Les Miserables 2012: Part One

"It's the story of one who turned from hating... a man who only learned to love when you were in his keeping."

~Jean Valjean, Epilogue

It feels cliche to say I don't know where to begin, but it's the truth.  I waited so long for this movie-- eleven months just for it to be released in theaters, then three more before I actually saw it for myself.  And I'll tell you right now that yes, it was everything I dreamed it would be, and there's no need to go find a new dream (unless the new dream involved seeing the show live on Broadway someday, in which case, yes please).

I suppose the best place to begin would be at the beginning.  After that I shall go on until the end.  Then stop.

{And a warning to all-- this is going to be EXTRAORDINARILY long and RIDICULOUSLY convoluted and CHOCK-FULL of spoilers and UNBELIEVABLY detailed and opinionated because really, blow-by-blow is the only way I can handle Les Mis and you can consider yourself duly warned now. Let all who wish to, go from here.}

The beginning for many people happened when the French flag flashed onto the screen, swirling through green water as the big bum-BUM music began.  And if I had seen Les Mis in the theater, so it would have been for me.  But I saw Les Mis for the first time at home, in my bedroom, and for me the experience began with one voice singing softly and one man's face on the screen as the DVD menu began to play "Do You Hear the People Sing?" in its entirety, accompanied by a montage of scene snippets that gave me goosebumps.

I'm immature.  I screamed.
But quietly, because my younger siblings were getting ready for bed.

Um, anyways.  Once I'd finished fangirling over Enjolras (and everyone else in the menu montage) my sister hit the Play button and that's when the iconic prologue music began and the flag swam upward.

Sure, it was CGI, but I don't care.  The opening scene was breathtaking.  Actually seeing the convicts dragging the ship into the docks was more thrilling than I'd expected it to be-- throughout the whole movie I just couldn't get over how much BIGGER everything was--so much bigger than what I've been accustomed to with the concerts and the stage play.  (Bigger does not equate better.  We'll discuss that more later. But it was still fabulous.)  And the music?  Fabulous.  After hearing about the whole singing-live-with-just-a-piano thing, I was a bit worried that the orchestrations might not be up to snuff, but I was quite wrong and am happy about it-- I would much rather be merry than right.

I intend to go character-by-character through this thing, and since I also intend to go song-by-song, it makes the most sense to begin with Valjean and Javert in "Look Down."

Hugh Jackman is still not my favorite Valjean, but I will say that I've completely gotten over my early prejudice against him.  (My first reactions on seeing a picture of the man they'd cast for Valjean were a)  disappointment that he wasn't Colm Wilkinson and b) annoyance at his appearance. "Too skinny and too movie-star-ish to be a convict.  Definite fail here.")  However.  Hugh Jackman's acting skills are superb, he completely inhabited the role and convinced me that he WAS Jean Valjean (to the point where I've started picturing his face instead of Colm's when I read certain portions of the brick... *hides*) and his interaction with Little Cosette was the cutest thing in the history of cute things.  More on that later.  The only quibble I have is with his voice-- though he was NOT the worst singer in the movie, I was left feeling dissatisfied with the way he handled several of the songs.  To be quite honest, I don't think he was the right vocal match for the part.  It is a truth universally acknowledged that the part of Jean Valjean is one of the most challenging male roles in musical theatre, and though Jackman is a trained singer and has been in quite a few shows, I just don't think his voice is right for Valjean.  "Look Down," wasn't bad, however-- though his voice lacks the raw power that Colm, Gary Morris or even John Owen-Jones bring to the part, he still got all the emotion across despite the lyric changes.  

Oooh, yeah, let's talk about lyric changes, shall we?  Especially where this guy is concerned.  Now, I loved the "retrieve the flag" bit.  It makes so much more sense for the audience to actually SEE Valjean's incredible strength at the beginning of the story, instead of being abruptly informed during "The Runaway Cart," that oh, yeah, this guy tossed ships around back in the day.  Forgot to mention that.  So that was great.  What I did NOT like was the way they cut so abruptly from mast-lifting to song-shouting.  It seemed awkward somehow.  You know how Rex Harrison speak-sings his way through My Fair Lady?  Yeah, well, Russell Crowe shout-sings his way through the dialogue bits.  Yes, I cringed.  Sometimes I giggled.  But in the end... his voice really wasn't that bad.

