Sadly, term is well and truly under way. The pile of reading seems to be mounting higher and higher the closer those deadlines loom. You wouldn’t be the first to feel that every minute of your time should be spent honing your future prospects. You also wouldn’t be the first to feel that you fall short of the mark when you fail to live up to this expectation. However, HCX firmly believes that whilst University is clearly a time to push yourself, and invest in your future, there is also a reason it is constantly referred to as “the best time of your life”. With this in mind, HCX Culture team are urging you to put down the textbook, step away from those application forms, and simply have a day off! Each week we are going to be giving you some suggestions on how to fill this golden day of relaxation and share our own recommendations.
If you’re still sceptical about this whole idea of giving yourself a break, Number 1: you need to chill out, Number 2: try and engage in a remotely cultural activity, at least this way you feel you’re in some way enhancing yourself. Luckily for you then that the director of The King’s Speech’s adaptation of world renowned novel and theatre production Les Misérables has just been released as a feature length film.
Having never seen the West End’s longest running production, I went into the cinema pretty ignorant of what I was about to view, and more than slightly sceptical of sitting through a musical set in 19th century France. Whilst I have to admit it took me a while to acclimatise to the sheer amount of singing it contained, I cannot refute the fact that the musical aspect generated some highly emotive moments throughout. Anne Hathaway’s depiction of single mother Fantine’s plight to earn enough money to support her daughter, in my opinion, was the highlight of the film. Her rendition of I Dreamed A Dreamed managed to be vocally powerful, something I was not expecting from Hathaway, but also so vulnerable and true to life that you couldn’t help identifying with her struggle and the dire helplessness of the situation. Director Tom Hooper stays close to the films’ theatrical roots and this is seen through his choice for all singing to be sung live each take. This paid off immensely, with Hathaway, as it allowed solid acting to shine through instead of having to awkwardly fit her facial expressions to a pre-recorded version of the song.
The same can be said for the films protagonist Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman), whose musical theatre background is obvious throughout. Jackman, playing an early convict turned reformed do-gooder, displays in parts a huge amount of tenderness, particularly in his scenes in which he aids tragic Fantine and cares for her daughter Cossette (Amanda Seyfried).
However, although those with strong vocal ability thrive under this new cinematic tactic, for others it leaves the songs feeling strained and slightly awkward. Whilst there is a clear sense of terrific tension between Jean Valjean and policeman Javert (Russell Crowe), who pursues Valjean relentlessly, Crowes vocals seem drowned by the booming monotone of Jackman. On the other hand, Crowe does manage to perfectly encapsulate the sinister nature of Javert and his insane hunger to blight Valjean’s existence until death. The true battle, for Jackman and Crowe, is attempting to sing their way through this movie whilst amply conveying the detest they feel for one and other, something I’m not sure they consistently achieve.
That aside, the visuals of the movie are superb. The opening scenes, in which the convicts pull the large ship into port, are spectacular and provide a real sense of epic that foreshadows the rest of the film perfectly. The second half of the film sees a move to the back streets of Paris. Whilst it may seem slightly peculiar, and an anti-climax, to have an attempted rebellion taking place on a street corner, it highlights the naivety of the students, and the huge economic divide within 19th century France.
This half of the film exhausted me just viewing it and required a large amount of patience. I feel that the strangely cut musical sequences and the swooping camera angles that are used throughout this section meant to highlight the mounting angst boiling amongst the working class. For me, it just gave me a headache and made it harder than ever to follow the plot line, which had now thrown in a love story for good measure. Cossette and Marius’s (Eddie Redmayne) whirlwind romance may leave the sceptics amongst us with a raised eyebrow; it however allows the unrequited love of Eponine (Samantha Barks) to be showcased tragically and beautifully.
Although Les Misérables may seem like a bit of a mammoth task to watch, at 2 hours and 40 minutes long, you realise as the credits roll up that this exhaustion is all part of what the film is trying to display. It is called “The Miserables” for a reason and I do warn you, even I, known by my friends to be rather hard-hearted, did have to sit in my car and compose myself for a good half an hour after watching this! The reason I feel this is such an emotive film, and left many of us weeping, is due to its applicability to our lives. Maybe this is on a larger scale but we will all experience love and loss in our life, along with the fear of unrequited love and the exposure to poverty. It conveys the hardships that the human race faces despite the intention of leading a virtuous life, and how through these hardships the motivation to carry on, and believe in something good, is love whether that is of your country, friends, wife, husband or daughter.
Photo credits: http://www.crushable.com/2012/12/18/entertainment/les-miserables-review-french-revolution-beauty-secret/
http://www.examiner.com/review/les-miserables-a-messily-directed-but-affecting-film-experience
http://csusmchronicle.com/2012/12/movie-review-les-miserables-film-will-whisk-you-away.html