FAM Movie Review : Les Miserables ( 2012 )
Genre : Musical | Drama | Classic
Director : Tom Hooper
Our Rating : 8.5/10
Script : William Nicholson, Boublil, Schönberg and Herbert Kretzmer
Cinematography : Danny Cohen
Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg
Main Characters : Hugh Jackman ( Jean Valjean ) , Russell Crowe ( Inspector Javert ) , Anne Hathaway ( Fantine ) , Amanda Seyfried ( Cossette ) , Samantha Barks ( Eponine ) , Eddie Redmayne ( Marius )
Trivia : Hugh Jackman went 36 hours without water, causing him to lose water weight around his eyes and cheeks, giving him the gaunt appearance of a prisoner. The film was going to be 4 hours long, with a 15-minute battle. But, it was shortened to 2 and a half hours. 15 minutes of the final film were cut out.
As Most of Film Lovers know that Les Miserables Film was inspired from French historical novel by Victor Hugo which was first published in 1862 and was very famous during that time with many stage shows performed based on it. This is a Complete Musical Film with Zero dialogues spoken were everything is replaced by Songs . For sure its once such unique experience for any music and movie lovers with a movie spanning 2:42hrs completely scripted with only songs with Beautiful amazing lyrics which can express the scene more than a dialogue can deliver. Its Definitely not a easy task to do for still being a inspired Movie , Director Tom Hooper did great justification to this evergreen novel supported by Excellent Script by William Nicholson and Team.
Though the Actual Book goes through many volumes and that been consolidated to one single length movie by Tom Hooper and many might already know the story still lets see a synopsis of it on what is Les Miserables for starters. It dates back to 19th Century France where Hunger and Poverty is at high with Huge Financial crisis and a Bad government ignoring peoples Cry. This Musical Marvel Les Miserables starts with a excellent Track "Look Down" introducing the Two major characters for this story . Jean Valijean ( Hgh Jackman ) and Russell Crowe ( Inspector Javert ) , Where Javert is a strict officer and Hugh Jackman as a convict arrested for a period of 19 years for stealing some food to his family. Jean gets a word from Javert that he will be released on parole and that he has to report regularly for his entire life time to the magistrate.Javert believes that the bad people always stay that way no matter what and he doesn't like jean from the beginning.
Jean Finally breathes the free air and freedom but his future is still a question mark for he has no were to go and he only has parole paper which states him as a dangerous man preventing him to get job anywhere. He has no shelter , no food and he start to feel the freedom itself as a punishment. Somehow he happen to visit a church at night while trying to find a place to sleep , which he would have never thought would change his entire life once for all. Bishop of Digne gives him shelter and food to eat , he gives him respect and treats him well , But irrespective of bishop being a noble man , jean steals silver at night from church but gets caught to police officer in rounds. When Jean was brought back to Bishop , he takes no time to say that he gave jean those silver to keep himself as a present and that to release him for he has not done anything wrong. Further to that the bishop forgives him and instead asks him to keep the silver ,use it to secure his future to lead a life as a good man and to kill any evil thoughts in him. This Totally shattered Jean , repenting for his actions and grief for his sin starts to cry loud in-front of Jesus and asks for forgiveness .The Song "Valjean Arrested, Valjean Forgiven" during this scene was the best what you can see from Hugh Jackman and it was act to perfection. This is a turning point in Jean life and decides himself that Jean Valijean is no more , not slave to anyone destroys the parole paper he is carrying and decides to lead a new life with different identity.
