Les Misérables - 'If you're poor in France, you're gonna have a bad time.'

Do you Hear the People Sing?

Ah, Les Mis. The story of a convict who breaks parole, adopts a little girl and gets swept up in a revolution. I must confess that I'm still too afraid to pick up the book (it is of impressive size and would probably result in broken toes on the first attempt to lift it) but I enjoyed the stage show, so I was looking forward to seeing what the film had made of it.

The first thing that became clear was that the song style is a lot more conversational and less operatic, characters sometimes reverting to flat-out speaking their lines. All the performances were recorded live, with the actors and actresses singing to each other at their own pace while some poor fellow on the piano played into their earpieces, trying to keep up with their irregular tempo changes. Less grandeur maybe, but a more natural style.

Touching of faces.

Hugh Jackman, playing man-on-the-run Jean Valjean, put in an energetic (if occasionally slightly Aussie) performance, managing to pull off both 'dangerous convict' and 'protective father'. Co-star Anne Hathaway's performance as self-sacrificing mother Fantine was far from the rousing musical version of 'I Dreamed a Dream', which is oddly placed before everything really goes to pot. The film's version is an utterly crushed, defeated, lonely rendition, complete with voice cracking and sobbing.

Amongst the post-timeskip cast, Marius, played by Eddie Redmayne, was fairly endearing with his quavering, tremulous delivery. The object of his affections, Amanda Seyfried as stock ingénue Cosette, is stuck with a character with all the depth and fieriness of wet cardboard, but pipes her lines in a sweet little hummingbird voice. Meanwhile, Samantha Barks puts in a heartbreaking performance as poor friendzoned Éponine.

Years on, more touching of faces.

But none for you, Éponine.

Russell Crowe has been getting a lot of flak for his turn as the relentless Inspector Javert (or 'LAWBOT 2.0 *bzzt*' as my friends put it). I can see where the criticism stems from - compared to Philip Quast's steely, fierce rendition of Stars, Crowe crooned it out in a less convincing, yet oddly soothing monotone. That was a little disappointing, but I loved the escalating counterpoint of 'The Confrontation'.

'Damn, I wish I could read French.'

It was very enjoyable experience, seeing all these songs played out with the benefit of real backdrops and closer-up than would ever have been possible on stage. Very close, in fact, due to a very... er, personal filming style which bordered on claustrophobic at times, introducing the audience to the dubious pleasure of being able to count nose hairs as a grubby peasant snarls about his poverty.

My highlights were probably 'One Day More', 'On My Own' and 'Empty Chairs at Empty Tables'. I don't really know what it would be like for someone who wasn't already familiar with the material, but anyone who liked the musical should give this a go. :D