Following the great success of THE KING'S SPEECH, director Tom Hooper scores again with this handsomely made film of Claude-Michel Schonberg's and Alain Boublil's stage musical of Victor Hugo's LES MISERABLES. Hugo's great story about the implacable pursuit by policeman Javert of noble ex-convict Jean Valjean, has been faithfully brought to the screen, with impressive sets, well-staged action, and welcome comedy contributions from Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter as a couple of Dickensian reprobates. Hugh Jackman is a superb Valjean, and Anne Hathaway, is magnificent as Fantine. Some may be troubled by the casting of non-singer Russell Crowe as Javert, but he gives a strong performance and just about gets by vocally.

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Straight from his Oscar triumph with The King's Speech, director Tom Hooper does a solid, if unremarkable, job bringing the stage musical phenomena to the screen. With 19th-century Paris recreated in realistic, grimy detail and all cast members singing live before the camera - a very risky and rare gamble that paid off - the film is consistently entertaining, though never enthralling. Hugh Jackman is terrific as the persecuted Jean Valjean; Anne Hathaway is a revelation as Fantine; Amanda Seyfried shines as her grown up daughter Cosette; and Eddie Redmayne (My Week With Marilyn) makes a soulful romantic rebel. But the real diamond here is Russell Crowe. As the committed lawman Javert, he proves what a versatile and magnetic actor he is. The voice might not be grand, but Crowe inhabits the uniform with pride, arrogance and a hatred for Valjean you can almost taste. Yes, the film is long, but if you know that going in, you'll also know not to drink any black coffee beforehand.

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LES MISERABLES opens BiG! The camera sweeps over gilded, bulbous warships, blasted by coastal waves, to the hundreds of miserable wretches inching one of these monsters into the Toulon dry dock on waterlogged ropes. This vast chain gang sings “Look Down” in a rumbling bass that’s close to a dirge, and the tone is set. This is not the sort of musical where people dance their cares away, but one where people’s cares seem to rip songs from their throats. Through all that follows, the moments of levity and romance as well as the suffering, Tom Hooper’s adaptation of Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schönberg and Herbert Kretzmer’s juggernaut of a musical never fails to take its subject matter seriously, its raw, brutal edge in tune with Victor Hugo’s melodrama of the downtrodden and destitute.

Set against the backdrop of 19th-century France, LES MISERBALES tells an enthralling story of broken dreams and unrequited love, passion, sacrifice and redemption - a timeless testament to the survival of the human spirit. Hugh Jackman plays ex-prisoner Jean Valjean, hunted for decades by the ruthless policeman Javert (Russell Crowe) after he breaks parole. When Valjean agrees to care for factory worker Fantine’s (Ann Hathaway) young daughter, Cosette (Amanda Seyfried), their lives change forever.
Hooper’s commitment to live performance no doubt added hugely to the stress of the shoot, but in return for a few wobbly high notes he gets a unique, visceral punch.
Anne Hathaway reclaims “I Dreamed A Dream” from Susan Boyle and ruins the song for all who follow her. Angry, defiant and broken all at once, it is a definitive performance, and though her part amounts to barely a montage and this one sublime solo, don’t be surprised to see her on an Oscar podium come February.

Occasionally, like its characters, ragged around the edges, LES MISERABLES nevertheless rings with all the emotion and power of the source and provides a new model for the movie musical.


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