The Next Scene Takes you eight years ahead as a fast forward button where Jean is a Mayor of a town and a factory owner. There come a next important character Anne Hathaway ( Fantine ) as a employee in his factory. Everything was going fine till the day when Inspector Javert was transferred to his town and reports directly to Jean who is currently the mayor for the town. Same time Anne Hathaway was fired from the factory by the co workers without the knowledge of jean for hiding a secret about her illegitimate daughter. She , for no where to go but in urge of money to take care of her daughter who is currently living in custody of Thénardiers Couple , forced to prostitution . Jean tremble and shocked when he came to know this that he had caused a severe pain in a life of a innocent women , rescues her from that world , treats her in hospital but could not save her for long. Inspector Javert though has to report to the mayor ,still has his suspicion about the mayor identify. Jean though perfectly blends himself as a different person couldn't resist this secret for long when he happen to know that a innocent person was wrongly arrested as Jean Valijean. Jean comes to the court , tells himself that the innocent has nothing to do and that he is In-fact Jean Valijean. He comes back to hospital to visit fantine who is breathing through her last minutes and promises to Fantine that he will be a guardian for her daughter cossette forever and that he will protect her till his last breath. There ends Anne's character with her final moments. Though it was roughly 30 minutes she stays on the screen , it was just mind-blowing how she brought the character live even with a short role to play and Susan boyle Dreamt the Dream Song was just beautiful and perfectly placed in the movie with Anne Hathaway on play its just pure magic everywhere. Jean manages to find Cossette , takes her with him while on Run from Inspector Javert who is very ambitious on arresting Jean and to bring him to justice.
How years pass by , How Jean eludes himself in shadows of light and from the clutches of Inspector javert , How cossette grew herself as a Beautiful young women ( Amanda Seyfried ) , How she tangled herself on love at first sight with Eddie Redmayne ( Marius ) who is a part of revolutionary group against french government , planning and waiting for right time to fight against them to bring the government down . Will Cossette and Marius get along together , What happened to the revolution , Will Jean manage to handle Javert and how he plays a important role to unite his daughter cossette with Marius is rest of the story.
Yes being no dialogues anywhere , it is really difficult to make such a wonderful movie with just songs , poems and music. Normally Musical dramas might be very slow to watch with very less story to tell , but this Movie Les Miserables has a very gripping storyline and that too with a powerful cast such as Hugh Jackman , Russell and Anne this movie serves as a all time masterpiece for sure. Am sure director has choose the right cast for the perfect role who really justified their part given to them . Yes initially first half you might feel a bit slow but the phase of the movie picks up right on the second half and you might stop realizing it as a musical drama rather would start watching it as yet another normal movie because of the story and screenplay. Yes for sure , you need to be very attentive and listening to the songs without which its hard at times to understand the scenes or the story. Subtitles might be a great relief for such a great movies like this for each and every word sung serves a important part as the lyrics is the backbone for this movie. Thénardiers couples raising cossette , Anne Hathaway as Fantine , Samantha Barks as Eponine Though these characters present themselves for very short period in the entire length of the movie , they for sure leave a strong impact on us.
There are scenes where you would just say woooow as it was perfectly done by Danny Cohen breathtaking picturization. Some scenes like the opening Song Look Down where a huge ship is pulled over , The scene when Hugh jackman cry in the church after stealing silver , Anne little cameo and her expression during Dreamt the Dream song , "The Confrontation" – Javert, Valjean , The Song "Do You Hear the People Sing: by marius and his friends after building a barricade , Samantha's Eponine " A Little Fall of Rain" , the scene when eponine get shot from a rifle and her last words to Marius , One day More song blending multiple stories in one consolidating it to a single song and presenting to audience in a perfect form is a directors class work and for sure he is at top notch. "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" by Marius was touchy and The final encounter of Jean and Inspector Javert was the best scene in the entire film . Last but not least the song haven or hell Javert's Suicide was too touchy and sad his character has to end that way. In every aspect , this movie delivered its best and its just really amazing how a musical novel can be brought to screen with such a perfection mostly in a way audience could see and like. Yes love towards music helps but its not a mandatory to watch this movie. Just a little patience and willingness to understand the lyrics will definitely help any kind of audience to love this film.
FAM Punch Line : For sure it was really a unique experience to watch this movie with Wolverine , Gladiator and catwomen sing together and you couldn't get a better combo then this...!! Especially Hugh Jackman acting as a convict , as a mayor , as a Father & father in law was astonishing to watch on screen and am sure Les Miserables would have been very miserable without him. Its a Musial drama with No Dialogues spoken but sung instead , i would suggest not to miss this magic of watching this great movie in big screen. This is a Perfect art film and not all could appreciate the work in it. If you are one , then this is for you and a must watch . Patience Wins !!!
