Les Misérables (2012)
Oscar-winning director Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech) brings the epic stage musical to the big screen with stars Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Eddie Redmayne, Amanda Seyfried, Helena Bonham Carter, Sacha Baron Cohen and Anne Hathaway in an Oscar-winning performance. Unique for screen musicals, the cast performed the songs live in front of the camera with the orchestra's score inserted after (traditionally, the cast would record all the songs and mime them on set).
Based on the 1862 novel by Victor Hugo, the story follows the redemption of ex-prisoner Jean Valjean (Jackman) against the backdrop of the Paris Uprising of 1832. Jailed for stealing a loaf of bread, Valjean is hunted by ruthless policeman Javert (Crowe) since he broke his parole. Assuming a new identity, Valjean's life is changed forever after agreeing to care for factory worker Fantine's (Hathaway) young daughter Cosette (Seyfried). Cohen and Carter play innkeepers Monsieur and Madame Thénardier.
Best Supporting Actress for Hathaway, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, and Best Sound Mixing at the 2013 Academy Awards. Best Picture (Comedy or Musical), Best Actor (Comedy or Musical) for Jackman and Best Supporting Actress for Hathaway at the Golden Globes 2013. Best Supporting Actress and Best Production Design, BAFTA Awards 2013.
2012Rating: M, contains violence and sexual references158 minsUK
DramaMusicalHistorical
- Director:
- Tom Hooper ('The King's Speech', 'The Damned United')
- Writer:
- William Nicholson
- Cast:
- Hugh JackmanHelena Bonham CarterAnne HathawayAmanda SeyfriedSacha Baron CohenRussell CroweEddie RedmayneSamantha Barks
Les Misérables (2012) / Reviews
Little White Lies
Like being trapped in Disney jail with the kids from Fame. For five consecutive life sentences.
Full reviewFilm Threat
While Anne Hathaway avoided food in preparing for this film, she compensated for her dietary restriction by chewing the scenery with uncontrolled gusto.
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Rolling Stone
No one expects gutsy filmmaking in a musical. But that's just what... Tom Hooper delivers in Les Misérables.
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The Globe and Mail
A productive experiment, an epic-scaled weepie, an exercise in sincere kitsch, and, perhaps too easily dismissed, a rare modern movie about the wretched poor...
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Variety
The squalor and upheaval of early 19th-century France are conveyed with a vividness that would have made Victor Hugo proud, heightened by the raw, hungry intensity of the actors' live oncamera vocals.
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Total Film
Will send the devoted home happy and likely demonstrate to the few uninitiated what all the fuss is about.
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The New York Times
By the grand finale, when tout le monde is waving the French tricolor in victory, you may instead be raising the white flag in exhausted defeat.
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The Guardian
By the end, you feel like a piñata on the dancefloor: empty, in bits, the victim of prolonged assault by killer pipes.
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Los Angeles Times
You can walk into the theater as an agnostic, but you may just leave singing with the choir.
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Hollywood Reporter
There are large, emotionally susceptible segments of the population ready to swallow this sort of thing, but that doesn't mean it's good.
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Empire Magazine
Occasionally, like its characters, ragged around the edges, this nevertheless rings with all the emotion and power of the source and provides a new model for the movie musical.
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A.V. Club
Jackman is performing in a drama, Crowe on his concert stage, and Hathaway alone in her room. It's a collection of performances rather than a story.
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