Les Miserables
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, Russell Crowe, Amanda Seyfried
Directed By: Tom Hooper
Reviewed by Danielle Muir

[rating: 2.5/5]

I’m sure that Les Miserables is a great film.  I’m sure there are quality performances, impressive set pieces and an immense amount of work that went into filming the singing live in the fashion they did.  But I’m sure this doesn’t really mean jack when you just can’t get into the content.

I love musicals as much as the next musical loving person.  (In saying that my favourite musical in recent years is Rock of Ages – credibility lost).  The stage show for Les Miserables, I’m betting, is powerful, emotional and a favourite by many.  It’s just Les Miserables the movie seems rather dull, not just in colour grading terms but in spirit.

Jean Val Jean, breaking his parole after 19 years in jail for swiping bread, starts a new life in Paris with prison guard Jalvert perpetually on his tail.  Fantine, a young worker in Jean Val Jean’s factory, is turfed out by jealous, lie-spinning co-workers, eventually turning to prostitution to finance the life of her daughter, Cosette.  And it’s all very bleak, everyone’s rather tortured and sings accordingly.

Maybe it’s because the musical is relatively unknown to me but I just couldn’t engage well with Les Miserables.  Whilst I will admit I was astounded by a few sequences (the opening scene ‘Look Down’ is spectacular, as is Hathaway’s rendition of ‘I Dreamed A Dream’ when you recall it’s sung live), ultimately it didn’t tickle my fancy.  Apart from the wildly entertaining double act of Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen whose quirks and constant attempts to extort money out of Val Jean are amusing, everyone just sulks around looking rather sad.  Or in the case of Russell Crow, rather like he’s concentrating too fiercely singing well and forgetting to change his facial expression.  I actually didn’t mind Crow’s singing voice, and he is an imposing presence, just a few more facial dynamics would have been nice.

Much has been touted about Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway’s performances, and they are warranted – they both spew appropriate amounts of emotion and it is raw and powerful.  Plus their singing is a force to be reckoned with and they are easily the best performers in the cast, bar perhaps Samantha Barnes as fan favourite Eponine.  And the rest of the actors have fine sets of lungs but none are really memorable in their roles.  Hathaway’s hardly in it at all – probably around 20 minutes, and if she didn’t have the show-stopper ‘I Dreamed a Dream’ I daresay anyone would bat an eyelid.

It’s definitely an epic film, helmed well by director Tom Hooper as he’s essentially re-created an entire city of Paris in the early 1800s with great detail.  It’s just not a particularly fascinating or engaging film, with characters that are rather bland apart from a few noticeable exceptions and a tone that doesn’t really spring to life on screen.  Lovers of the musical may revel in the recreation of their beloved Les Miserables on screen, but I’d recommend others avoid.