Aylmer to Zazzoo and Beyond: Les Misérables

Monday, December 31, 2012

Les Misérables - Review

Les Misérables
(2012 - December 25)
Drama | Musical | Romance
2 hr. 37 min.

Rated: PG-13 Suggestive and sexual material, violence and thematic elements Information for parents: Common Sense Media says OK for kids 14+. Read More
Grade: B

Director: Tom Hooper
Writers: Claude-Michel Schönberg (book), Alain Boublil (book), and 6 more credits »
Stars: Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe and Anne Hathaway | See full cast and crew

Set against the backdrop of 19th-century France, Les Misérables tells an enthralling story of broken dreams and unrequited love, passion, sacrifice and redemption—a timeless testament to the survival of the human spirit. Jackman plays ex-prisoner Jean Valjean, hunted for decades by the ruthless policeman Javert (Crowe) after he breaks parole. When Valjean agrees to care for factory worker Fantine’s (Hathaway) young daughter, Cosette, their lives change forever.

London

New York

I have seen Les Misérables several times, both in London and New York. It is one of my all time favorite musicals and is arguably the most popular musical of all time having been translated and produced to great acclaim all over the world.

There is the old saying, and I'm sure you've heard it many times, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it", so it is hard to understand why Hollywood would take such a guaranteed hit and screw it up, but then again, Hollywood has a history of such major misfires primarily because of the studio mindset that a film won't succeed without 'star power' , no one will invest without big names to draw in the crowds, so they cast the big name stars of the day many of whom are non-singers in the headliner roles. Often time disastrously so as evidenced here by just a few past examples: Oliver Read's so called 'singing' in Tommy, Pierce Brosnan in Mama Mia, Madona's butchering of the mega hit Evita, the same for Lucile Ball in Mame, then there is Gerard Butler in Phantom of the Opera, and of course, Clint Eastwood and Lee Marvin in Paint Your Wagon, and now we may add to the list Hugh Jackman and Russell Crow in Les Misérables. Yes, Hollywood has a history of taking a diamond and turning it into a dull, luster-free lump of coal.

Les Misérables is not all bad, it's a serviceable adaptation but it should have been a great movie, and since it isn't...it seems long and plodding. If it's done well you don't notice the time. And what's with all of director Tom Hooper's extended closeups of people singing and/or crying through their lyrics, man, looking at peoples nose hair, sweaty pores and tear stained faces gets old very quickly. I'm sure there are opera fans out there that like the exaggerated warble in Amanda Seyfried's voice as Cosette, but to me it was as grating as fingernails on a chalkboard. When Jean Valjean meets Cosette in the woods it's sort of creepy, in the back of my head I kept hearing 'stranger danger'.

It would be unfair to criticize the leads and ignore Sacha Baron Cohen's over the top mugging and his dreadful makeup as Thénardier the innkeeper. Helena Bonham Carter was better but not by much.

One of the highlights of Les Misérables has always been Éponine's heartbreaking 'On My Own' but here too, Samantha Barks, try as she does, gives us a tepid rendition. The same goes for Jean Valjean's 'Bring Him Home' and here again Hugh Jackman is way off the mark. His rendition is an anemic snoozer. The delivery of "Javert's Suicide" shows just how over his head the singing assignment is for Russell Crowe. He didn't appear comfortable in the roll and never won me over as Javert.

Daniel Huttlestone does a fine job as Gavroche and can handle the singing so what do they do? They cut his song "Dog Eats Dog", and add a new meaningless song "Suddenly", vapidly delivered by Jean Valjean/Hugh Jackman, consequently when Gavroche climbs over the barricade extolling "it only goes to show what little people can do"...the significance is lost. It also never makes the reaction to his death Additionally, they have changed the order of several songs from the stage musical, and deleted some verses but I can live with that. The strength of the material overcomes, to some degree, the hack job Tom Hooper has done to it along with his cohorts that came up with the dubious casting.

It's all so very disappointing, I wanted so to love this film. I wanted it to be an iconic film worthy of memorializing the classic Victor Hugo novel. All that being said, it is what it is, I do still recommend the film. On the plus side for Tom Hooper's direction he does an excellent job of portraying the dismal, deplorable living conditions of the commoners of Paris, the toll of poverty, the bad teeth, the lice, thievery, prostitution and the cholera epidemic of the time and the struggles against the excesses and injustices of the monarchies and imperialists.

