At the risk of losing what theatre cred I have, I must admit that I have never seen Les Miserables on stage. I know it’s the most popular and well known musical in the world, but for some reason, I just never got around to seeing it when I had the chance. I was very familiar with all the music, as my fiance owns a number of the concert performances, and I really enjoyed all that I had heard, so it was with all that in mind, I was actually very excited for this movie adaptation, especially after seeing that they had some people with some real singing chops cast in the leads. After viewing, I’m pleased to report that it definitely does the source material justice, and fans of the musical will be extremely happy with the final result. There are definitely some glaring issues with the film that will keep it from true greatness (and some Academy Awards), but it is destined to live on as a movie musical classic.
Les Miserables is a story about Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman), a criminal who is pardoned after 19 years in jail for stealing a loaf of bred. Condemned to live as an outcast for the rest of his life by the officer Javert (Russell Crowe), Valjean spends the next years of his life trying to piece everything back together and do right by a priest who showed him mercy and to live as a good man in the name of God. Now a prosperous merchant and city mayor, Valjean inadvertently allows one of his foremen to fire Fantine (Anne Hathaway), a single mother who eventually has to resort to prostitution in order to take care of her daughter Cosette. Stricken with guilt, Valjean promises Fantine on her deathbed to take care of Cosette and raise her as his own. Meanwhile, Javert has returned and realized that Valjean is the prisoner who escaped so many years ago, and puts all of his efforts into recapturing him, yet ValJean manages to escape. Years later, Marius (Eddie Redmayne), a young revolutionary, stumbles into a now grown up Cosette (Amanda Seyfried) in the market, and the two fall in love at first site. Marius’ friend, Éponine (Samantha Barks) who was actually raised together with Cosette, leads him to Cosette’s home, but Eponine is shortly accosted by her corrupt father, and the resulting commotion leads Valjean and Cosette into exile. Marius, devastated by the fact he will never see Cosette again, resolves to take his place in the revolution starting that very night. As it begins and the young men and students build a barricade, Javert goes undercover in order to destroy the revolutionaries from the inside, but is quite unsuccessful as a young street urchin points out who he really is, and he is bound and locked in a cell. Valjean, comes to realize that Marius is truly in love with Cosette, and that the young man will most likely die in the attacks that are planned for the night, so he heads to the barricade, and once inside, helps them win a first scuffle with the army. Iin the ensuing battle, Éponine throws herself in the path of a bullet and dies in Marius’ arms, but not before informing him that she has been in love with him since she could remember, and was happy at least she could die in his arms. Valjean notices Javert in chains and tells the revolutionaries that he will take the man’s life, but instead releases him once they are alone, despite Javert’s promise that this changes nothing between the two men, and that he will eventually see Valjean in chains or dead. The army attacks and slaughters the revolutionaries, and Marius is severely wounded and only survives when Valjean escapes with him through the sewers and literally carries him to safety. Once out of the sewers, they are stopped by Javert who eventually decides to let Valjean go for the time being to get Marius to safety. Distraught at what he feels is his dereliction to duty, Javert commits suicide. Marius eventually recovers, marries Cosette and the two chase after Valjean who has gone into exile after the Paris uprising. They find him in a church, on his deathbed, but not before he leaves a letter with Cosette explaining who he was and the true story of his life. Fantine appears and leads him to heaven, where Valjean encounters all the people he had loved and lost in life and finally finds peace.
One of the absolutely brilliant things is that Tom Hooper insisted on making the actors actually sing their lines on set, and then use those recordings for all of the singing in the film; no mixing or autotune allowed. Why is this important? Well, for almost every movie musical up until now, the actors perform their songs in a studio, and then lip sync to their previously recorded music on set. While this allows for a much more polished sounding finished product, the intensity of the performance gets lost because the actors can only use their faces to express their emotions; it can also cause the movie to sound like a badly edited episode of Glee (Rock of Ages, anyone?) Since the actors in Les Miz were literally recording their performances as they acted them, they were able to express the love, pain, terror or hatred they were experiencing, and that was translated perfectly to the audience — much the same as in a live stage performance. After seeing how effective this technique was in Les Miz, I can’t see how any other movie musical going forward could NOT follow suit, and we, as filmgoers, are better off for it.
There are some problems here that can’t be overlooked, though. First off, if you thought my synopsis was a bit long, you are correct, and that was an absolute bare bones summation of what takes place. Translation — this movie is damn long, and you feel it. I remember thinking, about 2 hours in when “One Day More” was being performed that, holy crap, this is only the end of act one! This isn’t really the fault of the scriptwriter or the director, as it’s a long stage musical, and to do it justice, you need that extra run time, but you’ll really understand why the live musical has an intermission. Secondly, Hooper does a lot of wonderful shots where he has an actor perform most, if not all of a song in a single take, and it’s quite amazing that they can accomplish this, as it is no easy feat. Unfortunately, he also has a nasty habit of shooting these scenes in extreme facial close ups which get really distracting. Yes, we get that you’re trying to focus on the raw human emotion here, but we can experience that without being right in the actor’s face. Lastly, while Jackman, Hathaway and most of the rest of the cast have the vocal talent to sing their parts, a few fall short. Russell Crowe tried admirably, but his range is too low to hit some of the notes needed, and Amanda Seyfriend, while better than she was in Mamma Mia, seems mainly cast as a forgettable pretty face who can carry a tune, and not much else. No one was horrible, and would most likely sound better than most of out at a karaoke bar, but in a spectacle as grand as this, I expect the best out there, and a few fell short.
One quick note about Hathaway — just give her the damn Golden Globe, Oscar, EVERYTHING already. The brief time she is on screen delivers more impact than almost the rest of the movie combined. If she doesn’t sweep every awards show this season, I’ll be absolutely astounded.
In closing, should you go see this movie? Yes, most definitely, but mostly if you are familiar with source material and/or enjoy musicals. There is very little unsung dialogue in this movie, so if you don’t like singing, what the hell are you doing in the audience? And while I had some issues, overall, this film hits almost all the right notes, and deserves to stand alongside it’s stage counterpart as an excellent musical that grabs the audience and defies them not to fall in love with and be emotionally devoted to these flawed, yet deeply relatable, people on screen. The grandeur of the music along with the beauty of the lyrics of the songs will grab you and refuse to let go until the last bit of the credits are floating on the screen. It’s funny, heart breaking and will make you ache for Valjean, Fantine and the rest cast, and I defy anyone to leave the theatre with a dry eye. The greatest musical of all time has found its home on the big screen, and it’s every bit as wonderful and grand as we could have hoped for.