Les Misérables

Director: Tom Hooper

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried

New Release Review

Somehow, I missed every single opportunity in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s to see Les Misérables on stage. I think that's (partly) why I was looking forward to seeing the screen adaptation of this wildly successful theatre production. Another reason is I'm enjoying this trend in Hollywood to remake stories that don't involve superheroes, the apocalypse, aliens, vampires, or gross-out humour. It's just a shame that it only happens once a year at Oscar time. 

Les Misérables is described as a musical but really, it's more like an opera / sung-through musical because there are only a handful of words that are spoken. At first I thought it would be distracting but director Tom Hooper (The King's Speech, The Damned United) made the decision to record the actors singing live on set, rather than the more traditional route of having the actors lip-sync to the pre-recorded singing on set. I feel that the singing feels more natural as a result because it means the actor can make those tiny adjustments while they're, you know, acting. 

The story is too big to summarize here. I can only say it's a sprawling epic that follows Jean Val Jean as he attempts to live his life after being released from prison. It's a tale of love, honour, patriotism, loss, redemption, and, of course, misery. All this set against the backdrop of post-revolution Paris: what more could you ask for?

Verdict: A qualified see it. See it if you love musicals. See it if you love period dramas. And see it if you love  theatre and pageantry.