The Isurgent Barricade - General Lamarque - King Louis Philippe, The Citizen King

The fateful rebellion of June 1832 (on which Victor Hugo based his novel, Les Misérables) against King Louis Philippe of France (r. 1830-1848), the 'Citizen King', was triggered by the death of General Lamarque. The resistance seemed to have popular support, at least at first, however, the 3000 republican rebels were doomed when the king's troops arrived outnumbering them by at least 10 to 1. The good citizens of Paris were not ready to back up their rhetoric and commit themselves and callously turned their backs on the the freedom fighters, virtually condemning them all to death.

The above photo from the rebellion of 1871 know as the Paris Commune illustrates the price the people paid for their resistance the 100 plus years of their struggle for “Liberté, Égalité, et Fraternité”.

The French people's resistance and revolutions lasted more than 100 years with a series of monarchies and republics ousting each other until 1958 when the fifth republic was finally able to prevail.

Les Misérables is a French historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published in 1862, it is generally considered one of the greatest novels of the nineteenth century. The title has been translated into several different variations from the original French as The Miserable, The Wretched, The Poor Ones, The Wretched Poor, or The Victims, but in the English-speaking world the novel is usually referred to by its original French title, Les Misérables. The novel begins in 1815 and comes to its climax in the 1832 June Rebellion, it follows the lives and interactions of several characters, while focusing on the struggles of ex-convict Jean Valjean and his experience of redemption.

The novel examins the nature of law and grace, elaborates upon the history of France, the architecture and urban design of Paris, politics, moral philosophy, antimonarchism, justice, religion, and the types and nature of romantic and familial love. Les Misérables has been popularized through numerous stage adaptations, including a musical (1980-1985) which this film is based on, has become a global sensation.

The musical version of Les Misérables has been produced in forty-two countries and translated into 21 languages: English, French, German (Austria and Germany), Spanish (four versions: two from Spain, one version each from Argentina and Mexico), Japanese, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian (Bokmål and Nynorsk), Polish, Swedish (in Sweden and in Finland), Dutch (Netherlands and Belgium), Danish, Finnish, Brazilian Portuguese, Estonian, Czech, Mauritian Creole, Basque, Catalan and Korean. Including singles and promos, there have been over seventy official recordings from worldwide productions.

The stage musical, which evolved out of a Parisian conception as a stadium concert in 1980, had significantly changed and had never been translated back into the language of Victor Hugo until 1991 for its French World Première in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. This production boasted a cast that presented five shows a week in French and three a week in English and was a great success. It gave the producers a clear indication that Les Misérables was finally ready to go "home", to Paris, and did so later that same year. In all, there have been several stage and film versions culminating in this, the 2012 film version.

The Young Cosette sweeping (left): 1886 engraving for Victor Hugo's Les Miserables. French illustrator Émile Bayard drew the sketch of Cosette for the first edition, and this engraving was prepared for an 1886 edition. The image has become emblematic of the entire story, being used in promotional art for various versions of the musical. The illustration's caption, CONFIER, c'est quelquefois livrer, is the title of Book IV of Volume I. It is translated to English as "To Entrust is Sometimes to Abandon".

Jean Valjean as Monsieur Madeleine/Monsieur le maire (Mr. Mayor). Illustrated by Gustave Brion (right).

The death of Fantine; Valjean (as Mayor Madeleine) closes her eyes (left).

Valjean's character is loosely based on the life of Eugène François Vidocq (right), an ex-convict who became a successful businessman widely noted for his social engagement and philanthropy. Valjean's incredible strength in general is based on Vidocq's, who helped Hugo with his research for Claude Gueux and Le Dernier jour d'un condamné (The Last Day of a Condemned Man). The accident of the cart, in particular, is based on an event in Vidocq's life: In 1828, he saved one of the workers in his paper factory by lifting a heavy cart on his shoulders. Hugo only added the fact that Valjean betrayed his real identity with the act (Vidocq had already been pardoned at the time).