Les Misérables [DVD] [2012] (Packaging may vary)

This review has been in the making for about 5 months. I have been putting it off because I wanted to do it justice and give a fair, balanced review. Of course, I was tempted to write one immediately after I saw it, but there were other factors that might have given it a bias; I was lucky enough, completely by chance and luck (I had no idea until the day), to attend the premiere of this film, and meet the cast, so I would have given it 5 stars even if it had been rubbish. So I watched it again over a month later, and then I had absolutely no doubt at all that my first impression was right. This film is something else. One daily mail critic called it "not only the most ambitious British film of all time, it's the best" or words to that effect. And certainly this film is ambitious. Hooper's directing can be a bit too ambitious in that it doesn't always work; this film is so 'big' and he attempts to convey that but at times the editing is shoddy and the camera work sub par. And yet this does not detract at all from the viewing experience. In fact, it lends it a raw quality which is completely perfect for this gritty story, and this is further helped by the fact that the cast sing live. Some reviewers have complained that the singing is below-par, but this is exactly what I think makes this film so brilliant. I am not a huge fan of musicals in general, as I find it a tad annoying when actors suddenly burst into beautiful song. However, here, most of the film is sung and it makes sense for the voices not to be beautifully polished. I remain extremely impressed with the super-talented cast; not one cast member disappointed me. I loved both Crowe and Jackman's performances (in particular Jackman's- to me he held the film together). Similarly the supporting cast were exceptional; Hathaway deserves her oscar, and Barks and Seyfried were wonderful as Eponine and Cosette. I must add that I had never seen the musical before (having not really been a fan of musicals, although I have seen it now) and yet this completely blew me away. The wonderful thing is that through the film you can get the stunning visuals and emotional intensity that is completely missing from the stage version. Of course, if you want to hear a wonderfully able cast sing these songs, the stage version is for you, but for me I preferred the raw, real, unpolished voices of the actors in the film. Victor Hugo's story is so powerful and I believe the film does it better justice than the stage, which is more about the quality of the singing. In short, even 5 months later, this film still resonates with me, and not because I had a wonderful conversation with Eddie Redmayne, but because it's ambitious. It's unpolished. It's different.

