Les Miserables

When I saw the names of Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway and Oscar-winning director Tom Hooper attached to this movie, I knew it was going to be a hit. I had not read the book by Victor Hugo, nor seen the musical before so I went to see this film with an open mind. I came away quite impressed. There was a lot of singing but it was good singing. I enjoy musicals thanks to my upbringing watching Disney musicals but I am writing this to analyze the film itself. I will therefore not be making much reference to the story or the music, good as they are. While the design and other cinematic elements are well done, the best characteristic of this movie was its acting.

The only bad attribute of this film is the sexual innuendo but that is inherited from the novel and the musical. The filmmakers could do little to limit that in the film. Just saying, it would be hard for me personally to write a book that has prostitution as part of the story. Every cast member deserves to be mentioned by name because of how well they did. Hugh Jackman's successful career has been ironic. Back in the late 90's, many people didn't think he could convincingly play Wolverine on "X-men" because of his musical background. Now these days, people are surprised that he can sing because his role as Wolverine has overshadowed his musical talents. Despite his musical background, Jackman underwent extreme training to prepare for the role. His performance of "Bring Him Home" raised my eyebrows sort of speak because I was previously familiar with that song. While it would have been neat to see Paul Bettany as Javert, Oscar-winner Russell Crowe made the role his own. I didn't know he could sing before this movie. When I first saw previews on TV for "The Princess Diaries" about ten years ago, I did not expect Anne Hathaway to become the kind of movie star that she is today. She is so talented. When we see Fantine's hair being cut, it is Anne Hathaway's actual hair by the way. This is not the first time that Jackman and Hathaway have sung together. Jackman was the host of the 2009 Oscars and he & Hathaway did an "impromtu" musical number spoofing "Frost/Nixon". Helena Bonham Carter has worked with Hooper before on "The King's Speech", receiving an Oscar nomination for her work on that show. I did not expect to see Borat in this film. Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen have also worked together before and they did well as a team in this show. Isabelle Allen, whose face is the only one on the movie posters, was so amazing as the young Cosette that she is equal in talent to Amanda Seyfried in my opinion. Daniel Huttlestone was also noteworthy. Seyfried and Eddie Redmayne harmonize so well when they sing that I dare say they are unmatched. Colm Wilkinson, who was the first Jean Valjean in the English version of this musical, fittingly plays the Bishop. As they perform together in their scenes, the torch is fully passed from Wilkinson to Jackman. Tom Hooper directed this movie much like Steven Spielberg directed "Lincoln". Upon multiple viewings, I do see some similarities in cinematography between "Les Miserables" and "The King's Speech". That being said, Hooper's filmmaking decisions are able to go unseen and he lets the acting & music do most of the entertaining. This is not to say that Hooper did nothing but rather that all his good work goes undetected for the betterment of the film. While watching "The King's Speech" I could sense him telling the story by way of the cinematography but he seems invisible with this film. While I enjoy 3D very much, I don't believe that every movie needs to be in 3D. I am therefore thankful that Hooper did not film in 3D, despite the popularity of the filmmaking tool. He was obviously putting the music and the acting ahead of everything else in the adaptation. Usually with a film musical, the cast is prerecorded as is the orchestra and the filming is then doine with the actors lip-syncing. Instead, for this movie, the actors are recorded singing live on the set. It has been done before in film musicals but rarely. Off camera, a pianist (who knew the music by heart) played on an electric piano in a soundproof area so that the pounding on the piano keys would not be heard. The cast were the only ones hearing the piano via earpieces and they dicated the tempo. The orchestra is then recorded after the filming to this on-screen tempo. While watching Hathaway sing "I Dreamed a Dream", I could tell that lip-syncing was not used but I did not know that this process was rarely used in creating film musicals until I was writing this review. I love this method much more than lip-syncing because the performance becomes much more real. The singing in "Les Miserables" is recorded as the film cameras are rolling and therefore the passion of the moment is retained. ADR by contrast can sound a little phony. I am glad that the writers of the original musical helped to write this adaptation. Theatrical producer Cameron Mackintosh also had imput. The design of the movie was stylized but not as much as it could have been which is great. There is a sense of realism also and that was more appealing. The characters were dirty and there were a lot of earthy colors. By the way, the barricade was built as the cameras rolled as opposed to being built by crew members. The filmmakers also used real locations such as on a high mountain top at the start of the movie.

It was fun to see a movie with both Wolverine and Catwoman acting together. I saw many people crying in the theater as I watch "Les Miserables" and that is proof that this film retained the special power of the musical/original story. While I feel that "The Phantom of the Opera" is a better musical, "Les Miserables" has a better film adaptation by far. At the Golden Globes, both Jackman & Hathaway won awards and the film itself won Best Picture (Musical or Comedy). Because Hathaway won at the SAG awards, she was guaranteed to win her first Oscar. Its Oscar nominations were many (Best Picture, Actor, Costume Design, Original Song and Production Design) and it won for Best Supporting Actress (as mentioned), Makeup and Sound Mixing. Before the ceremony, I felt that only Anne Hathaway would win but I was wrong. I was stupid to think that it wouldn't win for Sound Mixing. This show has received many other award nominations & wins and while I enjoyed "Lincoln" a little more, "Les Miserables" was a staple of musical moviemaking.

4 Stars