![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Movie of the Week: Les Miserables
Jan. 25th, 2013 05:37 pmI've always been a bit ambivalent about Les Mis. Let's face it the book isn't exactly a laugh a minute. Essentially 'man wastes life hiding for twenty years then dies'. Ah well, I suppose there's a bit more to it than that. As for the musical, there are some achingly gorgeous themes recurring throughout the piece, but it's not so much musical with songs-linked-by-dialogue as opera with themes-linked-by-recitative. I suppose it classes officially as a sung-through musical. As such the recit bits are often pretty forgettable, though you can forgive that when you get to the showstopping songs such as 'I Deamed a Dream' and 'Do You Hear the People Sing.' That's my opinion of the musical in general - now on to the movie version.
First off - this boasts that the singing was all recorded live. While I'll buy that some of it obviously was, there's no way (technically) it can all have been done like that (what about the ensemble pieces? And there was a re-recording sound mixer on the credits) however, where it counts it is obviously as live as a movie can be and I take my hat off to the cast - all of them - because bearing in mind multiple takes and retakes, that's an awful lot of good quality singing. Is it perfect? No. The songs are acted as well as sung which includes voice breaks, the odd swallowed word, some notes that are barely reached, but that doesn't matter. As a performance it works.
There were times I felt desperately sorry for Hugh Jackman (Jean Valjean) because he obviously has a good voice, but he is pushed right up to the tenor end of his range for most of the time. The part is written for a 'dramatic tenor' and I suspect he's a lot more comfortable as a baritone. 'Bring Him Home' could have done with being in a lower key, but it probably has to be done as written. However Jackman does a sterling job, all things considered. I didn't expect Russell Crowe to be as good as he actually is, but his Javert is solid as a rock. It's Anne Hathaway who is the real surprise, though. Her part as Fantine is beautifully sung and acted. Eddie Redmayne - not an actor I can always take to - sings Marius almost perfectly, paricularly the 'Empty Chairs' solo, and Amanda Sayfried never puts a tonsil wrong as the grown up Cosette. The children are excellent: Isabelle Allen as the young Cosette and, particularly, Daniel Huttlestone as Gavroche - a brilliant part for a talented child to play. Samantha Barks as the adult Eponine plays the part with great sweetness and Aaron Tveit as Enjolras, leader of the student revolutionaries, is suitably heroic. The only light relief comes from Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen as the larcenous Thenardiers, which they play to the hilt.
All in all it was a long and exhausting movie to watch, (not helped by the somewhat tired Cineworld seat - ouch!) but I'm glad I saw it on the big screen. If you're a Les Mis fan I'm sure it will live up to your expectations. If you're not familiar with the stage version of Les Mis already, don't go expecting The Sound of Music.
First off - this boasts that the singing was all recorded live. While I'll buy that some of it obviously was, there's no way (technically) it can all have been done like that (what about the ensemble pieces? And there was a re-recording sound mixer on the credits) however, where it counts it is obviously as live as a movie can be and I take my hat off to the cast - all of them - because bearing in mind multiple takes and retakes, that's an awful lot of good quality singing. Is it perfect? No. The songs are acted as well as sung which includes voice breaks, the odd swallowed word, some notes that are barely reached, but that doesn't matter. As a performance it works.
There were times I felt desperately sorry for Hugh Jackman (Jean Valjean) because he obviously has a good voice, but he is pushed right up to the tenor end of his range for most of the time. The part is written for a 'dramatic tenor' and I suspect he's a lot more comfortable as a baritone. 'Bring Him Home' could have done with being in a lower key, but it probably has to be done as written. However Jackman does a sterling job, all things considered. I didn't expect Russell Crowe to be as good as he actually is, but his Javert is solid as a rock. It's Anne Hathaway who is the real surprise, though. Her part as Fantine is beautifully sung and acted. Eddie Redmayne - not an actor I can always take to - sings Marius almost perfectly, paricularly the 'Empty Chairs' solo, and Amanda Sayfried never puts a tonsil wrong as the grown up Cosette. The children are excellent: Isabelle Allen as the young Cosette and, particularly, Daniel Huttlestone as Gavroche - a brilliant part for a talented child to play. Samantha Barks as the adult Eponine plays the part with great sweetness and Aaron Tveit as Enjolras, leader of the student revolutionaries, is suitably heroic. The only light relief comes from Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen as the larcenous Thenardiers, which they play to the hilt.
All in all it was a long and exhausting movie to watch, (not helped by the somewhat tired Cineworld seat - ouch!) but I'm glad I saw it on the big screen. If you're a Les Mis fan I'm sure it will live up to your expectations. If you're not familiar with the stage version of Les Mis already, don't go expecting The Sound of Music.
