Cast: Hugh Jackman, Rusell Crowe, Anne
Hathaway ; Direction: Tom Hooper; based on the novel by Victor Hugo;
Screenplay: William Nicholson, Alain Boubil, Claude- Michel Schonberg, Herbert
Kretzmer; Cinematography: Danny Cohen; Editing: Melanie Ann Oliver, Chris
Dickens; ; Music: Claude- Michel Schonberg; Producers: Tim Bevan, Cameron
Mackintosh, etc.; Genre: Musical-Drama; Location: France; Running Time: 117
minutes; Distributor: Universal Pictures
Technical
Assessment: 4
Moral
Assessment: 3.5 stars
Rating:
A 14
Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman) has just been
given parole by prison guard Inspector Javert (Russell Crowe) and is set to
start a new life. But soon he discovers no one will give an ex-convict a
chance. He comes to the convent of
the Bishop of Digne (Colm Wilkinson) where he is offered food and shelter.
However, Valjean steals the church’s silver and runs away. He gets caught and is
quickly returned to the convent by the authorities but to his surprise the
bishop supports his lies and even offers him the church’s silver candlesticks.
Touched and shamed by the bishop’s actions, Valjean vows to be a different man
and start a new life without his past.
Eight years later, Valjean, now a mayor
and businessman, has successfully erased his past by changing his name, but is
still hunted by Javert for breaking his parole. Fantine (Anne Hathaway), one of
his factory workers, is dismissed by the foreman after being discovered to be
sending money to her illegitimate child, Cosette (Isabelle Allen). Desperate to
support her daughter, Fantine becomes a prostitute and gets arrested by Javert
when she attacks a rude customer. Valjean saves Fantine and vows to care for
her daughter. He buys Cosette’s
freedom from the Thenardiers (Sasha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter),
wicked tavern owners and professional pickpockets.
Later, Javert who is unaware of the
mayor’s disguise, informs him that the man he is after, Valjean, has confessed
to his crime of breaking parole and is condemned to die. Unable to accept that
an innocent man should die in his place, Valjean appears in court to reveal his
true identity, that he is indeed prisoner 24601. Valjean nonetheless ecapes to find Cosette.
Nine years later, Valjean has raised
Cosette as his own daughter but refuses to tell her about the past.
Consequently, the death of Lamerque has pushed a group of idealistic students
to start a revolution. Marius (Eddie Redmayne), one of the students, sees the
grown-up Cosette (Amanda Seyfried) and instantly falls in love with her,
breaking the heart of Eponine (Samantha Barks), the Thenardiers’ daughter. When the revolt ensues, Javert who has
posed as a rebel to spy on the group is exposed and handed over to Valjean, who
in turn joins the rebels to protect Marius. However, Valjean allows Javert to
escape. When the revolt fails, Valjean carries Marius into the sewers and is
confronted by Javert at the exit. Javert threatens to shoot him if he does not
surrender but Valjean ignores him and shows more concern for the fatally
wounded Marius.
The film is almost a sure ball success
because it works with givens that are solid and popular. But of course, between
the literature and the stage, Hooper has to make sure he creates a
cinematically effective translation of the songs and scenes. The production
design is striking and impressive with the proper combination of live scenes
and CGIs to heighten every emotional theme. There are moments when the
direction feels confused between being more theatrical, realistic or cinematic
but then again, an ordinary viewer will get so impressed with the treatment
that this will be overlooked.
With so few dancing scenes, Hooper’s Les Miserables is more opera than
musical. We cannot question
the prowess Hathaway gives to Fantine—her “I dreamed a dream” rendition is one
of the most powerful and emotive scenes in the film. Cohen and Carter are
just fabulous as the Thenardiers, though they at times come across as
reincarnations of past roles.
Redmayne and Seyfried are lame and forgettable. Crowe is a disappointment—vocally he is
weak, personality-wise, his Javert is bland; maybe he’s just too pretty to look
mean or even stern.
Noting all that, and the better aspects
of the film—particularly the strong material—we tend to think that actors had
been chosen more for their sincerity and passion than their singing
prowess. Perhaps the director
wants us to listen to the truths between the notes instead of just being awed
by the singing. As the central
character, Jackman is no Pavarotti, but who would not be touched by his soliloquy
which he sings direct to the camera, “Why did I allow this man to touch my soul
and teach me love?” Such a soulful
performance gives justice to the point of the plot—were he to croak in the
middle of the song, still it wouldn’t diminish the power of its message.
Les
Miserables may be a Javert-Valjean story, but there
wouldn’t be a story without the Bishop—he whose Christ-like forgiveness
transformed Valjean’s hardened heart and filled it with new knowledge. (Hooper
must have deemed the role so important that he assigned it to the original
Valjean, Colm Wilkinson, who played the part for the first time in 1985). Despite the background of a revolt or
the anti-climactic wedding scene, the film is not about a revolution, much less
about a love story, but it speaks of a revolution in the heart and of a love so
great it can forgive everything. This is perhaps what has attracted audiences
to Les Miserables through its long
stage and screen history—its message of forgiveness unmistakably echoing the
love of God itself.
CINEMA ratings:
AA, All Ages; PG13, Age 13 & below with parental
guidance; A14, Age 14 & above;
A18, Age 18 & above; NPS, Not for Public Showing.