*scurries into corner*

No, I still don't think his singing was quite up to par.  But it wasn't the atrocity I had been led to believe it would be. And though it's great fun to imitate his part in One Day More, his voice doesn't send horrified chills down my spine the way Nick Jonas' does in the 25th Anniversary Concert.  Stars and Javert's Suicide weren't half bad (from a technical standpoint... we'll discuss the WAY he sang them in a minute), and Confrontation was the bomb (did I actually just say "the bomb" in public??) but the dialogue bits, as previously stated... errrrrmmmmm.  "NOW prisonertwofourSIXohone... your time is UP and your paROLE's begun..."  And what was up with changing the lyrics so they didn't rhyme anymore? "Follow to the letter your itinerry..."

Um, excuse me, what is an itenerry?  Could you possibly have meant itineRARY?

No one bites out "You will stahve again unless you learn the meaning of the lawr," like Philip Quast, but I have to say, Crowe's "and I'm Javert," is classic.  I approve.

Showing Valjean's journey through the mountains of France into the little village of Digne was done beautifully, I thought-- the stage simply can't portray that kind of scenery, and I appreciated the addition of those little scenes showing Valjean's rejection by the people he encountered.  Having the parole officer sending a guy to follow him was excellent, too-- in my first encounter with the story I was super confused as to why Javert was chasing Valjean in the first place and what he had against him.  (I mean, he'd served his time for the bread...)

I was prepared to be Emotionally Involved for the entire movie, of course, and was prepared to cry at the sad parts, but I was not at all prepared to pull an Elsie Dinsmore and burst into an agony of tears and sobs as soon as the Bishop's face showed up on the screen.  

And they included Mme. Magloire and Mlle. Baptistine! Even though they
didn't do anything to advance the story! Yay brick details!

I was so, so impressed with MY Valjean's singing.  I mean, duh, obviously.  Colm Wilkinson has a gorgeous voice.  But he IS a lyric baritone with an amazingly high range and the Bishop has some pretty low notes, so the way he sang that last "for God" was pretty amazing.  The first time I watched this I bewailed the severe lack of Expressive Eyebrows (it's a Colm-Valjean trademark, after all) but on my fourth go-round I paid closer attention and saw them there near the end of the pardoning of Valjean.       Excellent, excellent.   And of course we had the figurative-and-literal passing of the candlesticks... one generation's Valjean to the next.  Sniffle.

I was feeling quite unimpressed with "What Have I Done?" (and those statue-dead-body-thingies lying on the tables in the church were creeeeeeepy) until about halfway through.  I'm used to hearing this song screamed (even Alfie Boe put a tremendous amount of anger into it) and Jackman's use of bewilderment and grief instead of fury at the beginning took a little getting used to.

However, the more I see it, the better I like it.  (Where Les Mis is concerned, actors tend to grow on me.  My sisters can attest to this. :P)  And then he got to the "I feel my shame inside me like a knife" bit and actually started crying, and I was like, yup, this man needs an Oscar, HOW DID HE NOT GET AN OSCAR.  And after that I was Team Hugh Jackman for the rest of the movie.

"At the End of the Day" was chilling-- this film didn't gloss over the grittiness of life in France in the 1820's and 30's,  and the desperation on the beggars' faces and in their voices was evident.  I loved how Javert and the other inspectors were shown during the line about how the righteous hurry past and don't hear the little ones crying-- I'd always thought that line was referring to the wealthy, but it fits Javert so perfectly.  (And sheesh, Russell Crowe can certainly ride a horse.  He should be giving Eddie Redmayne some lessons.  Um, more on that later.)  I do have to wonder if Joly was responsible for the lyric changes though... "and the plague [not winter] is coming on fast, ready to kill!"

It seemed to me in the highly anticipatory weeks and months leading up to my first viewing of the film, that everyone was talking about Anne Hathaway as Fantine.  Anne Hathaway this, Anne Hathaway that, Anne Hathaway has an Oscar, Anne Hathaway cut off all her hair and lost 25 pounds for the part and she threw herself into this role and isn't she perfect and we all bow down to Anne Hathaway.  I was getting sick of it, let me tell you.  

And then I saw the movie and I understood.  Because she deserves every single accolade, every single repetitive review, every single ounce of fake gold on that Oscar statue (and the Golden Globe statue, too, though nobody seems to remember that one).  She completely BECAME Fantine in a way that surpassed Ruthie Henshall and even Lea Salonga and definitely Genevieve Leclerc (wasn't impressed with her portrayal... sorry).  All of a sudden I felt the tragedy of "At the End of the Day" in a way I've never felt before.

