Les Miserables

On New Year’s Eve, I went to see Les Miserables with a friend before the late night festivities began. If you haven’t seen it, you really should. It’s beautiful, and if I was a betting lady, I would say that it’s going to win an Oscar for sure.

They give you a little blurb about the movie:

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. In December 2012, the world's longest-running musical brings its power to the big screen in Tom Hooper's sweeping and spectacular interpretation of Victor Hugo's epic tale. -- (C) Universal

The movie is really long. Like 2 hours and 37 minutes. Because there is such a broad span of time that the film covers, you can really feel every little bit of its length. It isn’t painful, but you are sitting there for like three hours. That’s a long time. The other thing you have to get past is that this movie is a musical. There is going to be a lot of singing, and by “a lot of singing” I mean all singing. There is no talking. Zero talking. If this is going to bother you, then you should not go.

The acting is pretty star-studded. Anne Hathaway s stunning as Fantine. I’m usually not a big Anne fan, but I was in tears the moment she began “I Dreamed a Dream”. Hugh Jackman powers through Jean Valjean in a way I had not anticipated. Valjean needs a large vocal range, and while it wasn’t exactly Broadway quality, it was good. Russel Crowe as Javert wasn’t what I was expecting. He didn’t seem very authoritative for a policeman. It was more like “I will hunt you maybe, if I get around to it…” than “I’M GOING TO GET YOU AND KILL YOU”. He has a lovely singing voice though. It was just a very bland performance. Eddie Redmayne as Marius was brilliant. His rendition of “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables” had me in tears as soon as he began. The real standout among the gentlemen though was Aaron Tveit, who  had only seen on Gossip Girl. Yeah. As the Revolutionary leader Enjolras, he was ridiculously good. Keep an eye out for him. For the women, Fantine was good, but friend-zoned Eponine was better. Samantha Barks knows what she is doing.

Oh! Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter show up in there too, primarily for comic relief. They are hilarious, but they are playing pretty much the same characters as they did in Sweeney Todd, which was kind of a let down.

I mentioned already that I had cried more than a little during this show. It’s terribly sad. At the same time, you don’t leave the theatre depressed. It’s a very uplifting show, although you will bawl your eyes out. It beautiful. The story is timeless and elegant.

I’m going to bet that Anne Hathaway takes the Golden Globe that she’s nominated for. She was pretty amazing, but the cast overall was great.

Have you seen any truly great movies?

Oh! Here's Eddie Redmayne singing the song that makes me cry. It's tragically good.