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.

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.

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'.

Worth purchasing on line - wonderful film

This film is so good it almost defies belief. Hardly a word is spoken-nearly every sound is a song- and the film as a whole is,as intended by the novelist Victor Hugo, a song for the poor and the downtrodden.If you ever thought that you live in hard times now, you won't after seeing this. Few people these days would read Victor Hugo's novel in its english translation let alone in the orginal french. And this is why this is a film that should be shown in every school in every country in the world,so people know just how bad the world was-even in a modern first world country like france. Victor Hugo summarised the novel like this: "A progress from evil to good, from injustice to justice, from falsehood to truth, from night to day, from appetite to conscience, from corruption to life; from bestiality to duty, from hell to heaven, from nothingness to God." I dont believe in God but something miraculous has happened for a musical this good to have appeared in our time. The Sound of Music used to be the standard for musicals at the cinema and my granny watched it in the 1960s many times.If she was alive now she would be 103 years old and she would love Les Miserables. Somehow it has taken us back fifty years to another era of cinema but has also become the modern standard for its genre.I dont expect to see this film bettered. Victor Hugo would surely be delighted with it. An emotional rollercoaster of the very highest order.It will leave you physically and mentally drained. Hopefully more people will read the book.The cast was perfection:Russell Crowe and Hugh Jackman couldn't be bettered.

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!!

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Yes, it's all sung. Les Miserables is two hours and forty minutes of song. There's no real spoken dialogue the entire way through. Every minute is sung live as well. And if this bothers you, please skip "Les Mis" and enjoy watching something like "Twilight" or "Jack Reacher". Tom Hooper made this film a game-changer for the way a movie-musical is supposed to work. Lip-synching a pre-recorded studio version seems economical, but today, can allow for auto-tuning and editing a singer's voice. It doesn't feel personal. The voices in "Les Mis" sound raw and real. The actors sang live onset with earpieces playing piano accompaniment, with a 70-piece orchestra being added in in post production. The music sounds extraordinary. There sure as hell isn't any auto-tuning going on. For example, take Anne Hathaway's rendition of "I Dreamed A Dream". At this point in the story, we don't know Fantine very well, but we see the struggle that she's put through. She's at her lowest point. Hathaway half-belts and half-sobs the iconic song, the entire thing being filmed in one take. It's an extremely emotional performance that will bring any person with a heart, to tears. Criticism that I've been hearing of the film mostly revolves around the performances of Russell Crowe and Hugh Jackman, as Javert and Valjean. I think both of these guys did fantastic jobs, quite frankly. Crowe isn't the best singer in the world, but his voice fits the part of Javert very well. As for Jackman, well, it could be argued that he carried the entire film. I think he did a splendid job; the role of Jean Valjean is a giant undertaking, and I think he nailed it. However, the real excellence of this film lies in the supporting cast. Everybody is perfectly cast, but particularly Samantha Barks in the role of Eponine. She played the same character in the 25th Anniversary performance of Les Miserables, only two years ago. One small criticism; my favorite part of Eponine's solo (and theme song to self-loathing masochists everywhere) "On My Own", the beginning part, is cut entirely. However, once you see what Barks does with this song it's easily forgiven. Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen, who look like they're in "Sweeney Todd 2", are great comic relief as the Thenardiers. Cohen is the only cast member in this Paris-set film who sings in a French accent, however... I find that strange. Eddie Redmayne and Aaron Tveit are perfect as Marius and his colleague Enjolras. Redmayne's "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables", near the end of the film, will make you cry. His voice goes to extraordinary places, and in such an emotional number, where he's telling the story of his friends who are no longer with him, this is a place where the live singing truly shines. The live singing, itself, is a huge undertaking, cinematically. Director Tom Hooper certainly had alot at stake with this project, however, there are still things that he could have done better. There are so many close-ups in the film. While they work for solos like "I Dreamed A Dream" and "Empty Chairs", they don't work for others. I also kind of feel like Hooper used the fish-eye camera lens a little too often, but these are inconsequential criticisms that don't make the film any less powerful. I saw this movie a week before it came out because I won advance screening tickets and I have known the song I Dreamed A Dream my whole life but I have never seen the musical on stage or any of the adaptations before. I went into this with no expectations at all. At first I thought the movie started off kind of fragmented and I figured because it had to introduce everybody and I was right. The film ended up as it went on drawing me in more and more and making me fall in love with it and by the end i was mesmerized with how wonderful and amazing the movie is. I believe they picked perfect roles because after i saw the movie i listened to the Broadway soundtrack and i believe they did very well on picking out the cast for their vocal ranges and capabilities. I think anyone who loves the musical or is a musical person should defiantly see this movie because they will not be disappointed one bit by how amazing it is .

