Film Review: Les Miserables (2012)

When I was ten or so, I saw a musical production Les Miserables three times while it was in Perth, Australia.

Since then, it has been my favourite musical of all time and I have also read the book, all 1200 pages of it.

This film reproduction has surpassed any and all expectations I may have harboured, in every facet that I can think of.

Production design, costume design, Tom Hooper brought his attention to detail from his other historical work, including John Adams, where even the teeth of those less fortunate in the mid nineteenth century are realistic.

What really makes this musical stand out among the rest, is that the entire talented cast that includes: Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Eddie Redmayne, Amanda Seyfried, Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter, sang all their songs live, in every take.

This means that every take of acting and singing, had the emotion in every moment ring true and honest   and you can see the results for yourself.

A musical like this positively wrings out emotion, not just tears but also laughter, often in the same scene.

One aspect I really loved was that the actor portraying the Bishop of Digne, Colm Wilkinson, was Jean Valjean in the 10th Anniversary production of Les Miserables.

The actors and the crew give award worthy and hopefully winning performances and work and it is well worth the cinema ticket, especially for the opening and closing scenes.

Comments

  1. The first quote comes from a film where Anne Hathaway gave an Academy award worthy performance:

    “Susanna Galeano: I was wondering, have you ever thought about public relations?
    Kym: The public's kind of afraid of me.”

    And the second comes from a tv show where I was just as excited at the end as I was at the beginning:

    “[Sitting in a room inside Buckingham Palace] Dr. John Watson: What are we doing here, Sherlock? Seriously, what?
    Sherlock Holmes: I don't know.
    Dr. John Watson: Here to see the Queen?
    [Mycroft walks in]
    Sherlock Holmes: Oh, apparently yes. [Sherlock and John start laughing]
    Mycroft Holmes: Just once, can you two behave like grown ups?
    Dr. John Watson: We solve crimes, I blog about it, and he forgets his pants so I wouldn't hold on to too much hope.”

    ReplyDelete

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