Seven Miserable Thoughts on Les Miserables

 

It’s no sin if you don’t love Les Miserables or even like it.  I enjoyed it---Ok, it broke my heart from beginning to end---but I’m not sure I can separate the feelings the movie evoked in me from my love for the book which I think is one of the greatest stories ever told.  I practically don’t even need an adaptation of the novel to have dialog, let alone singing, and except for a couple of songs, the music and the singing were all background to me, like a good soundtrack to any non-musical.  What I’m saying is that I went to see the story of Jean Valjean acted out and that was enough for me.  It may not be enough for you.  But I will say this.  You may not love it or even like it, that’s the way things go.  But if you hate it, well, it’s a fact: The degree of your hatred is inversely proportional to your likelihood of getting into heaven.   

It’s out on DVD and available to watch instantly. So it was our feature for Mannion Family Movie Night.  I never wrote a formal review after seeing it in the theater New Year’s Eve but I did post about it.  Seven times.  Here are the links to my Seven Miserable Thoughts About Les Miserables.

First Miserable Thought: Red and Black.  An interview area native and rising star Aaron Tviet, who plays the student revolutionary leader Enjorlas, did with the local paper.

Second Miserable Thought: The hell she’s living. On Fantine as the female lead and why Anne Hathaway deserved her Oscar.

Third Miserable Thought: Wolverine, Song and Dance X-Man.  A clip of Hugh Jackman in Oklahoma.

Fourth Miserable Thought: The face of God.  On the importance of the Bishop of Digne to the novel and the movie and how it’s odd that God seems to be always punishing us for not being mean enough to each other and never for not loving each other enough.

Fifth Miserable Thought: Javert,  the Republican.  How Russell Crowe’s Inspector Javert embodies two forms of Republicanism.

Sixth Musical Thought: Eponine on her own.  How Samantha Barks sang up a storm and carried Anne Hathaway’s suffering through to the end of the movie.

Seventh Miserable Thought, finale: Do You Hear the People Sing?  Why I don’t like musicals, except when I do.

Les Miserables, directed by Tom Hooper, screenplay by William Nicholson, Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schönberg, and Herbert Kretzmer. Based on the musical by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg. Starring Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, Aaron Tveit, Samantha Barks, Sacha Baron Cohen, Helena Bonham Carter, and Colm Wilkinson. Now available on DVD and to watch instantly at Amazon.

Read the novel by Victor Hugo.

Comments

[MaryRC]

Haven't seen the movie yet and never saw the stage version. I loved the book, especially the way that the first 5 or 6 chapters weren't even about Javert & Valjean, they were about the Bishop. And I liked the way that Hugo gets caught up in something he wants to talk about that's not driving the story, like the Battle of Waterloo or the lives of the women in the convent, and just goes with it for pages on end. Apparently he wanted to add another chapter or two on Parisian street slang but his publishers talked him out of it, thinking it would be a bit too much. I think they were right, I don't really think it would have helped the book.