   

I mean, here's this woman who definitely made a mistake when she was younger and is paying the consequences now... but the utter callousness and even selfishness of her coworkers is terrifying.  Terrifying because I have to wonder if I would be just like them.  Yes, Fantine's daughter that she has to hide is a result of sin in her earlier life, but does that mean that the "righteous" women in the factory ought to conspire together to get her fired?  These are respectable women working respectable jobs, the kind who would consider themselves good and upright citizens... and yet they are the villains in this little tableau, the ones who drove her into the beginning of her tragic downward spiral.  Really makes you think... would I be like them if I ran into someone like Fantine in my life?  "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her..."

I really enjoyed the explanatory bits with Javert showing up at the factory and explaining his presence there to Monsieur Madeleine, aka Valjean... in the musical it IS a bit fuzzy as to how Javert randomly materialized in the runaway cart scene.  (Is he supposed to be the only cop in France?)  However, I did not enjoy the loud noises emanating from Russell Crowe's mouth.  "Please KNOW me as... JAVERT! I am HERE at your comMAND..." I'm reminded of a quote I saw on Hayden's blog once-- 

"You don't have to sing EVERYTHING!"

"But it's a muuuuuuuusicaaaaaaal!"

I really think someone should have said that to Russell Crowe.  Everyone else got along just fine with speak-sining the dialogue bits, but for some reason he felt he had to belt every single line.  One can only imagine how the poor man got along during lunch breaks. "Please PASS the salt and PEPPER!"

As for "The Runaway Cart"... to be honest, it felt too rushed.  I'm sure they were going for a more realistic approach, in which everything WOULD seem to be happening at once--the toppling cart, the terrified townsfolk, the mayor stepping in and taking charge--but it left this movie viewer feeling a little dizzy.  And what was up with chopping off half the lyrics at the end?  Was it a "shuffle verses and deal to the person on your left" kind of thing?  I mean, Valjean had no reason to say "say what you must, don't leave it there," when Javert hadn't even really voiced his suspicions yet.  Sigh.

"I look like a moose."
"But a very cute moose.  Make all the boy moose go HWOOOOOONK."
*blog readers make angry noises*
*Amy apologizes profusely and attempts to cultivate a socially acceptable sense of humor*

We managed to skip through "Lovely Ladies" quite nicely (though it did mean sacrificing the hair-and-teeth bit, but hey, I knew what happened) and in case any of my readers are wondering, I'll tell you how to do it without missing "I Dreamed a Dream" (they're on the same track on the DVD, sadly).  Once you see Fantine walking through the red-light district with a shawl around her shoulders, hit "skip."  You'll go to the next track, which is "Fantine's Arrest," and then you just need to rewind (or do the DVD equivalent... what's that called...?) until you get to Fantine lying (ALONE) in a rowboat, and voila, there's IDAD.

Which, by the way, was mind-boggling.  SO. GOOD.  No, Anne Hathaway doesn't have the powerhouse voice that Lea Salonga or Betsy Morgan or Ruthie Henshall have, but she sang IDAD (to quote Eddie Redmayne) "with this incredible fragility" that was unbelievably beautiful.  And sad.  (Well... duh.) 

Throughout that scene,  it kept hitting me just how ugly Fantine had become... I mean, here's Anne Hathaway, arguably the most beautiful human being on earth, and in this role she's become this woman who truly has been dropped at the bottom of the heap.  And that's never more clearly shown than in "Fantine's Arrest."

The song itself isn't that great until Javert shows up and then it becomes awesome.  I realize that they cut lines for length and all, and quite frankly I'd rather not hear all of what Bamatabois has to say, but seriously, it was like they exchanged two words and all of a sudden he's doing the snow attack.  And Fantine didn't really fight back as much as I thought she should have.  You could argue that Anne Hathaway's Fantine is more weak and beaten than some of the others, which is right, but I do think Fantine should have a little of the wildcat left in her at that point.  Anyways, Russell Crowe did bee-yew-tee-fully with that scene.  Stopping the other guys from going after her, and the way he said, "Save your breath and save your tears"-- does Javert possibly have a tiny bit of a soft spot, a spot that feels bad for Fantine despite his tenacity in clinging to The Law?  I'm not really sure what to make of this... I kinda liked the "other side" that Russell Crowe brings to the character, but is it canon?  I think not.  And the by-the-book-and-only-by-the-book part of me (which is not unlike Javert... cough...) says it's not right.  It's not really right.  (More on this later.  In Part Three.  Did I mention this thing is going to have three parts.  Because it is.)

All that aside, Valjean's rescue of Fantine is sweet and adorable and tearjerking and people who don't feel at least a little bit moved are made of stone.  End of story.