... and probably ever will see.**SPOILERS**. I still can't get over how brilliant this film was; it's certainly the best adaptation of Victor Hugo's epic novel that will ever be made in our life time. There's all the depth of the musical with the added bonus of material from the book, making it the most loyal adaptation there has ever been. Key elements of the film that went well were: Hugh Jackman's Valjean - although not vocally better than Alfie Boe, Jackman showed the journey of Valjean from convict to loving father with an indescribable ease that was just wonderful. Additionally, the barricade scenes were fantastic and provoked many tears throughout the cinema - look out for the West End's Fra Fee (Courfeyrac),Killian Donneley (Comberferre) and Alastair Brammer (Jean Prouvaire) in particular. Fee and Donneley's reaction to Gavroche's death was absolutely heartbreaking and I was on the brink of tears until Hadley Fraser (the Army Guard leader), also from the West End, appeared on screen - he really made it seem like the National Guard were regretful for what they were having to do, which I've never seen before. Another stage actor who was fantastic was Samantha Barks as Eponine, having had a lot of experience with the character she really brought something new to the role and made the audience feel her pain, but with a hint at the insanity described by Hugo. I was particularly pleased that Hooper made her get shot saving Marius as Hugo intended it, as opposed to just being hit whilst climbing the barricade. Anne Hathaway was absolutely fantastic; I've never seen 'I dreamed a dream' acted so well and effectively before and I truly believe Hathaway actually became Fantine for those 5 minutes. Her death, in which she hallucinates about Cosette, was also absolutely heartbreaking and the best interpretation I've ever witnessed. Eddie Redmayne's 'Empty Chairs at Empty Tables' was beyond description, the pain in his face looked so real, and the audience could feel such a connection with the Barricade boys through the film which I think made this scene work even better. The epilogue also absolutely floored me, and I have to admit I couldn't see through tears for half of it, but it was so beautiful and the 'Do you hear the people sing' reprise so uplifting. Ironically, there was a lot of laughter in the final scenes as literally the whole cinema was in floods and so began to laugh at it. Something I've never experienced in a cinema before is applause after a film - at least I hadn't until tonight. The film was just so brilliant we couldn't really help it. I adored that Francis Rufelle (the original Eponine) came back as a prostitute in this adaptation, but what stood out for me more was Colm Wilkinson's coming full circle from being the original Valjean to playing the Bishop here. Unlike the stage show, the Bishop's ghost appears with Fantine at Valjean's death and it was just so perfect I couldn't stop the tears from flowing - it also emphasised Valjean's rising from a resentful convict to a loving, honorable man. Unlike many of the critics, I was also a fan of Russel Crowe's Javert. From reviews I went into the film expecting to hate him, but he fully captured the character of Javert in a completely different way to any actor before him - and the emotion in his eyes was just ridiculous!! I was particularly glad Hooper thought to include the Notre Dame and Palaice de Justice on either side of the screen for Javert's suicide, just as is described in the book, as it emphasises the characters struggle with morality and the law. I cannot recommend this film enough and I think I ran out of superlatives to describe it a long time ago. However, if you are expecting to see a carbon copy of the stage musical on screen, then this is something it's not. But this film takes the good bits from the musical and adds elements that wouldn't make sense on stage to film to allow more scope and involvement of the audience. It's just fantastic and I doubt if I will ever see a better film. Now all we have to hope for is the extended cut on DVD. **UPDATE** having received this DVD after pre-ordering it from Amazon I was incredibly disappointed to see that there were no special features on this version. While it is still being sold at Sainsbury's for I believe about £7 WITH another disk of special features I would strongly recommend going there to buy this DVD rather than paying £2 more to buy just the film.

Worth purchasing on line - wonderful film

I never normally pre-order things from Amazon, but I saw that this film had a digibook edition and i felt that instant pang of "I MUST OWN YOU"! Any film you see at the cinema more than once is most definitely worth buying ASAP in my opinion! I activated my free Prime membership especially so I could take advantage of Amazon's Release Day Delivery service, and was not disappointed - the film came out today, and it was sitting on my kitchen table when I got home. Fantastic service from Amazon as usual. Onto the product itself. While many may complain that this particular digibook contains no behind-the-scenes information unlike, say, the Jaws digibook, and has just over half the number of pages, I am not as concerned. While it would have been nice to see some script excerpts or more pictures of the film being shot, the special features on the disc are more than satisfactory (I watched them as soon as I could!), and the artwork inside is well chosen and fantastically presented, especially the shot of the barricades from the end of the film. All in all, this is a very well-made and handsome product, something to cherish and show off when friends come around. And after you've finished showing them the packaging, you can show them the film itself! Not only is this a fantastic film, but the transfer onto Blu-ray is flawless. The visuals are stunning and the sound really packs a punch - truly a disc to show off what your home setup can do. Anne Hathaway richly deserves her Oscar for her performance as Fantine, and it really is a shame that Hugh Jackman had such stiff competition for the Best Actor award. Indeed, this is perhaps the best-cast film I have ever seen, and everyone puts in a sterling performance - especially Eddie Redmayne, whose rendition of "Empty Chairs At Empty Tables" has me welling up every time. Need I say more?? Don't wait til it gets cheaper, buy yourself a copy now! You'll not regret it.