Wie ich schon bei der Highlight-CD verkündet habe: "Les Miz" ist und bleibt mein Lieblingsstück unter den Musicals. Gerade dass es mehr Oper als Musical ist und nahezu gänzlich auf Dialoge verzichtet, macht es so mitreißend - eine wunderschöne Melodie löst die nächste ab, jedes Lied bringt die Stimmung perfekt rüber. Generell muss man schon zwischen Bühne und Film unterscheiden - die Medien sind zu unterschiedlich, aber wenn man das Bühnenstück im Hinterkopf hat, sind natürlich gewisse Erwartungen da. So fällt es bei der Bühnenfassung gar nicht auf, wie sehr durch manche Szenen gehetzt wird, weil im Theater so viele visuelle und akustische Reize mitspielen, im Film hingegen fällt es doch mitunter auf (z. B. die Szene im Gericht). Das war für mich zwar nicht so irritierend, ich könnte mir aber vorstellen, dass dem einen oder anderen, der das Musical nicht kennt, das negativ auffällt. Und während ich Kostümierung und Maske phantastisch fand, sind mir die Bluescreen-Effekte teilweise sauer aufgestoßen; das alte Paris wirkte zum Teil dermaßen CGI, dass es die ganze Authentizität kaputt gemacht hat (z. B. bei "Stars"). Der Film lebt aber vor allem von den Darstellern - das merkt man schon allein an den vielen Close-ups (man bedenke, dass "I dreamed a dream" nur aus einer Nahaufnahme von Anne Hathaways Gesicht besteht). Hugh Jackman und Anne Hathaway spielen sich wirklich die Seele aus dem Leib und wirken auf mich auch keineswegs überzogen und hyperdramatisch, wenngleich mir nach wie vor nicht gefällt, dass Hugh Jackmans Stimme des Öfteren etwas gepresst klingt und gerade "Bring him home" viel zu sehr rausbrüllt. Aber seine Verwandlung vom Gefangenen zum Bürgermeister zum alten, gebrechlichen Mann ist schon sehr beeindruckend. Neben den hervorragenden Darstellern mit Musicalerfahrung (Aaron Tveit und Samantha Barks) sticht für mich aber Eddie Redmayne am meisten heraus. Nicht nur eine klasse Stimme (vor allem in den Höhen), sondern auch grandios gespielt. "Empty chairs at empty tables" ist mir jedenfalls nähergegangen als "I dreamed a dream" (das ich schon phantastisch fand). Russell Crowe hat (zurecht) die meiste Kritik abbekommen. Beim Durchhören der CD fand ich seine Stimme schon schwach, hab aber darauf gesetzt, dass mich sein Schauspiel überzeugt - dem ist leider nicht so. Wenn man Mimik mit Jackman und Hathaway vergleicht, so hat Crowe eigentlich die ganze Zeit den gleichen Gesichtsausdruck und ist zu sehr darauf fokussiert, die Töne einigermaßen richtig zu singen, worunter das Schauspiel insgesamt leidet. Javert, eine starke Persönlichkeit, die nur Schwarz und Weiß kennt, kommt insgesamt zu schwach rüber. Immerhin sind die Töne an sich richtig - und wenn man sich auf YouTube mal ein paar Videos mit Crowe ansieht, merkt man auch, dass er eigentlich gar keine schlechte Stimme hat - aber für diese Art von Musik einfach total unpassend. Da hat beispielsweise Amanda Seyfried den Vorteil, dass sie schauspielerisch sehr in die Rolle der Cosette passt, wenngleich auch ihr Gesang eher dünn ist. Immerhin war ich vom letzten Ton bei "A heart full of love", der ja ziemlich hoch ist, sehr angenehm überrascht. Auch kleinere Rollen wie der Vorarbeiter in der Fabrik, Gavroche und einige der Studenten, sind wirklich toll besetzt. Mit meinen Kritikpunkten würde ich am liebsten 4.5 Sterne vergeben, aber weil mich der Film nicht nur trotz Länge gut unterhalten, sondern auch tief berührt hat, bekommt er die volle Anzahl an Sternen. Jedem, der das Musical kennt und/oder Englisch gut versteht, empfehle ich die Originalversion. Die "deutsche" Fassung ist größtenteils untertitelt, nur die wenigen Dialoge haben sie dann doch synchronisiert anstatt einfach den Film komplett zu untertiteln, was vermutlich etwas irritierend ist (sagte man mir). Die Texte sind sprachlich nicht unanspruchsvoll, aber meiner Meinung nach gut zu verstehen, sogar die Passagen, in denen recht dreckiges Britisch gesprochen wird (z. B. Gavroche). Dass die Reihenfolge der Lieder verändert wurde, die Lieder zum Teil gekürzt und die Texte abgeändert oder sogar erweitert wurden, hat mich überhaupt nicht gestört oder irritiert. Es hat gut gepasst und war nicht weniger schlüssig als bei der Bühnenfassung. Insgesamt eine gelungene Adaption, die die Hoffnung weckt, dass vielleicht ein paar mehr Musicals der Sprung auf die Leinwand gelingt - vor allem denen, die es hierzulange nicht (mehr) gibt (einmal abgesehen von den horrenden Ticketpreisen).

This is a great movie. No wonder it was so successful. Even for those anti-musical-movies persons this proves to be so good that my wife loved it. My wife can not stand any musical movie, not even the old ones from the golden age, and she does not like Broadway stuff. She is a big fan of cinema, on her birthday she'd rather watch 2 movies than go to a fancy restaurant. Said so, you can imagine my surprise when she loved this film, and I think it is for 2 major reasons: One is the top level cast and performances. The second is the powerful story from the classic of Victor Hugo. So even if these actors are not "singers" the do a great job because we are in "cinema", not "broadway". The biggest difference is that you get all these close-ups of their faces, different angles, the illumination, make-up, etc., so a great singer may not be the best choice to be seen that close and intimate, so in "cinema" they decided to cast real actors instead of singers and it was a good choice. Anne Hathaway is able to transmit all the suffering only with her eyes, no matter how good or bad she is singing. So if you don't like actors trying to sing, just give it a try and remember that great singers are not good actors and you may not believe them if you have them in a close-up. That is the good about Broadway, they are far away, with all this theatrical make up, and you don't really see their eyes, so their voices are the only thing you get.

Was soll man zu diesem Film sagen außer eine der schönsten, spannendsten, traurigsten und gleichzeitig lustigsten Geschichten gebannt in einem hervorragenden Film mit unglaublich wunderschöner Musik.