Author Topic: The Wretched Lift Their Voices: Anne Hathaway & Hugh Jackman in 'Les Misérables'  (Read 63499 times)

Offline Mikaela

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I am so excited for that film! I'm a huge Les Mis nut. I love the novel, I adore the musical.

And Anne looks and sings fantastic as Fantine - she doesn't overdo the pathos or try to really push that song and her voice to its limits to prove she can do it.  I think I will cry when I see the film.

I noticed that the link was broken to the clip of the filming of the Finale number (Do you hear the people sing) so I took a look round YouTube to find a working link to the same clip in case anyone else comes looking like I did. The link is HERE.

Offline Aloysius J. Gleek

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I am so excited for that film! I'm a huge Les Mis nut. I love the novel, I adore the musical.

And Anne looks and sings fantastic as Fantine - she doesn't overdo the pathos or try to really push that song and her voice to its limits to prove she can do it.  I think I will cry when I see the film.

I noticed that the link was broken to the clip of the filming of the Finale number (Do you hear the people sing) so I took a look round YouTube to find a working link to the same clip in case anyone else comes looking like I did. The link is HERE.



I think so too, Mikaela!




"Tu doives entendre je t'aime."
(and you know who I am...)


Cowboy Curtis (Laurence Fishburne)
and Pee-wee in the 1990 episode
"Camping Out"

Offline Aloysius J. Gleek

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[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwgQjfg0hZw&feature[/youtube]
Published on Sep 20, 2012 by OfficialRegalMovies



This Christmas, the epic musical comes to the big screen.

Helmed by The King's Speech 's Academy Award®-winning director, Tom Hooper, Les Misérables  stars Hugh Jackman, Oscar® winner Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway and Amanda Seyfried.


"Tu doives entendre je t'aime."
(and you know who I am...)


Cowboy Curtis (Laurence Fishburne)
and Pee-wee in the 1990 episode
"Camping Out"

Offline brianr

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Thanks for this. I can hardly wait. I have just read that it is opening in NZ on January 10. However it is opening in Australia on Dec 26. At the moment I plan to fly home from Sydney on Dec 27. Will I join the queues or wait? I have seen the stage version 4 times and would have seen many more if it was not so expensive.

Offline brianr

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Have just seen this interview with Hugh Jackman on Australian TV
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-11-26/hugh-jackman-les-miserables/4391650

Offline Aloysius J. Gleek

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http://movies.nytimes.com/2012/12/25/movies/les-miserables-stars-anne-hathaway-and-hugh-jackman.html




Movie Review
The Wretched Lift Their Voices
‘Les Misérables’
Stars Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman


By MANOHLA DARGIS
Published: December 24, 2012



Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway in  “Les Misérables.”


In the first long act of “Les Misérables,” Anne Hathaway opens her mouth, and the agony, passion and violence that have decorously idled in the background of this all-singing, all-suffering pop opera pour out. It’s a gusher! She’s playing Fantine, the factory worker turned prostitute turned martyr, and singing the showstopping “I Dreamed a Dream,” her gaunt face splotched red and brown. The artful grunge layered onto the cast can be a distraction, as you imagine assistant dirt wranglers anxiously hovering off camera. Ms. Hathaway, though, holds you rapt with raw, trembling emotion. She devours the song, the scene, the movie, and turns her astonishing, cavernous mouth into a vision of the void.

The director Tom Hooper can be a maddening busybody behind the camera, but this is one number in which he doesn’t try to upstage his performers. Maybe he was worried that Ms. Hathaway would wolf him down too. Whatever the case, he keeps it relatively simple. Moving the camera slightly with her — she lurches somewhat out of frame at one point, suggesting a violent, existential wrenching — he shoots the song in a head-and-shoulder close-up, with the background blurred. By that point, with her dignity and most of her pretty hair gone, Fantine has fallen as far as she can. She has become one of the abject castaways of the musical’s title, a wretched of the earth.

