Les Misérables (*)
Directed
by: Tom Hooper
Starring:
Hugh Jackman, Russel Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne,
Helena Bonham Carter, Sacha Baron Cohen
Seen:
February 1st 2013
* Out
of ****
I am
a huge fan of the 1998 Les Misérables, which was not a musical, starring Liam
Neeson, Geoffrey Rush, Uma Thurman, and Claire Danes – that movie was
absolutely brilliant. I loathed every minute of the 2012 musical version of Les
Misérables; I loathed every scene, every song, and every word (each one a song,
even if it is only just one word being sung in an extremely melodramatic
monotone). If you want the emotional impact of the Les Misérables story to hit
you in the chest like a delivery truck, see the 1998 version, if you want more
of a feather-tickle, see the 2012 musical. It is blunt and boring and
annoyingly musical – the overall song-theme and presentation I can understand,
but if a prayer for food can be simply spoken, why then not the word “No!”?
Jean
Valjean (Jackman) is released on parole by the unforgiving prison guard Javert
(Crowe), a man convinced that criminals can never rehabilitate. Valjean served
19 years for stealing a loaf of bread and multiple consequent escape attempts.
On the outside, he is shunned, and only a kindly Bishop takes him in. Valjean
robs him, but when he is captured and brought in front of the Bishop, the
Bishop claims that it was all gifts to Valjean – an act that makes Valjean
rethink his life, and he starts a new and honest life under a new name,
Monsieur Madeleine. After eight years, the new Valjean is a successful factory
owner and mayor of a small town, but he is about to be found out as the
impostor that Javert believes him to be.
One
of Valjean’s workers, Fantine (Hathaway), sends money to her daughter Cosette
who is living with the extremely devious Thenardiers (Bonham Carter and Baron
Cohen). When she’s found out by Valjean’s fatory foreman, he fires her and in
her desperation Fantine eventually turns to prostitution. Javert is closeby to
arrest her when she attacks a violent client, but Valjean rescues her just
before he hears of the arrest of a man believed to be him. He helps this man by
revealing his identity, and on Fantine’s deathbed he promises to take care of
Cosette, just before Javert arrests him. Valjean escapes to Paris with Cosette
and there they are caught up in a revolution as Javert still hunts Valjean
while Cosette falls in love with Marius Pontmercy (Redmayne), a student fighter
in the revolution as events move steadfastly towards the inevitable conflict
resolution for all characters.
The story of Les Misérables is
timeless, it’s fantastic, but in this format I believe it to be robbed blind of
everything that makes it special, everything giving it emotional impact. This
movie is simply a stubborn forcing of a story into a few Broadway stage
numbers, blunting the story to a point where the viewer can only marvel at
numerous attempts to film the actors’ vibrating tonsils. The music has merit,
but my feeling is that the story should take precedent, not everything else.
The movie feels pervasively dirty, be it in the actors’ faces (is this make-up
or simply rolling around in mud?), or the horrible Thenardiers’ sense of being
coupled with some sad but unsettling scenes of Fantine’s time of prostitution.
For emotional impact and a brilliant story Les Misérables delivers. Unfortunately
it does not do so with this 2012 musical version, but rather the book itself
and the great and memorable 1998 version – I can still see Geoffrey Rush’s
Javert fall into the Seine and I remember that moment fondly. This version – I
wish I can forget…
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