Les Mis Film Review

I finally saw the film two nights ago and I have to say I thought it was great, better than the book in fact. Although I love the book, they did manage to cut out a great deal of superfluous rambling and unimportant details. I think the only thing that I though was cut a little too much was the Jondrette garret because it didn’t emphasise the awesomeness of Valjean. 

Cutting a lot of Marius’s stalking and mooning made the romance a bit less sickly, Cos was less passive and Marius actually grieved for his friends. I could bear him a bit better in the film, although I though that Eponine wasn’t done justice with her weeping over Marius. I thought of her as being more kick-ass in the book.

Russell’s singing voice is not that bad and suited the role well, although I was surprised to find that Hugh Jackman’s was a tiny bit grating at times. Anne Hathaway and Amanda Seyfried sounded lovely, and Anne’s performance was heartbreaking, Oscar for her and Hugh I think. The singing was probably not up to West-End standards but I thought it did make a difference having them singing it that way.  One thing I noticed more that when I saw part of the 25^th Anniversary performance was that the music sounded more French than I was expecting. It may be mad, but I think I would like to hear some of the songs in the original language (although I know that the musical wasn’t all that popular in France!). 

Hmmmm, I wonder what colour knickers Cosette is wearing? (link)

It was also visually stunning from the very beginning to the end with the way they showed the convicts hauling the ship. Everything was suitably over-the-top as you would expect from a musical and I loved what they did with the Thenardiers. 

I’d like to own it on DVD but I don’t think that it will be a film that I watch regularly what with the emotional wrenching and the length! I did feel weepy, particularly over Fantine but I think that knowing what was going to happen possibly stopped me bawling throughout, otherwise I would’ve cried over the ABC Society dying as well. I’d definitely see it in the theatre one day, although loving musicals as I do there is already a list I’d like to see.

I feel a little bit sad now thinking that I probably won’t write that much more about Les Mis (although I will probably review any subsequent adaptations I see or anything else of interest that pops up). It’s been an epic journey (of just over four months). I will just have to cheer myself with the thought that my journey with the inestimable exasperating Hugo has not ended. Although I have already been warned off Toilers of the Sea, I still have to read Hunchback as part of BIHNR.

Shopping, Seduction and Mr. Selfridge by Lindy Woodhead

I am a complete sucker for books of T.V. programs, whether they are fictional adaptations, written especially for the series or history books. So, I was delighted to find this cheap on the old Kindle. I was not that horrified to find out the amount of liberties I.T.V has taken with historical fact, after a while you get used to it and I understand that taking Downton With Shops as truth is liable to make you look rather silly. No, it’s written as entertainment and it provides that much. 

The book too, is entertaining and quite well written. You can see that it is not supposed to be ‘serious’ history in that it doesn’t really contain a great deal of analysis, but that is hardly a flaw when it has so many interesting facts and anecdotes that give you a sense of the family and the business. I loved the number of personalities that filled the pages, and sometimes it is wonderfully relaxing to be entertained by tales of rich people doing extravagant things and descriptions of crazy by-gone fashions.  The book was well researched and some of the anecdotes were quite personal. 

It did slightly nark me at times that she didn’t put references in the main body of the text, I think there is no excuse for not doing that with an ereader as it’s so easy to be able to flick back and forth between the references and the main body of the text. Also, the images and illustrations were at the end in a separate section, so I did think that they were missing until I finished the book and went ‘ah, so that’s what they looked like.’ But these were minor formatting points rather than big criticisms. 

Overall, I’m glad to have read it as it has given me a better insight into the background of the period and to a man who was such an interesting character, although in a way I am also quite sad to know how the story ends and hope that there is a happier ending for I.T.V’s Mr. Selfridge. 

What the world needs now, is hats, sweet hats

 I also enjoyed reading a little bit of history and have vowed to vary the all fiction all the time diet with some more of the historical stuff, as I know that I own a great pile of history books I haven't read either!

Rolling in Brie

So, why are we rolling in brie? Well, it's time for the dreaded Wuthering Heights, which I have had a hate-hate relationship with for years. I can't see the point of it as a love story, it's morbid and depressing, Bella from Twilight loves it and I've tried a couple of times to read it without success. But now I am ready to give it one last try, and if I still hate it I probably won't read it again. I saw a film version over Christmas too that was quite good (Andrea Arnold's 2011 adaptation, black Heathcliffe, all very post-colonial). Anyway, I could do with something shorter, with less Victorian excess, to cut the richness of all that Hugo. It also gives me an excuse to refer to the Kate Bush song. Heath-cliffe, it's meeee, your Cathee, I've come home, let me in-a your window. So coooold.

