[This film was the last I saw in the final week of December 2012.]
Les Misérables is one of the best films I saw in 2012. I saw it on an IMAX screen in San Francisco with fantastic sound quality and loved the experience. I feel really good about it being nominated as Best Picture for the Oscars.
Those people who found fault with the film seem to fall into primarily two camps. As one friend stated, "I have never seen the musical. ... I found the characters very underdeveloped and felt nothing for them." The second fault seems to rest with the number of close-ups the director uses to tell his story.
In regards to the close-ups, I remember a critique of Howard Hawks (I believe) who was criticized for emphasizing closeups. The reviewer said it felt like a movie made for the small screen (television). The feeling of those who object to close-ups seem to feel that the proper visualizations for musicals and film should play off the vast realism of the sets and exploit the vistas of 1840 Paris. While I agree that the settings created for the city were fascinating and often seductive viewing, I would maintain that the purpose of any musical is that connection between the viewer and the audience. A closeup allows, or rather forces, the viewer to concentrate on the singing.
I am reminded of the critics who found Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl singing alone on a black set, relying only on her face to convey the poignancy of "My Man." They talked about what a risky move but how effectively it worked. I felt the same was true in this film.
When people have something to sing about, I want to see them, and concentrate on their singing and facial expression.
Much has been written about the rather unique approach director Tom Hooper used in creating a much more realistic presentation. The actors didn't just mouth prerecorded playback with prerecorded emotions; they sang on the set and then an orchestra was added behind them. This approach allowed for great depth of feeling. (Anne Hathaway's "I Dreamed a Dream" and Eddie Redmayne's "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" shows for me the power and the wisdom of the approach.)
Another criticism of this approach was that many of the actors didn't seem as polished as some of the concert versions. They point to Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe's singing. For me, both men portrayed the torment their characters went through both in emotional range and vocally.
Back to the criticism about there not being depth with the characters. Each time I see a production, I find the plot (for such an episodic novel) has been effectively condensed, with much of the character development in the songs themselves. (For people not used to listening to lyrics, that might be a problem.) Most people were blown away at the intensity of Anne Hathaway's pain, conveyed in both "At the End of the Day" and "I Dreamed a Dream." Jean Valjean's growth is certainely assayed in several of his soliloquies. Even the minor characters of Thenardier and Madame Thenardier are well developed characters in "Master of the House" and the wedding sequence.
The Romantic storyline consists of the setup for Jean Valjean's redemption and his connection to Fantine and her daughter Cosette. Jean is hated by a policeman, Javert, who believes he should be punished ruthlessly. Jean is an ex-convict who is befriended by a priest who saves him from returning to prison for stealing by "buying his soul" with a pair of silver candlesticks which he stole from the priest. Time jump. Valjean has now assumed the persona of a factory owner and mayor of a town. Fantine works for him and, because of the jealous manipulation of the other factory women, Fantine thrown out into the streets where she reluctantly turns to prostitution to obtain money to help support her child Cosette, who is living with the Tenardiers. When Valjean and Fantine reconnect, she lies dying. Valjean pledges he will find Cosette and raise her. He evades Javert and ends up "buying" Cosette from the world of the Tenardiers. Time jump. Valjean and the teen Cosette live in Paris. The young student Marius, a friend of the Tenardiers' daughter Eponine, sees Cosette and immediately falls in love with her. Marius is part of a group of student radicals who believe they can start a rebellion and change the conditions of France. The plot centers on four ideas: Marius and Cosette, Eponine's love for Marius, the students' rebellion, Javert's rediscovery of Valjean and their eventual confrontation, and Valjean's saving of Marius from the slaughter of the soldiers. In true Romantic fashion, the students fail to raise the people, Valjean is eventually redeemed and wins out over Javert, and Marius and Cosette end up together.
Romanticism stressed a world where life is as it should be. In Jean Valjean's world there is forgiveness and love. As they sing in the finale:
Take my hand
And lead me to salvation
Take my love
For love is everlasting
And remember
The truth that once was spoken
To love another person
Is to see the face of God.
One of the changes I found in watching the film is that for me, for the first time, I feel sympathy for Javert's inability to accept that he might be wrong. Crowe's final soliloguy touched me more than any Javert I have seen.
When the film reprises, "Do You Hear the People Sing" at the end, all four of us who attended the showing together were in tears, especially the one in his twenties. That reinforced for me the power of the performance.
Les Misérables (2012) *****
You might also enjoy this short on the sets and decor of the film.
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