Les Misérables

Les Misérables - Dir. Tom Hooper (2012)

I had a dream my life would be

So different from this hell I'm living

So different now from what it seemed

Now life has killed the dream I dreamed

One of the most popular and enduring versions of Victor Hugo's 1862 novel, Les Misérables, has been the stage musical. It initially began as a concept album with music by Claude-Michel Schonberg and lyrics from Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel. Cameron Mackintosh, the producer behind Broadway blockbusters Cats and The Phantom of the Opera, saw the potential and mounted a production in London before taking it to the Big Apple. Les Misérables stands as one of the longest running Broadway shows ever, opening in 1987 before closing in 2003. While there have been many movie adaptations of the original novel, the musical version has never been brought to the silver screen until now.

The story begins in 1815 with Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman), a recently released convict who has served nineteen years in prison for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his starving family and attempting to escape. Branded as a dangerous man, Valjean has nowhere to stay and no chance of finding honest work. A kindly Bishop (Colm Wilkinson, who originated the role of Valjean in the London production) takes pity and gives Valjean some of the church valuables to start a new life. Under the name Madeleine, he becomes the mayor of Montreuil-sur-Mer and a respected factory owner. Unbeknownst to him, Fantine (Anne Hathaway), a young woman in his employ is unjustly fired by the lecherous foreman. She is forced to not only become a prostitute, but to sell her teeth and hair to support her daughter, Cosette (Isabelle Allen), who is under the care of the cruel Thérnardiers (Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter). On Fantine's deathbed, Valjean promises to rescue only to be confronted by the relentless Inspector Javert (Russell Crowe). He spends years trying to live a peaceful life with Cosette with Javert constantly at his heels until a revolution explodes onto the streets of Paris.

Les Misérables isn't like your typical musical. It's more of an operetta in that nearly all of the dialogue is sung and there aren't any dance sequences. Rather than recorded separately, the songs were performed live on set to allow a more nuanced performance. Hugh Jackman, with his passion for musicals and experience on stage, equates himself superbly as Jean Valjean. The same goes for Anne Hathaway, who earned an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress as the ever suffering Fantine. Hathaway commands the screen for the show-stopping "I Dreamed a Dream," which was captured entirely in close-up and in one take. She belts a soulful rendition that will wring tears from anyone, except the most cold hearted. Though Jackman and Hathaway got the lion's share of attention during awards season, the film's best performance belongs to Samantha Barks, who made her feature film debut with Les Misérables. Barks played the role of the Thérnardiers' daughter, Eponine, on stage and reprises the role here. She can act and carry tune and does so admirably during the rain-soaked ballad, "On My Own." The one weak link in an otherwise strong ensemble is Russell Crowe as Javert whose rigid moral code allows no mercy for his prey. In a straight adaptation of the novel, Crowe would have been an excellent casting choice. However, his vocal efforts leave much to be desired. Despite his experience as a musician and frontman, Crowe's singing comes off as flat and lacking the emotional range displayed by his co-stars.

Even with a generous runtime of over two and a half hours, Les Misérables occasionally stumbles in its attempts to juggle a myriad of plotlines. The romance between the adult Cosette (Amanda Seyfried) and rabble rouser Marius (Eddie Redmayne) is rushed as is the conclusion to Javert's story. Then, there's "Suddenly," a forgettable new tune composed simply to receive a nomination for Best Original Song. The passage of time isn't always properly conveyed with abrupt intertitles announce eight years have elapsed. It's hard to sense that Javert has been nipping at Valjean's heels for decades.

Les Misérables is the most expensive and ambitious project helmed by Tom Hooper, who multiple Best Director awards for The King's Speech. Be prepared as Hooper's penchant for awkward compositions and fish eye lens close-ups hasn't waned. When looking at the bigger picture, Hooper proves more than capable of handling the spectacle required of such a lavish production. The film opens right away with a collection of tattered convicts, waist deep in seawater, as they pull a warship into dry dock. The oafish Thérnardiers take the spotlight for "Master of the House," an intricately staged musical number in which the larcenous lovebirds pick the pockets of their unsuspecting guests. "One Day More" is a well-edited ensemble piece that cuts smoothly between multiple planes of action.

Les Misérables doesn't do subtle. This is a bombastic and surprisingly gritty musical full of heart-wrenching tragedy, romance, and pageantry.

Rating: *** (*****)

The King's Speech

The King's Speech - Dir. Tom Hooper (2010)

Now that it is awards season, all the major studios are rolling out their prestige pictures in order to keep them fresh in the minds of the voters. The King's Speech is exactly the type of movie that the Academy and other committees eat up with a spoon. It's based on an inspirational true story and features an all-star ensemble of British thespians.

Colin Firth is once again called upon to play the stiff Englishman as he steps into the role of Prince Albert, who suffered from a life-long stammering problem. This probably wouldn't have been such a big deal in the olden days when royalty was only called upon to wave and smile at the adoring masses, but a newfangled invention called radio now requires them to be eloquent and articulate. Poor Albert can barely get the words to sputter out of his mouth when addressing a crowd at Wembley Stadium. It isn't just public speaking that gives him problems, Albert even struggles with telling bedtime stories to his daughters Margaret and Elizabeth II (the current queen).

Albert's wife, Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter) supports him through thick and thin, bringing a parade of therapists through Buckingham Palace. After a disastrous session where Albert is forced to literally speak with marbles in his mouth, he begs Elizabeth to stop. However, she gives it one more go by turning to Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush), a failed actor from Australia with no real credentials as a therapist. Logue's eccentric methods exasperate the prim and proper Prince, who Logue insists on calling 'Bertie.' Logue doesn't bother with honorifics, wants to be treated as an equal, and probes Bertie about his personal life. At one point, Logue refers to some of Bertie's ancestors as a bunch of "royal assholes." Stuffed shirt that he is, Bertie takes offense and storms off more than once, but circumstances necessitate their uneasy relationship. When the King (Michael Gambon) dies, the throne is passed on to older brother David (Guy Pearce), who is crowned King Edward VIII. His scandalous affair with an American divorcee leads Edward to abdicate and Bertie is now King George VI. Meanwhile, Hitler prepares to plunge England into World War II and the new King is called upon to deliver an inspiring speech.

Screenwriter David Seidler (who suffered from stuttering) originally envisioned The King's Speech as a play with the potential for a feature film version. It's easy to see why the movie took precedence and attracted the attentions of such a high caliber cast. The script is basic, old-fashioned storytelling at its best, hitting all the right notes without a single superfluous scene. Seidler manages to inject an understated level of humor to the proceedings, which prevents the film from becoming too much of a starchy BBC-style production. The relationship between Bertie and Logue provides the backbone as a reverse Pygmalion with the middle class instructor teaching the posh student. In real life, the two became close friends for years.

Tom Hooper (The Damned United, HBO's John Adams) directs with a straightforward manner though some of his compositions aren't the most aesthetically pleasing. Still, he does a splendid job in contrasting the ornate trappings of the Palace with Logue's modest flat and basement office. The acting is uniformly excellent, particularly Helena Bonham Carter as the future Queen Mother and Guy Pearce as the irresponsible playboy brother. The only weak link in the cast is Timothy Spall's Winston Churchill, who comes off more as a comic relief caricature than an actual person.

Rating: *** (*****)