Written by Alain Boublil and the composer Claude-Michel Schönberg (with English-language lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer), the musical “Les Misérables” is of course one really big show, perhaps the biggest and certainly one of the longest-running. Its Web site hints at its reach: Since the English-language version was first performed in London in 1985, it has been translated into 21 languages, performed in 43 countries, won almost 100 awards (Tony, Grammy) and been seen by more than 60 million people. In 1996 Hong Kong mourners sang “Do You Hear the People Sing” to memorialize Tiananmen Square. In 2009 the awkward duckling Susan Boyle became a swan and a world brand with her rendition of “I Dreamed a Dream” on the television show “Britain’s Got Talent.”

Somewhere amid the grime, power ballads and surging strings there is also Victor Hugo, whose monumental 1862 humanistic novel, “Les Misérables,” was, along with the musical “Oliver!,” Mr. Boublil’s original inspiration. Like the show, Mr. Hooper’s movie opens in 1815 and closes shortly after the quashed June Rebellion of 1832, boiling the story down to a pair of intertwined relationships.

The first pivots on the antagonism of a onetime prison guard, now inspector, Javert (Russell Crowe, strained) toward a former convict, Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman, earnest); the second involves the love-at-first-sight swooning between Cosette (Amanda Seyfried) and Marius (Eddie Redmayne), a revolutionary firebrand. As a child, Cossette was rescued by Valjean from her caretakers, the Thénardiers (the energetic Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter, who nicely stir, and stink up, the air).

Part of the tug of “Les Misérables” is that it recounts a familiar, reassuring story of oppression, liberation and redemption, complete with period costumes and tear-yanking songs. Georges Sand apparently felt that there was too much Christianity in Hugo’s novel; Mr. Hooper seems to have felt that there wasn’t enough in the musical and, using his camera like a Magic Marker, repeatedly underlines the religious themes that are already narratively and lyrically manifest. In the first number (“Look Down”), set against a digitally enhanced, visibly artificial port, Valjean helps haul an enormous ship into a dock. Dressed mainly in cardinal red, the prisoners pull on ropes, while singing during a lashing rain, with Javert glaring down at them. (And, yes, he will fall.)

By the time the scene ends, Valjean hasn’t just been handed his release papers after 19 years as a prisoner, he has also become a Christ figure, hoisting a preposterously large wooden pole on to his shoulder. Mr. Hooper’s maximalist approach is evident the very moment the scene begins — the camera swooping, as waves and music crash — setting an overblown tone that rarely quiets. His work in this passage, from the roller-coaster moves of the cameras to the loud incidental noise that muffles the lyrics, undermines his actors and begins to push the musical from spectacle toward bloat. Mr. Jackman suffers the most from Mr. Hooper’s approach, as when Valjean paces up and down a hallway while delivering “What Have I Done,” a to-and-fro that witlessly, needlessly, literalizes the character’s internal struggle.

Mr. Hooper’s decision to shoot the singing live, as opposed to recording everything in postproduction, as has been customary in movie musicals since the 1930s, yields benefits. That’s especially the case with Ms. Hathaway, Mr. Redmayne and Daniel Huttlestone, a scene-stealer who plays the Thénardiers’ young son. (This isn’t the first contemporary musical to resurrect the practice of live singing, which was used for both Peter Bogdanovich’s “At Long Last Love” and Alan Parker’s “Commitments.”) It’s touching, watching performers like Ms. Hathaway and Mr. Redmayne giving it their all, complete with quavering chins and straining tendons. Mr. Redmayne, an appealing actor with a freckled face built for wonder, at times seems to be stretching his long body to hit his higher notes.

Mr. Redmayne’s sincerity complements Ms. Seyfried’s old-fashioned trilling and her wide-eyed appearance, even if their romance lacks spark. Then again, so does the movie. Song after song, as relationships and rebellion bloom, you wait in vain for the movie to, as well, and for the filmmaking to rise to the occasion of both its source material and its hard-working performers.