I really appreciated the fact that they included the scene where Javert tenders his resignation, because I felt it added a lot more depth to the story and made far more sense than the original musical did.  Now don't start smacking me with your stolen baguettes just yet-- I am NOT criticising the musical.  I mean, come on.  This is me and Les Mis we're talking about.  However, I do think the movie did a great job of clearing up some confusion and delay about who Javert was suspecting and why Valjean felt he had to go confirm his identity and blah-de-blah.  And am I the only one who giggled when Russell Crowe boomed out that he disgraced the uuuuuuuniform that he wore?  Because, you know, he doesn't sing as well as the other Javerts....?  Eh, never mind, it wasn't that funny.

Who Am I? left me feeling kinda... unimpressed.  It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good, either.  Not really memorable at all.  I do like that song, but nobody sings it the way Colm sings it.  One little bone I had to pick with that scene, however... what was up with those letters??? At one point, as Valjean is packing to go to the trial, he picks up a packet of letters tied up with a ribbon and smells them.  Presumably they smell good, which makes me think that they probably weren't business letters... which makes me think they might have been supposed to be from a lady.  Um.  What.  Valjean doesn't do romance, peeps.  I realize some people ship him with Fantine.  But then, some people ship Javert with Azelma, so... yeah.  (I don't have any proof of a Jazelma ship, but I don't doubt that it or something equally as kooky does exist somewhere.)

If I ever get a chance to meet Tom Hooper, I will definitely ask him about the letters.  But only after I've thanked him profusely for casting the barricade boys so perfectly, demanded why they didn't have more screen time, congratulated him on his impeccable staging (er... blocking?) of "Do You Hear the People Sing?" and given several broad hints about how Les Miserables: The Six-Hour Director's Cut Along with Five Additional Hours of Fra Fee Talking About Random Things in an Irish Accent would be an awesome release for Christmas this year.

 I felt a severe lack of ooomph in the courtroom scene.  I definitely prefer the way it's played out onstage, with pandemonium breaking loose as Valjean shows his brand and then goes running out in the confusion with Javert on his heels.  Or should I say, "exit, pursued by Javert?"

Fantine's Death was heartbreaking.  I loved the vision she had of Little Cosette (it's all so brick-accurate, I'm internally squealing) and the way Anne Hathaway sang everything so softly and brokenly was perfect.  Ruthie Henshall kinda belts out "Come to Me", which I don't like.  (Not that I don't like Ruthie Henshall... but I just don't like the way she sings that song.  "And TELL Cosette I LOOOOOOOVE her and I'll SEE her when I WAAAAAAAAAKE!!!!!!!" *RAH mushrooms shake from sheer noise level*)  

As for Confrontation... 'twas EPIC.  This was definitely Russell Crowe's best song, and Hugh Jackman did a pretty great job, too.  Loved how he wrenched the shelf thingy off the wall to beat back Javert's sword (though I was amused by the way Javert was using his sword one-handed to fend off Valjean's two-handed stick... who again is the "stronger man by far?")  It was fun to see the nuns scurrying away in terror, too-- okay, that sounds awful, but I just mean that it put the episode in perspective.  On stage you don't see what the rest of the hospital is thinking as these two guys have a fistfight.  Heehee.

I was not pleased at the number of lines that were cut out, but time constraints and blat-blat-blat.  Please release the ending bit with "I swear to you I will be there" in that director's cut, Mr. Hooper.

Isabelle Allen was, hands-down, the best Little Cosette I've ever seen.  She had an adorable singing voice, the perfect look for Wee Cosette (not quite a miniature Amanda Seyfried, but pretty close) and just the right blend of terrified and put-upon and abused and unbelievably sweet.  I'll confess that I generally skip "Castle on a Cloud" when I'm listening to Les Mis, because it kind of bores me, but her version is precious.

I generally skip Master of the House, too, but for a different reason than boredom.  Ahem.  On the DVD it's quite simple just to skip the entire track, and once you see Cosette wandering the woods, you're good.  This part is hilarious, by the by.  Because stalking young children is totally okay if you have a really cool coat with a cape thing and if you offer to do their chores for them.  Anne-girl and I have our own version of Valjean's greeting to Cosette.

"Do not be afraid of me... don't hide.  Show me where you live... tell me your wi-fi password... give me your Social Security number..."

Moving on.  The sweeping-off-of-the-hat and the "Mademoiselle," were squealy-adorable, though.  And did anyone else notice that when they came back through the village to the inn and she was swinging on his arm, he made the exact same grunting noise as in the opening scene?  One would presume an undernourished eight-year-old is a bit less heavy than a flag mast.  But anyways.  I suppose it was symbolic or something.

