a part in Fantine's misfortunes, when he retrieves Cosette from the clutches of the Thenardiers, when he is questioned about his past by Cosette and resists telling her the truth...But there are other moments where I felt his acting slipped and came across as melodramatic, such as when he delivers his final "who am I?" to Marius. His singing is good, but is not incredible. I find it hard not to compare his voice to the voice of Colm Wilkinson or John Owen-Jones from the 2010 cast recording -he just doesn't have the chops to compare. Overall, however, he clearly poured his heart and soul into his performance, and I liked him as Valjean.
2) Samantha Barks as Eponine: I'm really torn on this one. In some ways I like her -she's a pretty girl, with a really good voice (she has actually performed the part on Broadway). She really captures the sadness of Eponine as she helps Marius find love with Cosette, while secretly longing for him to love her instead. On the other hand, sometimes I feel like she doesn't quite have the look of Eponine -she's prettier than Cosette (which makes us wonder why Marius is choosing Cosette over her), not especially waif-like (as she is supposed to be), and attempts to make her look more waif-like by synching her up in a super tight corset just make her waist look freakishly out of proportion with the rest of her body. They didn't dress her right, which didn't help. They glammed her up too much (good makeup). I would have liked to see her in the traditional over-sized coat and hat she wears on the stage. She didn't have the coarseness that she should have as a street-urchin and daughter of the Thenardiers. I don't know if she was the perfect casting choice, but I didn't hate the choice either.
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| Frances Ruffelle (the original Eponine). |
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| Lea Salonga (another famous Eponine). |
3) Amanda Seyfried as Cosette: I was fine with her (Cosette has never been a character of much interest to me anyway, being Team Eponine), but her quivery voice really bothered a lot of people, including Tyler.
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