As he showed in “The King’s Speech” and in the television series “John Adams,” Mr. Hooper can be very good with actors. But his inability to leave any lily ungilded — to direct a scene without tilting or hurtling or throwing the camera around — is bludgeoning and deadly. By the grand finale, when tout le monde  is waving the French tricolor in victory, you may instead be raising the white flag in exhausted defeat.


“Les Misérables” is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). Gun death, poverty, face boils and revolution.




Russell Crowe as Javert.



Les Misérables

Opens on Tuesday nationwide.

Directed by Tom Hooper; written by William Nicholson, Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schönberg and Herbert Kretzmer; based on the novel by Victor Hugo and the stage musical by Mr. Boublil and Mr. Schönberg; music by Mr. Schönberg; lyrics by Mr. Kretzmer; director of photography, Danny Cohen; edited by Melanie Ann Oliver and Chris Dickens; production design by Eve Stewart; costumes by Paco Delgado; produced by Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward and Cameron Mackintosh; released by Universal Pictures. Running time: 2 hours 37 minutes.

WITH: Hugh Jackman (Jean Valjean), Russell Crowe (Javert), Anne Hathaway (Fantine), Amanda Seyfried (Cosette), Eddie Redmayne (Marius), Samantha Barks (Éponine), Helena Bonham Carter (Madame Thénardier) and Sacha Baron Cohen (Thénardier).


"Tu doives entendre je t'aime."
(and you know who I am...)


Cowboy Curtis (Laurence Fishburne)
and Pee-wee in the 1990 episode
"Camping Out"

Offline Luvlylittlewing

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The wait is finally over!  I'll go see this after Christmas dinner tomorrow evening with my daughter and her beau.  We don't anticipate loving it as mush as the Geoffrey Rush/UmaThurman/Liam Neissen version, but this looks great!

Offline Aloysius J. Gleek

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  Release dates for
Les Misérables   (2012)
 
Country               Date

UK                       5 December 2012 (London) (premiere)
Japan                 21 December 2012  
Australia            22 December 2012 (limited)
Hong Kong         22 December 2012 (limited)

Canada               25 December 2012  
Hong Kong         25 December 2012  
Singapore           25 December 2012  
Spain                  25 December 2012  
USA                    25 December 2012
 
Australia           26 December 2012  
Hungary            27 December 2012  
Malaysia            27 December 2012  

Czech Republic  3 January 2013  
Lebanon            3 January 2013  
Portugal            3 January 2013  
Bulgaria             4 January 2013  
Lithuania           4 January 2013  

Netherlands      10 January 2013  
New Zealand     10 January 2013  
Ireland              11 January 2013  
Mexico              11 January 2013  
UK                     11 January 2013  
Vietnam            11 January 2013
 
Estonia             18 January 2013  
Iceland             18 January 2013  
Norway             18 January 2013  
Sweden            18 January 2013  

Poland              25 January 2013  

Italy                  31 January 2013  
Slovenia            31 January 2013  
Brazil                 1 February 2013  

Russia               7 February 2013  
Taiwan              8 February 2013  

France              13 February 2013  
Argentina         14 February 2013  
Greece              14 February 2013  

Belgium             20 February 2013  
Germany           21 February 2013  
Cyprus              22 February 2013  
Finland              22 February 2013  

Turkey              1 March 2013  
Denmark           21 March 2013  


Also Known As (AKA)

Клетниците Bulgaria (Bulgarian title)
A nyomorultak Hungary (imdb display title)
Bidnici Czech Republic (imdb display title)
Jadnici Serbia (imdb display title)
Les Miz USA (informal alternative title)
Les misérables: Nędznicy Poland
Los Miserables Argentina (imdb display title)
Los miserables Spain (imdb display title)
Oi athlioi Greece (imdb display title)
Os Miseráveis Portugal (imdb display title)
Vargdieniai Lithuania (imdb display title)




« Last Edit: December 25, 2012, 08:58:40 am by Aloysius J. Gleek »
"Tu doives entendre je t'aime."
(and you know who I am...)


