Tom Hooper has two upcoming projects due to come out in the near future: the BBC/HBO fantasy series His Dark Materials and an adaptation of Cats. This means it is a great time to revisit his adaptation of the musical Les Misérables.

Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman) was a man who was released on parole after serving a 19-year sentence for stealing a loaf of bread. Due to being ostracised Valjean, breaks his patrol which starts a 17-year-old game of cat-and-mouse between the former convict and the obsessive police inspector Javert (Russell Crowe). During these 17-years Valjean takes care of a young girl, Cosette (Isabelle Allen/Amanda Seyfried) and was present for the June Rebellion.



Les Misérables is one of the biggest musicals in the West End and Broadway and it holds a special place in my heart. My mother is a big fan of the musical, so I ended listening to the music on countless car trips. The other reason why the film is special to me is when I worked for another website I suggested that Samantha Barks should be cast Éponine which ended up happening.

The adaptation of Les Misérables took years to be developed. Alan Parker was hired to direct in 1988 and it took till 2010 for production to finally begin. The 2012 version of Les Misérables is the best adaptation possible of the musical because it stuck really close to the source material. There were very few changes from the stage musical and the few they made were fairly minor. Any fan of the musical will appreciate this film.



Tom Hooper made some bold choices when he directed Les Misérables. The most famous was getting the actors to sing live on set instead of recording it later. It was a big risk considering the environmental factors but it worked for the most part. Most of the cast were natural singers and the use of live singing meant their performances were unaffected. If actors weren’t allowed to sing then they would have to mime to a recording.

Because of the use of live singing, the film had long uninterrupted takes. The most famous was Anne Hathaway’s rendition of “I Dreamed a Dream” which was a powerful, emotional performance as a woman hits rock-bottom. Every sinew of pain could be felt as she sang it, especially the lyric “I had a dream my life would be so different from this hell I’m living.” She deserved her Oscar.



Other performers did have a chance to shine with long single takes. Jackman, Barks, and Eddie Redmayne gave uninterrupted performances of “Bring Him Home,” “On My Own,” and “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables.”

The most criticised performance in the film was Russell Crowe’s as Javert since the role required a powerful singing voice for the stage; something that he lacked. His rendition of “Stars” leaves a lot to be desired. But Crowe did work well when he had other actors to bounce off of, while his version of “Javert’s Soliloquy” was more of a monologue. When he sang the line ‘This man has killed me even so’ his expression showed his world view had been completely shattered.



The musical fully embraces the religious themes of the source material. Jean Valjean and Javert were mirrors to each other regarding religious ideology. Jean Valjean’s was one of charity and redemption – the Bishop (Colm Wilkinson) gave him a second chance which Jean Valjean takes and he aims to be a good man. Javert’s only believed in fire and brimstone. Jean Valjean was a man who had changed but Javert had a rigid viewpoint where he believed any sin would condemn someone to hell. The lyrics of “Stars” spell this out. Their Soliloquies were a perfect example of this because in both situations the characters have reached a low point and the backing music was similar, but they ended up reaching different conclusions.

Tom Hooper and his team had a titanic task bringing the musical to the screen. He was able to make the film adaptation intimidate with the solos, grand and epic, and grim and gritty. The cinematography used sweeping crane and tracking shots to show the scope of the world and events. The crane shots were useful for showing transitions over the years. Whilst Les Misérables was grand in scale it was a story about hard lives. The clue is in the title – Les Misérables is a story about people who live hard lives. As “At the End of the Day” states ‘It’s a struggle, it’s a war, living the life of the poor.’ The art direction ensured that there was a dankness to the world of the film.



The issues with the film were the same effecting the musical. The film is trying to cram a 1,000-page novel into a two and half hour runtime. During the halfway point the narrative jumps from Jean Valjean’s story of redemption to Marius (Redmayne) and Cosette. It’s not helped by Cosette being a non-entity of a character – a woman who I joke was suffering from Stockholm Syndrome. However, a musical does have the advantage that the plot, explanations, and characters’ feelings could be express through song: no other film genre could get away with this.

To me, Les Misérables is a textbook example of how a film adaptation of the stage musical should be made. It was faithful adaptation of the musical that would please fans and non-fans.













Share this: Tweet