Awesome yet mad song

I'm going ebook as it doesn't really matter what edition I read and it will be lovely to just carry my notebook adn Kindle around. What with BIHNR and all the other books I read I have been lugging Les Mis, the Bell Jar and My Cousin Rachel around for the last week or so, and Les Mis weighs a ton. I'm so glad to have finished the notes for it before the end of the month, now I've just got to review Mr. Selfridge (not the proper title) and the Bell Jar (which is taking ages) then I'll be clear, although I will probably start reading WH before I've finished the rest of the writing. I should also probably attempt to clear my mind of all that hatred of the book!

Cosette and the Thernadiers

As I did previously with Fantine, I have had a look at the way these characters are portrayed on the stage and in films. This time I have also watched the first part of the 25^th Anniversary production, so there will probably be references to that in here as well, and the character portrayal within the book. 

It seems that the Thernadiers are generally treated as comic characters on the stage, often complete with rotten teeth and pantomime make-up, and in the case of the Anniversary production, played by a famous comedian. The song ‘Master of the House’ is a jolly upbeat number about stiffing unsuspecting guests which contrasts with Cosette’s song. This kind of moment within the musical makes it highly entertaining and accessible to children.

Within the book, however, the characters are more sinister.  It is noticable that there is a sense of some of the characters almost being ‘spied on’; sometimes this is obvious, as in the case of Thernadier and friend spying on the mysterious figure burying something in the wood, or the woman going to see Cosette to ‘reassure’ people that Fantine is an unwed mother, sometimes it is more anonymous, as when somebody apparently witnesses Valjean hesitating before going to book a carriage for the journey to Champmathieau’s trial. It is clear from the beginning of the story that the Thernadiers are out for what they can get; Thernadier is a prime example of the kind of man who would try to observe somebody doing something wrong in order to gain from it in some way. Perhaps this is an element of the society that Hugo is trying to portray after the first part of the revolution – people are still suspicious of one another, the poor are treated abominably and unless the characters are as saintly as the Bishop, they can be as greedy or self-serving as the Thernadiers.

In some way the Thernadiers try to appear better than they really are. Madame Thernadier takes the example of trashy romantic novels to behave in a fawning way to her husband who has literary pretentions and talks of the materialist philosophy and of philosophers he probably knows little about (probably indicating that he is an atheist). Madame Thernadier dresses Cosette in rags, but ensures that her two daughters are well-dressed with plenty of toys and have money in their clogs at Christmas. Although they are in debt, their standard of living is related to their status as business owners who have profited from Waterloo.

Madame Thernadier is described as somewhat grotesque; enormous, almost like a circus performer with a beard, only one tooth and an enormous appetite for drink, swearing and violence.  Thernadier himself is small, skinny and weasely in his attitude to his guests.  ‘...He was thoroughly crooked, a sanctimonious knave.’ (Penguin 1976, translated by Denny. P341). He has no nationality, seems to change his political views and pretends to be a war hero and a man of learning. Yet he is ‘terrible’ (p343) when he becomes angry, and there is a sense that he is not a man to be laughed at or crossed if one can help it. He has complete control over the business and his family.

At this time working children were all too common, so nobody in the inn seems to be that bothered about Cosette working as the Thernadier’s servant, indeed, the couple talk about her as if they did Fantine a great favour taking Cosette in when it is obvious that they have had a great deal of work out of her. 

This was also the period when attitudes about the importance of universal education and about the nature of childhood itself were changing, so it will be interesting to see if any of this will be reflected in the novel. The portrayal of children within novels of the period reflects this in that 19^th century novels feature more children and there are more books written specifically for children. In the United Kingdom and France concepts of cruelty to children did not really exist until the 1880s.

Many children in 19^th Century novels seem to fall into three categories, either the saintly sentimentalised good children like Dickens’s Florence Dombey or Helen Burns in Jane Eyre or the wild, bad children such as Heathcliffe and Cathy or the spoilt children such as Mary Lennox in a Secret Garden.  Cosette herself appears sentimentalised, resembling Oliver Twist (published 1839, Les Mis was published in 1862 but this part is set around 15 years before OT)  in that despite her mistreatment, she is basically a good child who tells lies to escape punishment from the monstrous Madame Thernadier (Thernadier himself doesn’t seem to have that much to do with her until he sees an opportunity to make some money from her) and who has never been taught to pray (p357), or even entered a church (p360). 

