Les Miserables (Film)
First of all I must point out that this is a film that focuses on the acting as much as the singing. Basically, DO NOT EXPECT THE STAGE MUSICAL! There is something special about hearing a singer onstage projecting their vocals to the audience, something which I feel cannot be conveyed in a film. Having seen the trailers I was interested in seeing Tom Hooper and the cast take this different approach that relies on performance as well as singing, and was hoping it would work within the medium of film. Would the emphasis on acting recreate the power of the musical through the medium of film.
Hugh Jackman showed that he can sing a lot of the songs. His What have I done was filled with both shame and anger, and he showed growing conviction that he had to give up his true identity in Who am I. However, whilst he does have the right vocals for the role he lacks range and his nasally voice increasingly become noticeable by the second half of the film. His low-light sadly would have to be Bring him home as he struggled to sing the high notes. However he does redeem himself by showing how age was catching up with Valjean as the final scenes culminated in an emotional ending.
A highlight of the film would have be Fantine, played by Anne Hathaway. I'd go so far as to say that her degradation from factory worker to prostitute is tame in the stage musical in comparison to the film. This is partly due to the detail that Tom Hooper put into the mis-en-scene, but also Anne Hathaway was emotionally broken by the time the film get to a heartbreaking Come to Me. The audience sees her hair being cut off and a tooth pulled out and by the time the film gets to the Arrest she looks like a Gollum-like creature. Beforehand she filled I dreamed a dream with desperation, anger and despair as she breathlessly (acting) sang the lyrics. As I said the film adaptation relies upon acting and this is the best example, because it shows the song on a raw and personal, rather than theatrical, level.
The other highlight was Eddie Redmayne as Marius, whose singing was very impressive. His Marius was different from the child-like versions I have seen lately. Full of conviction, one could mistake him for the leader of the student uprising. When he fell in love he was in a world of his own. During his rendition of Empty Chairs at Empty Tables his voice was choked with grief.
Samantha Barks was brilliant as usual as Eponine. However her character was given less prominence than in the stage musical. The result was that while I was looking forward to hearing On My Own, my attention had already wandered from Samantha's character. If I did have a problem with the film, it is the way some of the songs were rearranged or cut down. A noticeable rearrangement was made of the songs On My Own, One Day More, and Do You Hear the People Sing. Whilst I liked the way the last two were presented, and the fact that Tom Hooper was trying to use Victor Hugo's original plot line, On My Own appeared to have been moved to a situation where it felt out of context.
Cutting down a number of songs also meant that some of them lost their impact. Drink With Me was cut down to just one verse and within a minute the film had gone straight into Bring Him Home, which was disconcerting. Elsewhere, the verses that established Eponine in Look Down (Reprise) were cut out which added to her seemingly reduced role.
I did not like Helen Bonham Carter in the film adaptation of Sweeney Todd. She seemed to put every effort into singing with her airy voice, and forgot to act out her role. However she has improved as Madame Thernardier. Whilst she still has the same tone of voice, she did put some effort into acting the boisterous Innkeeper's wife. She was better than Sacha Baron Cohen, whose attempt at a French accent was distracting. It was funny though to watch the pair's capers during Master of the House. The biggest disappointment is that Dog eats Dog was cut out, which left the characters looking like a pair of clowns.
Amanda Seyfried was good as Cosette, and so was Aaron Tveit as Enjorlas. He looked the part of a leader, but his tone of voice did not go with the image. Meanwhile, both Isabelle Allen and Daniel Huttlestone were lovely as the young Cosette and Gavorche. There were some great cameos from West End actors, including Colm Wilkinson's (original Jean Valjean) kindly Bishop of Digne, Frances Ruffelle (original Eponine) as a prostitute (she sings "Come on deary why all the fuss"), Bertie Carvel's dapper Bamatabois, Hadley Fraser as an Army Officer during the final barricade moments and Killian Donnelly and Alistair Brammer as two of the students.
