When director Tom Hooper (The King's Speech) decided to adapt infamous musical Les Miserables to the big screen, he also decided that it would be a good idea to have his actors sing live on set, as to inject the motion picture with a bit of added authenticity. What he presumably did not stop to ask himself, however, was: "Why do we need authenticity?" And that's the inherent problem: Les Miserables is a musical, a fantasy - its plot relies on moments of bizarre coincidence that can only be forgiven in a world that resembles that of a fake stage musical. Making it "real" and gritty didn't work - and neither did getting a variety of Hollywood actors to strain their voices, attempting to sing their way through all three hours of the production. So Russell Crowe was miscast, yes, but he didn't receive all that much praise. It was Hugh Jackman who found himself pegged as the perfect Jean Valjean, but the truth is that he's far from it: on paper, it sounded like a perfect match, and yet Jackman fails to make Valjean feel like a person - he's just a vessel for forcing out every sung line in the same, repetitive fashion. And then there's Anne Hathaway, who is good when she's singing "I Dreamed A Dream," and then all right when she's not. Point is, she still doesn't make a convincing Fantine - there's an emotional core inherent to her portrait of the character, yes, but the history feels absent. There's no sense that this women has really gone through what she's telling us she's gone through. And you could make a case for the rest of the actors as victims of miscasting, too (Helena Bonham Carter; there for the sake of it/Amanda Seyfried; to be fair, she had the worst character). The Praise: Oscar nominations! Oscar nominations as far as the eye could see! One for Best Picture, of course. Jackman didn't deserve the acclaim that was heaped on his bland Jean Valjean (he was given an nomination for Best Actor) - and Anne Hathaway wasn't enough of a presence to end up with that Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. Les Miserables was "okay," but you'd think the way people talk about it now that it was a gift from God. Like this article? Anyone to add? Let us know in the comments section below.
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.
