Taiwanese postcard by CoolCard, 2013. Photo: Ignition, Los Angeles / Working Title / Universal. Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean in Les Misérables (Tom Hooper, 2012). Caption: Freedom is Mine. From the Academy Award-winning director of 'The King's Speech'. The Musical Phenomenon.
Taiwanese postcard by CoolCard, 2013. Photo: Ignition, Los Angeles / Working Title / Universal. Russell Crowe as Javert in Les Misérables (Tom Hooper, 2012). Caption: I am the Law. From the Academy Award-winning director of 'The King's Speech'. The Musical Phenomenon.
A decision that changes their lives forever
In 1815, French prisoner 24601, Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman) was released from the Bagne of Toulon after a nineteen-year sentence for stealing bread to feed his sister's child. His paroled status prevents him from finding work or accommodation, but he is sheltered by the kindly Bishop of Digne.
Valjean attempts to steal his silverware and is captured, but the bishop, in radical grace, claims he gave him the silver and tells him to use it to begin an honest life. Moved, Valjean breaks his parole and assumes a new identity, intending to redeem others.
For decades he is hunted by the ruthless and persistent Inspector Javert (Russell Crowe). Then the fugitive promises dying prostitute Fantine (Anne Hathaway) to take care of her little daughter, Cosette (Amanda Seyfried). The decision changes their lives forever.
Set in post-revolutionary France, the story resolves to the background of the June Rebellion of 1832. In his huge epic novel of 1500 pages, Victor Hugo's 'Les Misérables' featured many characters and covered many decades and several grand themes. It's impossible to cram this all into a 2.5-hour film. 'Les Mis' has been filmed several times and the latest BBC series from 2018 was a 6-hour in-depth version. But this 2012 adaptation is the first film version of the immensely popular Cameron Mackintosh musical which ran for 27 years and had a total audience of over 60 million.
'Les Mis' is not the most accessible of musicals. It is lengthy and the quite heavy story feels like an opera. Following the release of the stage musical, a film adaptation was mired in development hell for over ten years. The rights were passed on to several major studios, and various directors including Alan Parker and Bruce Beresford were considered. In 2011, Mackintosh finally sold the film rights to Eric Fellner, who financed the film with Tim Bevan and Debra Hayward through their production company Working Title Films. As the director, they wanted the Brit Tom Hooper, who had just made the acclaimed historical drama The King's Speech (2010).
Taiwanese postcard by CoolCard, 2013. Photo: Ignition, Los Angeles / Working Title / Universal. Anne Hathaway as Fantine in Les Misérables (Tom Hooper, 2012). Caption: I dreamed a dream. From the Academy Award winning director of 'The King's Speech'. The musical phenomenon.
Taiwanese postcard by CoolCard, 2013. Photo: Ignition, Los Angeles / Working Title / Universal. Isabelle Allen as young Cosette in Les Misérables (Tom Hooper, 2012). Caption: Fight Dream Hope Love. From the Academy Award-winning director of 'The King's Speech'.
A surrealistic, nightmarish Paris
For his Les Misérables (2012), Tom Hooper chose an incomplete rendering of the musical. He went for depth and context so one can truly appreciate the tragedy and the themes. His film is a bold and commendable attempt at converting the musical to a film format.
Even more daring was Hooper's insistence to make a film in which all the dialogue was sung live and the actors could sing as if they were acting. In several lines, Hugh Jackman almost speaks rather than truly sings, because he is trying to do the songs in a more realistic acting fashion. This works best in Anne Hathaway's song 'I Dreamed a Dream'. Her raw, emotional rendition works perfectly for her devastatingly human portrayal of Fantine. Hathaway won an Oscar for it.
The casting is mostly good. Jackman is an excellent Valjean, vulnerable and strong. He believes. He emotes. He is as big as the story itself. Jackson deservedly received an Oscar nomination for his performance. Russell Crowe is also fine as Javert, the obsessive and punitive policeman who mercilessly hounds Jean Valjean. Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter give bravura performances as the hilarious Thénardier innkeepers. In an almost three-hour show, Hooper, writer Claude-Michel Schonberg and cinematographer Danny Cohen keep the action moving. Hooper skillfully created a surrealistic, nightmarish Paris for Fantine. The extremely heightened realism is on the verge of being surrealistic. The close-ups create a kind of intimacy which provides opportunities for the actors to do their work.
The result is personal and intense. Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian: "It conquers its audience with weapons all its own: not passion so much as passionate sincerity, not power so much as overwhelming force. Every line, every note, every scene is belted out with diaphragm-quivering conviction and unbroken, unremitting intensity. The physical strength of this movie is impressive: an awe-inspiring and colossal effort, just like Valjean's as he lifts the flagpole at the beginning of the film. You can almost see the movie's muscles flexing and the veins standing out like whipcords on its forehead. At the end of 158 minutes, you have experienced something."
The film grossed over $442 million worldwide against a production budget of $61 million during its original theatrical run. In anticipation of the stage musical's forthcoming 40th anniversary in 2025, the film is digitally remixed and remastered in Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. Cameron Mackintosh, Tom Hooper, music producer Lee McCutcheon, music director Stephen Metcalfe and sound mixer Andy Nelson all supervised the Dolby Atmos remix for this 2024 version.
Taiwanese postcard by CoolCard, 2013. Photo: Ignition, Los Angeles / Working Title / Universal. Amanda Seyfried as Cosette in Les Misérables (Tom Hooper, 2012). Caption: Heart full of love. From the Academy Award-winning director of 'The King's Speech'. The musical phenomenon.
Taiwanese postcard by CoolCard, 2013. Photo: Ignition, Los Angeles / Working Title / Universal. Amanda Seyfried as Cosette and Eddie Redmayne as Marius in Les Misérables (Tom Hooper, 2012). Caption: Heart Full of Love. The Musical Phenomenon.
Sources: Peter Bradshaw (The Guardian), Wikipedia and IMDb.
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