Some of memorable tracks :-
Genre : Musical | Drama | Classic
Director : Tom Hooper
Our Rating : 8.5/10
Script : William Nicholson, Boublil, Schönberg and Herbert Kretzmer
Cinematography : Danny Cohen
Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg
Main Characters : Hugh Jackman ( Jean Valjean ) , Russell Crowe ( Inspector Javert ) , Anne Hathaway ( Fantine ) , Amanda Seyfried ( Cossette ) , Samantha Barks ( Eponine ) , Eddie Redmayne ( Marius )
Trivia : Hugh Jackman went 36 hours without water, causing him to lose water weight around his eyes and cheeks, giving him the gaunt appearance of a prisoner. The film was going to be 4 hours long, with a 15-minute battle. But, it was shortened to 2 and a half hours. 15 minutes of the final film were cut out.
As Most of Film Lovers know that Les Miserables Film was inspired from French historical novel by Victor Hugo which was first published in 1862 and was very famous during that time with many stage shows performed based on it. This is a Complete Musical Film with Zero dialogues spoken were everything is replaced by Songs . For sure its once such unique experience for any music and movie lovers with a movie spanning 2:42hrs completely scripted with only songs with Beautiful amazing lyrics which can express the scene more than a dialogue can deliver. Its Definitely not a easy task to do for still being a inspired Movie , Director Tom Hooper did great justification to this evergreen novel supported by Excellent Script by William Nicholson and Team.
Though the Actual Book goes through many volumes and that been consolidated to one single length movie by Tom Hooper and many might already know the story still lets see a synopsis of it on what is Les Miserables for starters. It dates back to 19th Century France where Hunger and Poverty is at high with Huge Financial crisis and a Bad government ignoring peoples Cry. This Musical Marvel Les Miserables starts with a excellent Track "Look Down" introducing the Two major characters for this story . Jean Valijean ( Hgh Jackman ) and Russell Crowe ( Inspector Javert ) , Where Javert is a strict officer and Hugh Jackman as a convict arrested for a period of 19 years for stealing some food to his family. Jean gets a word from Javert that he will be released on parole and that he has to report regularly for his entire life time to the magistrate.Javert believes that the bad people always stay that way no matter what and he doesn't like jean from the beginning.
Jean Finally breathes the free air and freedom but his future is still a question mark for he has no were to go and he only has parole paper which states him as a dangerous man preventing him to get job anywhere. He has no shelter , no food and he start to feel the freedom itself as a punishment. Somehow he happen to visit a church at night while trying to find a place to sleep , which he would have never thought would change his entire life once for all. Bishop of Digne gives him shelter and food to eat , he gives him respect and treats him well , But irrespective of bishop being a noble man , jean steals silver at night from church but gets caught to police officer in rounds. When Jean was brought back to Bishop , he takes no time to say that he gave jean those silver to keep himself as a present and that to release him for he has not done anything wrong. Further to that the bishop forgives him and instead asks him to keep the silver ,use it to secure his future to lead a life as a good man and to kill any evil thoughts in him. This Totally shattered Jean , repenting for his actions and grief for his sin starts to cry loud in-front of Jesus and asks for forgiveness .The Song "Valjean Arrested, Valjean Forgiven" during this scene was the best what you can see from Hugh Jackman and it was act to perfection. This is a turning point in Jean life and decides himself that Jean Valijean is no more , not slave to anyone destroys the parole paper he is carrying and decides to lead a new life with different identity.