 

Hugo emphasises her tininess, her terror and her misery with the incident where she goes out on Christmas Eve to get water. She is plain because she is miserable and behaves as if she is constantly afraid. Hugo contrasts her and her treatment with the Thernadier’s daughters who are pretty, well-dressed spoilt little madams who are fondly indulged by their mother and for whom Cosette knits stockings, also their sleeping arrangements of Cosette sleeping in a junk room, on a straw mattress, fully dressed with the little girls in twin beds with white covers. 

Hugo uses them as ‘an embodiment of society – envy on one side, indifference on the other.’ (362). Both Cosette and Fantine act as emotive figures in the novel in that they have they little control over their own fates. Yet she is also shown to be brave in that she doesn’t cry until Madame Thernadier flies into a monstrous rage after she’s caught playing with a doll (which is apparently an essential human right for girls according to Hugo), in the same way that Fantine attempts to defend herself when she is accused of assaulting a man. Valjean is different in that he seems to always be able to prevent himself from being completely powerless, usually through an act of fate or goodness (such as saving a man which then prevents people from checking his papers to discover that he is a convict).

In this case Valjean draws attention to himself by buying the doll for Cosette and causes the Thernadiers to begin to feel venom and hatred towards him. Thernadier is suspicious enough to stay up most of the night observing him and although Madame Thernadier is anxious to be rid of her, he gets Valjean to pay for her and tries to pursue them to get even more money. Valjean is making enemies as he goes, he has already made an enemy of Javert and here he has made enemies of the Thernadier family. There is also the rental agent of the house he and Cosette is staying at spying on him and suspicious of the money that he has hidden in his coat. It is clear that the pair of them are unlikely to remain safe in their assumed identities. 

25th Anniversary Concert (Well, the First Bit)

Although I wasn’t aiming to watch any of this until I finished the book, I capitulated over the weekend and watched the first part up to the point where I am in the book, then watched a background documentary on the film. Here are some of my thoughts:

• All comments about acting are with the caveats that this is the first time I’ve seen it, I am aware that the musical moves at an incredibly fast pace with a number of staging issues to consider such as the size of the O2. Gestures that may seem too extreme for a film version would be necessary in such a large space. There are going to be things that have to be changed or left out from the book. I was surprised at the staging, I suppose I expected it to be more like a traditional play type musical with backdrops and props, but it worked very well the way that it was done with the stage in two ‘layers’ and the large screens above.  I imagine it is exhausting for the actors.

• Valjean and Cosette were excellent. Alfie can really act; his facial expressions were a wonder to behold, he could convey emotion with the merest twitch. I was afraid Cosette would be way too ‘drama school’ but she had such a sweet pitiful expression when she sang.

• I liked the casting of a PoC to play Javert, I thought it made a statement about the character and his status within the society that is still relevant today. I thought Norm was a bit wooden during Cosette’s arrest, but he was suitably emotional when he realised who Madeleine was and I loved the duet with Valjean.

• I was not that much of a fan of Lea Solanga as Fantine, I found the obvious singer ‘I am annunciating this very carefully’ mouth movements distracting. I wasn’t that affected by her performance of ‘I Dreamed a Dream’, I thought the interpretation was a bit off. Comparing this with Anne Hathaway looking all pathetic and singing it like she was truly broken-hearted, well, clips of Anne make me want to cry whereas Lea made me go ‘meh’. Not that keen on her voice either.  Having now seen the way that the musical is staged, the pictures of lady Fantine/dollymop Fantine make a bit more sense, here Lea had a pretty white dress with two patches on it, then she changed into her shroud-like death dress after Valjean and Javert had their confrontation.  The transformation from grisette to prostitute was accomplished during the one song, there was no time for her to change and even though part of the song was her selling her hair she didn’t actually lose it. There was a brief moment where she seemed to go off stage during ‘Lovely Girls’ which would give the dollymop school time to stick a mob cap and some slap on her if they were so inclined, otherwise they would have to have her dressed as a prostitute the whole way through.

• The Thernadiers were amusing and larger than life; I particularly liked Madame Thernadier’s nasty sarcastic edge.  I saw a picture of Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen as the Thernadiers today; I have to say they looked quite sinister in comparison, although I don’t think Helena plays anything else much anymore. Long gone are the days of seeing her in a long white dress playing a Merchant Ivory heroine, now it’s all creepy evil people and Miss Havisham (who I can’t really take as evil probably since reading Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next novels).

The film looks amazing. I’d seen the trailer before but this was a documentary on the way that it has been filmed in a completely different way to other musicals and it looks like it’s going to be great.  I’m looking forward to seeing it and to seeing the rest of the 25^th Anniversary Concert.