There is no doubt that Russel Crowe was the weakest link of the film as Javert. He lacked firmness and authority in his voice in what is a commanding role and struggled with certain notes in his singing. I will say though that he did put effort into his singing, which was better than hearing Pierce Brosnan's awful singing in Mamma Mia. While I was not impressed by most of his acting he worked well with Hugh Jackman and showed some menace when confronting Jean Valjean.
When Tom Hooper was chosen to direct the film I thought that it was a good choice. Based on the his last film, The King's Speech, and the use of Victor Hugo's paintings in the 25th Anniversary Tour, I thought he would be able to show the world of 19th century France that the author lived in, and he exceeded my expectations. He put in a number of references to the book that the stage musical would not have been able to show, including the elephant statue and the outcome for Enjorlas. He even put in some nice touches of his own, including a sad moment with Javert and Gavorche.
I congratulate the use of live recording because it takes away the fake background sound that comes with the synced audio recording of the singing in other musical films. Tom Hooper does have a tendency to shoot scenes with close-ups of the characters, whilst positioning them off to the side of the screen. In a number of ways it does work because it allows the audience to focus on the details and expressions of the characters' faces.
At other times however it would have been better if the camera was not up in the character's faces, particularly during Empty Chairs at Empty Tables, so that the audience could actually see the empty room rather than the concentration on Marius' face. The barricade fighting could also have been shot better so that the audience could see the skirmishes clearly. Otherwise the editing meant that at times the film would jump around a lot which annoyed me at first, for example there was a noticeable continuity error during Look Down. There were also times when I thought that Tom Hooper's direction did not do justice to certain songs, particularly Javert's Soliloquy.
Nonetheless, this is a film that those involved with should be proud of. Is it the stage musical, no! Does that mean it is bad, no! This is a different take on the musical that I thought worked in a number of ways. The raw emotion is still there and there are some great performances to enjoy. Having said that there are still problems with the film that can not be ignored, which makes the film worth seeing, but do go in with an open mind.
Having seen the stage musical it is now time to review the eagerly awaited film adaptation. How does this fare in comparison to the stage version.
First of all I must point out that this is a film that focuses on the acting as much as the singing. Basically, DO NOT EXPECT THE STAGE MUSICAL! There is something special about hearing a singer onstage projecting their vocals to the audience, something which I feel cannot be conveyed in a film. Having seen the trailers I was interested in seeing Tom Hooper and the cast take this different approach that relies on performance as well as singing, and was hoping it would work within the medium of film. Would the emphasis on acting recreate the power of the musical through the medium of film.
Hugh Jackman showed that he can sing a lot of the songs. His What have I done was filled with both shame and anger, and he showed growing conviction that he had to give up his true identity in Who am I. However, whilst he does have the right vocals for the role he lacks range and his nasally voice increasingly become noticeable by the second half of the film. His low-light sadly would have to be Bring him home as he struggled to sing the high notes. However he does redeem himself by showing how age was catching up with Valjean as the final scenes culminated in an emotional ending.
A highlight of the film would have be Fantine, played by Anne Hathaway. I'd go so far as to say that her degradation from factory worker to prostitute is tame in the stage musical in comparison to the film. This is partly due to the detail that Tom Hooper put into the mis-en-scene, but also Anne Hathaway was emotionally broken by the time the film get to a heartbreaking Come to Me. The audience sees her hair being cut off and a tooth pulled out and by the time the film gets to the Arrest she looks like a Gollum-like creature. Beforehand she filled I dreamed a dream with desperation, anger and despair as she breathlessly (acting) sang the lyrics. As I said the film adaptation relies upon acting and this is the best example, because it shows the song on a raw and personal, rather than theatrical, level.
The other highlight was Eddie Redmayne as Marius, whose singing was very impressive. His Marius was different from the child-like versions I have seen lately. Full of conviction, one could mistake him for the leader of the student uprising. When he fell in love he was in a world of his own. During his rendition of Empty Chairs at Empty Tables his voice was choked with grief.