The Next Scene Takes you eight years ahead as a fast forward button where Jean is a Mayor of a town and a factory owner. There come a next important character Anne Hathaway ( Fantine ) as a employee in his factory. Everything was going fine till the day when Inspector Javert was transferred to his town and reports directly to Jean who is currently the mayor for the town. Same time Anne Hathaway was fired from the factory by the co workers without the knowledge of jean for hiding a secret about her illegitimate daughter. She , for no where to go but in urge of money to take care of her daughter who is currently living in custody of Thénardiers Couple , forced to prostitution . Jean tremble and shocked when he came to know this that he had caused a severe pain in a life of a innocent women , rescues her from that world , treats her in hospital but could not save her for long. Inspector Javert though has to report to the mayor ,still has his suspicion about the mayor identify. Jean though perfectly blends himself as a different person couldn't resist this secret for long when he happen to know that a innocent person was wrongly arrested as Jean Valijean. Jean comes to the court , tells himself that the innocent has nothing to do and that he is In-fact Jean Valijean. He comes back to hospital to visit fantine who is breathing through her last minutes and promises to Fantine that he will be a guardian for her daughter cossette forever and that he will protect her till his last breath. There ends Anne's character with her final moments. Though it was roughly 30 minutes she stays on the screen , it was just mind-blowing how she brought the character live even with a short role to play and Susan boyle Dreamt the Dream Song was just beautiful and perfectly placed in the movie with Anne Hathaway on play its just pure magic everywhere. Jean manages to find Cossette , takes her with him while on Run from Inspector Javert who is very ambitious on arresting Jean and to bring him to justice.
How years pass by , How Jean eludes himself in shadows of light and from the clutches of Inspector javert , How cossette grew herself as a Beautiful young women ( Amanda Seyfried ) , How she tangled herself on love at first sight with Eddie Redmayne ( Marius ) who is a part of revolutionary group against french government , planning and waiting for right time to fight against them to bring the government down . Will Cossette and Marius get along together , What happened to the revolution , Will Jean manage to handle Javert and how he plays a important role to unite his daughter cossette with Marius is rest of the story.
Yes being no dialogues anywhere , it is really difficult to make such a wonderful movie with just songs , poems and music. Normally Musical dramas might be very slow to watch with very less story to tell , but this Movie Les Miserables has a very gripping storyline and that too with a powerful cast such as Hugh Jackman , Russell and Anne this movie serves as a all time masterpiece for sure. Am sure director has choose the right cast for the perfect role who really justified their part given to them . Yes initially first half you might feel a bit slow but the phase of the movie picks up right on the second half and you might stop realizing it as a musical drama rather would start watching it as yet another normal movie because of the story and screenplay. Yes for sure , you need to be very attentive and listening to the songs without which its hard at times to understand the scenes or the story. Subtitles might be a great relief for such a great movies like this for each and every word sung serves a important part as the lyrics is the backbone for this movie. Thénardiers couples raising cossette , Anne Hathaway as Fantine , Samantha Barks as Eponine Though these characters present themselves for very short period in the entire length of the movie , they for sure leave a strong impact on us.
There are scenes where you would just say woooow as it was perfectly done by Danny Cohen breathtaking picturization. Some scenes like the opening Song Look Down where a huge ship is pulled over , The scene when Hugh jackman cry in the church after stealing silver , Anne little cameo and her expression during Dreamt the Dream song , "The Confrontation" – Javert, Valjean , The Song "Do You Hear the People Sing: by marius and his friends after building a barricade , Samantha's Eponine " A Little Fall of Rain" , the scene when eponine get shot from a rifle and her last words to Marius , One day More song blending multiple stories in one consolidating it to a single song and presenting to audience in a perfect form is a directors class work and for sure he is at top notch. "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" by Marius was touchy and The final encounter of Jean and Inspector Javert was the best scene in the entire film . Last but not least the song haven or hell Javert's Suicide was too touchy and sad his character has to end that way. In every aspect , this movie delivered its best and its just really amazing how a musical novel can be brought to screen with such a perfection mostly in a way audience could see and like. Yes love towards music helps but its not a mandatory to watch this movie. Just a little patience and willingness to understand the lyrics will definitely help any kind of audience to love this film.
FAM Punch Line : For sure it was really a unique experience to watch this movie with Wolverine , Gladiator and catwomen sing together and you couldn't get a better combo then this...!! Especially Hugh Jackman acting as a convict , as a mayor , as a Father & father in law was astonishing to watch on screen and am sure Les Miserables would have been very miserable without him. Its a Musial drama with No Dialogues spoken but sung instead , i would suggest not to miss this magic of watching this great movie in big screen. This is a Perfect art film and not all could appreciate the work in it. If you are one , then this is for you and a must watch . Patience Wins !!!
Some of memorable tracks :-
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