Review of Les Misérables (2012) by Andrea M — 24 Jun 2016

LES MISERABLES overall was a beautiful achievement for director Tom Hooper. it's hard for me to write down a conventional review, so I will break down my first thoughts in points.

The following is for fans that are familiar with the musical or have seen the film. May contain SPOILERS.

Top things I loved about the film:

Anne Hathaway's "I Dreamed a Dream" -- Blew me away. Utterly the best female performance performing a musical number I have ever seen on screen. She had me bawling by the middle of the song. You are there with her, in her despair. She literally brings the song to another dimension. Worth the entire price of admission.

The Cast's Range of Talent -- I really got to see these people shine in their roles.

The Location / Setting -- From the opening to the end of the film, the scale and the detail of the sets loan an intrinsic look to the different scenes.

Spiritual imagery -- Valjean is constantly in prayer or in deep interior thought during the musical. I was happy to see it portrayed with reverence and a clear sense of morality and the Divine.

Top things that needed more love from the filmmakers:

1) The editing -- quick shots from quick camera actions to glorious pans several times in the film was really unsettling and distracted from the "tone".

2) Too many "Shaky" cam shots -- Gave a bit of a uncalled for HUNGER GAMES feel that made you more aware of the camera than what was going on in the scene.

3)"The Confrontation" scene -- came and went very quickly and was cut at the end. This scene in the musical laid some key elements to Jevert and Valjean's reasons for doing what they do throughout the story. To rush through it and cut the end muddled mostly Jevert's motives and didn't really hit the core of his struggle with understanding Valjean's motives.

4) "Javert's Suicide" the entire scene, although it echos lyrically and musically to "Valjean's Soliloquy" at the beginning, didn't feel it reached the emotional potential as most of the other songs did. Although Jevert is classified as the villain in the story I felt more sorrow for the loss of his soul when he decides to take his life in the stage play than in the film. I don't know if it was Russell Crowe's or Tom Hooper's intent to flatten Jevert's emotions throughout the film but I would have liked to see him break down in pain as Hugh Jackman did in "Valjean's Soliloquy".

All and all, a brilliant adaptation of an incredibly powerful musical. A must see while in theaters. -2012 review.