Cowboy Curtis (Laurence Fishburne)
and Pee-wee in the 1990 episode
"Camping Out"

Offline southendmd

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I saw Les Miserables today.  Here's my little review, entitled "I Feel Gritty (oh so gritty)".

*spoilers*  (duh)

I'm a pretty big fan--I've seen the show three times, once in French.  I have the original French concept album, the original London cast album, the original Broadway cast album, the original French cast album (terrific), and what I consider the best, the 10th Anniversary concert album performed in Royal Albert Hall.  We won't even talk about the 25th anniversary concert with Nick Jonas...

Warning:  I tend to be critical!  I'll start by saying I never liked Hugh Jackman's voice.  Having seen him way back in 1998 in "Oklahoma!" as Curley, I thought he sure was pretty and a good dancer.  But that voice--a nasal warble--doesn't work for me.  (I tried listening to his "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning" without the visuals once.)

That said, his Jean Valjean kinda grows on you.  He is an all-around nice guy, after all.  Jackman had a certain wide-eyed expression that didn't vary much, however.

Colm Wilkinson--the original Jean Valjean both in London and New York--makes a nice cameo as the monseigneur, and delivers his usual weird, exaggerated vowels.

Russell Crowe as Javert is a big disappointment.  Let's face it:  he's no singer.  He hoarsely croaked his way through some nifty songs. He also lacks the intensity and obsessiveness the role requires.  See Phillip Quast on youtube for the definitive interpretation.  

Our Anne is magnetic in her small role.  She has to transform herself in a very short amount of time.  I think of how great she was in the telephone scene in BBM--again a short scene, but terrific. You could hear a pin drop in the theatre when she performed.  (I wonder if the take in the film is different from the one in the trailer).  Of course, she gets a reprise at the end of the film, this time all cleaned up.  

While Russell Crowe was bad enough, the even bigger disappointment for me was the casting of the lovers.  Eddie Redmayne just doesn't ooze romantic hero to me.  (I disliked him in the same way in "My Week with Marilyn" with our Michelle).  His face has this perpetual grin, that along with the freckles, is offputting.  It doesn't help that they gave him a ridiculous hairdo.  He singing reminds me of Dudley Dooright.  His partner Amanda Seyfried is even worse.  I don't really know why they cast a blonde to be Anne's daughter, but whatever.  Amanda sounds like Minnie Mouse on helium at 78 rpm.  Nails on a chalkboard.  No chemistry, whatsoever, between them.  Yuk.  Plus, they insist on pronouncing her name as "Cuzette".  Double yuk.

Aaron Tveit was superb as Enjolras.  He oozes sensuality, and of course can sing!  Why oh why didn't they cast him as Marius?  He also has a wonderful death scene.  (He was intoxicating in "Next to Normal".  Look him up singing "I'm Alive".  He also had a bit part in "Howl" as Allen Ginsburg's lover.)

Samantha Barks is a decent Eponine.  (She was the one good thing in the 25th anniversary concert.)  She has a tiny tiny waist and very very large upper frontals.  What she sees in this Marius, I'll never know.

The little kid who plays Gavroche practically steals the show.  This kid is going somewhere!

The little kid who plays young Cosette is duly filthy and adorable.  The composers wrote a new song for Valjean to sing to her called "Suddenly" that sounds like it came out of "The Boy from Oz".  Fail.  

Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen play the Thenardiers, with more meanness than comic relief.  

Regarding production values, the use of hand-held cameras was downright nauseating and unnecessary.  The CGI ropes-pulling-ships at the beginning was silly.  The birds-eye views of 19th-century Paris were fun.  The lighting was dim throughout.  Even though the actors sang live, there were a few moments out of sync. Some actors used English accents, some didn't.  I could have done without the realism in the Paris sewers, thank you very much.  They didn't spare any scrofulous boil or disgusting teeth in the makeup department either.

Overall, the problem to me was:  why go for such realism if you're gonna have them sing anyway?

  


Offline southendmd

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OK, here's Philip Quast singing "Stars". Suck on this, Crowe.

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urxk4mveLCw[/youtube]