Helena Bonham-Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen were gross and disgusting as the Thenardiers (obviously) but they were also really, really funny. "Waltz of Treachery" was the best I'd ever seen, and definitely the high comedic point of the film.  Thenardier keeps getting Cosette's name messed up, a gag that (I believe) originated with the 25th Concert and is now a solid part of the show.  

"Farewell, Courgette."

"It's CoSEEEEEETTE."

Fun fact: a courgette is a zucchini in Britain.  There's your random act of culture, courtesy of me, for the day.  I imagine all the British actors snorting into their sleeves during that scene and the Americans being all, "lol what?"

Moving on.

(Did I say that before?  Never mind.  Hush up, can't you.)

"Suddenly" has gotten a lot of flak from the critics, I know.  But I (speaking as a diehard fan of the brick and the original musical and the French concept album and basically anything remotely connected to all of those) absolutely loved it.  And really, who cares about the critics?  Les Mis isn't about the critics.  It's about the people.  Historically, this story hasn't done well in the eyes of the Uppity and Scholarly Folk who review it in newspapers and such, yet the madding crowd who have bought the book and seen the musical and watched the film are touched by it in a special way.  And isn't that what the story is all about?  Ordinary people, the "lower classes," the uneducated and poor?  I'm not saying that the majority of Les Mis' fan base are peasants, but I am saying that I don't give two beans for the snooty reviewers who say "Suddenly" was too slow-moving and saccharine and nobody liked it.  It's a heartwarming little piece about a man who's become a father overnight, for Pete's sake... it's not supposed to be an eleven o'clock showstopper.  (Oh, and Hugh Jackman's an adoptive father in real life... which I thought added a special tenderness to his performance.  And this song was actually within his vocal range.  So he sounded great.)

And it made me cry.  Which is not a shocker, I know.  But I didn't expect to cry during that song, and yet I lost it at this line-- "Trusting me the way you do, I'm so afraid of failing you..."  Hasn't everyone, whether they're a parent or not, struggled with wanting to live up to the expectations of someone they love?  Not necessarily to Succeed in Life or Be Famous or anything big like that, but to be the caring, loving kind of person that a small child sees in you.  

Yeah, when Amy reviews Les Miserables, Amy goes deep.  :D

I was SO PLEASED with how the part from the brick was included about fleeing from Javert (with Spiderman-like escape routes!) and taking refuge in the convent.  With the addition of Father Fauchelevent, too!  How nice!  Poor guy gets totally neglected onstage... squished by a vegetable cart and then never heard from again. Tragic.  

And was I the only one who burs tinto tears again when they got to the convent and the nuns were singing the mass to the Bishop's music (which, technically, is "Empty Chairs"?  Gahhhhh.  Loved that. The welcoming arms helping Valjean start over once again... yup, yup, symbolism again. I should be an English teacher.

And now... we come to "Stars."  Javert's big showstopping eleven o'clock number.  I was on the edge of my seat at this point (totally approve the rearrangement choices, by the way!  It was well-placed here!) because if Russell Crowe messed it up, I was going to be one angry Mizzer.

Did he mess it up? Did he?  .
... He did not.

I know, I know.  I never thought I'd say that.  But I found myself actually liking his version of the song.  No, it wasn't spine-chilling like Philip Quast's.  No, it didn't shake the back seats of the theater like Andrew Varela's.  No, it didn't resound into the sky like Norm Lewis'.   It was different... but it was still good. As he started singing, I was couldn't help thinking... I am enjoying this.  I like his voice.  THIS IS A PLEASANT VOICE TO LISTEN TO.  THIS IS A GOOD SONG.  Now the end notes were still pretty weak and I didn't like the pop-ish influence that crept in here and there, but it was so much better than I thought it would be.  But I would like to take this opportunity to say that people like me who are deathly afraid of heights ought to be warned before seeing the movie, because YEEEESH.  Must we really have approximately ten minutes of screen time with Javert walking along edges of ten-story buildings????

But overall... I was pleased.  Not thrilled, but more than tolerant.  Just pleased.  Petie and other Russell Crowe fans, you may feel free to be proud of me and pat me on the head.

And... we are going to stop there for tonight.  It's getting late and you should be in bed.  Part Two will come ASAP... I definitely won't delay in writing that bit.  Because, you know, Introduction of My Favorite Characters and all that jazz.  (Sneak preview of Part Two:  Enjolras is amazing.)