Samantha Barks was brilliant as usual as Eponine. However her character was given less prominence than in the stage musical. The result was that while I was looking forward to hearing On My Own, my attention had already wandered from Samantha's character. If I did have a problem with the film, it is the way some of the songs were rearranged or cut down. A noticeable rearrangement was made of the songs On My Own, One Day More, and Do You Hear the People Sing. Whilst I liked the way the last two were presented, and the fact that Tom Hooper was trying to use Victor Hugo's original plot line, On My Own appeared to have been moved to a situation where it felt out of context.
Cutting down a number of songs also meant that some of them lost their impact. Drink With Me was cut down to just one verse and within a minute the film had gone straight into Bring Him Home, which was disconcerting. Elsewhere, the verses that established Eponine in Look Down (Reprise) were cut out which added to her seemingly reduced role.
I did not like Helen Bonham Carter in the film adaptation of Sweeney Todd. She seemed to put every effort into singing with her airy voice, and forgot to act out her role. However she has improved as Madame Thernardier. Whilst she still has the same tone of voice, she did put some effort into acting the boisterous Innkeeper's wife. She was better than Sacha Baron Cohen, whose attempt at a French accent was distracting. It was funny though to watch the pair's capers during Master of the House. The biggest disappointment is that Dog eats Dog was cut out, which left the characters looking like a pair of clowns.
Amanda Seyfried was good as Cosette, and so was Aaron Tveit as Enjorlas. He looked the part of a leader, but his tone of voice did not go with the image. Meanwhile, both Isabelle Allen and Daniel Huttlestone were lovely as the young Cosette and Gavorche. There were some great cameos from West End actors, including Colm Wilkinson's (original Jean Valjean) kindly Bishop of Digne, Frances Ruffelle (original Eponine) as a prostitute (she sings "Come on deary why all the fuss"), Bertie Carvel's dapper Bamatabois, Hadley Fraser as an Army Officer during the final barricade moments and Killian Donnelly and Alistair Brammer as two of the students.
There is no doubt that Russel Crowe was the weakest link of the film as Javert. He lacked firmness and authority in his voice in what is a commanding role and struggled with certain notes in his singing. I will say though that he did put effort into his singing, which was better than hearing Pierce Brosnan's awful singing in Mamma Mia. While I was not impressed by most of his acting he worked well with Hugh Jackman and showed some menace when confronting Jean Valjean.
When Tom Hooper was chosen to direct the film I thought that it was a good choice. Based on the his last film, The King's Speech, and the use of Victor Hugo's paintings in the 25th Anniversary Tour, I thought he would be able to show the world of 19th century France that the author lived in, and he exceeded my expectations. He put in a number of references to the book that the stage musical would not have been able to show, including the elephant statue and the outcome for Enjorlas. He even put in some nice touches of his own, including a sad moment with Javert and Gavorche.
I congratulate the use of live recording because it takes away the fake background sound that comes with the synced audio recording of the singing in other musical films. Tom Hooper does have a tendency to shoot scenes with close-ups of the characters, whilst positioning them off to the side of the screen. In a number of ways it does work because it allows the audience to focus on the details and expressions of the characters' faces.
At other times however it would have been better if the camera was not up in the character's faces, particularly during Empty Chairs at Empty Tables, so that the audience could actually see the empty room rather than the concentration on Marius' face. The barricade fighting could also have been shot better so that the audience could see the skirmishes clearly. Otherwise the editing meant that at times the film would jump around a lot which annoyed me at first, for example there was a noticeable continuity error during Look Down. There were also times when I thought that Tom Hooper's direction did not do justice to certain songs, particularly Javert's Soliloquy.
Nonetheless, this is a film that those involved with should be proud of. Is it the stage musical, no! Does that mean it is bad, no! This is a different take on the musical that I thought worked in a number of ways. The raw emotion is still there and there are some great performances to enjoy. Having said that there are still problems with the film that can not be ignored, which makes the film worth seeing, but do go in with an open mind.
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