I went to see the movie musical “Les Misérables” on Sunday, and was absolutely blown away!!! I have seen the stage musical six times (no kidding), and I know the soundtrack backwards and forwards…I LOVE that music! 
(true story: I was playing the song ‘On My Own’ on the piano and singing one day a couple of months ago…and the Wee One started crying, claiming that it was the saddest song she had ever heard in her whole entire life – I hope that was the case, rather than the fact that my singing was so shitty that it resembled many cats being strangled in an echo-y alley somewhere) I thought that the actual visuals of the movie were outstanding – everything looked as I hoped that it would, and the singing of most of the cast was fantastic. Hugh Jackman was tremendous (mind you, that man is pretty much perfect in every way possible – I have concluded that he must have some majorly stinking feet or a tendency to have dodgy-smelling farts or something, because I can’t find one other thing that makes that man anything but absolute PERFECTION), and his performance was fantastic! Anne Hathaway was an absolute revelation, and any one who says otherwise needs their head examined. She played Fantine with such conviction, and such heartbreaking honesty…it was incredible. When she sang “I Dreamed A Dream“, every single emotion that could possibly have existed were written on her face and in every crack in her voice (you can hear the bloody sobs choking in her throat – magical)…she was mesmerizing. I thought Russell Crowe was alright, nothing to write home about – but then again, the character of Javert isn’t meant to be the magnificent one, so perhaps his performance was just right. (FUN CLIP – Check out this clip of the amazing Neil Patrick Harris and equally awesome Jason Segal singing the Confrontation from Les Miz on a talk show, and be prepared to LOOOOOOOOVE it!!!! ) Amanda Seyfried was good as Cosette (who is a bit of an annoying character anyway – and, while Seyfried’s very high voice was at times grating, she did play Cosette as she was meant to be played), and Helena Bonham Carter and Sasha Baron Cohen were terrific as the Thenardiers. I LOOOOOOVED Eddie Redmayne’s performance as Marius – his voice was strong, he looked perfect for the part, and just the sight of him is worth the price of admission. The bone structure in his face is so absolutely exquisite that I want to grate cheese on his cheekbones. Yum. I find there to be something so charismatic about him – I liked him a lot in “My Week With Marilyn” last year. Anyway, enough gushing about his bones (christ, that sounded dirty – sorry)…he was just really good in the movie. Stage actress Samantha Barks was cast as Eponine, who is one of my FAVORITE characters in the musical – and, while she was good, she wasn’t great…I had hoped to love her more. Oh well. I have a sneaky feeling that when I see this movie again (and believe you me, I will see this movie many more times before I take my last breath…it’s THAT good), I will probably really like her – I’m not sure why I wasn’t blown away this time. Probably because I was still reeling from Anne Hathaway’s Fantine. Sweet Jesus was she FANTASTIC. Christ.
My favorite performance numbers from the movie were “Master Of The House”, “Do You Hear The People Sing?”, “I Dreamed A Dream” (even my tears had tears during that one, no joke), “Red and Black” made me want to start some sort of a revolution myself (it’s still in the planning stages, I’ll keep you posted and let you know how you can get involved), “On My Own” (of course), “One Day More” (so so so good), “Bring Him Home” (Hugh Jackman took this song and made it church – seriously),…so, basically, nearly every song. It was SOOOOO good!!!! Two of my favorite lines of all time come from this musical – “now life has killed the dream I dreamed” just tears me up inside…that one line speaks more about life and the world around us than most people have accomplished in entire novels. Sigh. The other is “to love another person is to see the face of God” – I have believed that since the first time I heard the “Finale” of the musical…it’s true. When you truly love someone else, it’s akin to seeing the face of God, that rare and magnificent thing that doesn’t happen nearly enough in life. Again – le sigh.
I hope that you will run not walk to the theatre to see this movie, and I hope that you will love it as much as I do. I can’t wait to go and see it again….wanna come???!
xxx
PS: If those that I love happen to be reading this, loving you is like seeing God. Thank you for that.
PS Again: Fun fact – I used to have a cat named Eponine. (her middle name was Trixibelle)