Just finished watching this amazing film version of Les Miserables and wanted to get my thoughts into this review while it is fresh in my mind. Having seen the stage version twice in the 1990s, and also enjoying the CD Symphonic recording regularly, I found myself comparing them closely in my mind as the film unfolded. I was aware of quite a few dialogue changes and additions, which in my view did little or nothing to add to the overall effect. These are my personal views and are not meant to detract from the overall production. My main concern was in just how well Russell Crowe and Hugh Jackman would cope with singing the parts of the two principal male characters. After a while I realised, with some relief, that they were facing the task amazingly well. Anne Hathaway's singing of Fantine was incredibly moving, as was Samantha Barks as Eponine and Amanda Seyfried as the adult Cosette. Not sure about the casting of Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter as the Thenardiers, I just was not taken with the overall effect of their playing of the characters. I'd have preferred Alun Armstrong and Gay Soper to reprise the roles. In my opinion they had made these parts their own. The barricade action scenes were superbly staged, in fact the whole piece moved along so well and must have been a nightmare for the crew to film. I gave 4 stars and an overall 9 out of 10 purely as a personal reflection of the overall production. This release adds a whole new dimension to the phenomenon that is 'Les Miserables'.

This is the best film I've ever watched and it might sound strange for someone who considered "Scarface" and "Midnight Express" to be the best films of all time. I've seen all the versions of this story and this is by far the best. Tom Hooper is by far the most talented director in the world at this moment. At some points the film itself is even better than Victor Hugo's book. A good example is when Javert is captured by the rebels and Valjean frees him. At that point the dialogue in the original book is extremely bad, almost non existent. Victor Hugo, preferred to spend countless chapters on describing the sewers of Paris and other pointless things, instead of focusing on strong moments like the moment when Valjean freed Javert. Tom Hooper captured it perfectly though , and in my opinion that scene is one of the best in the film. The best scene is by far the scene when the Bishop walks towards Valjean , framed by a shaking handheld camera moving backwards. That was absolute genius by Tom Hooper. He deserved an Oscar just for that scene. In 10 seconds , he managed to capture and summarize the Christian faith and gospels. If i had Muslim and Jewish friends and had to explain to them what the Christian faith is all about, i wouldn't get them to read the gospels. I would just show them that 30 second scene. You don't need anything else apart from that scene to understand the Christian faith. It's obvious that Tom Hooper thrives on underdog stories. All of his 3 films are true underdog stories. " The Damned United" - " The King's speech" - "Les miserables" . That makes him the best candidate on this planet to direct the biggest underdog story of all time ,which is the story of Jesus. We are in 2013 and the film business has produced only disappointing, embarrassing and amateurish versions of Jesus's life. The only good one is Zeffirelli's Jesus of Nazareth but then again that was a TV series and not a film. I don't know what Tom Hooper's next project is but If I was him I would capitalize on the huge success of that embarrassing and amateurish "Bible" TV series in America. He is the only director in the world who could deliver an inspiring film about the big man and why not , get it even better than Zeffirelli.

Brilliant Movie

Oh my Goodness what a powerful movie! I used to tread the boards before I had to give up and our company accompanied Singer and Actor Peter Carrie (who played The Phantom in the Phantom of the opera and Valjon in Les Mis) in a few venues around North Wales and as part of our repatoir we sang songs from several of his shows and a few from Les Mis. I was hooked, I wanted to see the show, i had the DVD's from the 10th and 25th Anniversary shows and loved the Music so very much. When the Movie came out I went with my Husband and some friends from the Drama company and sobbed my way through the whole show along with most of the Audience...men included! . As soon as it was announced on DVD I just had to have it. The movie is extremely well made the Actors are just right for their roles and their singing voices just amazing. I had no idea Hugh Jackman could sing and came from a musical background! Being a movie it allows for more detailed locations and has more scope than the limits of a stage show. All the singing is done in one go with the Actors wearing a well hidden earpiece and a pianist playing the music strait into them so they can sing and act without stopping with the scenes rather longer than a usual musical movie. The Special features are a mine of information and thus fascinating to watch. The show is raw in places and the music and some of the singing so powerful that it tugs at your heart strings especially the part of Fontine played by Anne Hatherway. The way she sings I dreamed a dream. I cannot recommend this DVD enough, if you are a fan of musicals this is a must. You will not be able to watch it without tissues handy. I have watched it twice since getting it last week and still sob at the end, in the middle, during some of the songs,well most of it really. Fantastic!!