Les Misérables

Les Misérables (the 2012 film) isn’t your typical musical where the music is tucked safely between bits of dialogue. It’s a wall-to-wall singing marathon, almost operatic, with the actors belting out their feelings instead of just explaining them. The story is pure Victor Hugo—French revolution, love triangles, redemption, and lots of tears. It’s hefty in both runtime and emotion, and you can tell the cast and crew were swinging for the fences.

Let’s get it out of the way: Anne Hathaway. Everybody called her “the best part,” and for once, the hype is absolutely warranted. Her version of “I Dreamed a Dream” is feral and messed up in the right way. She actually looks like she’s had the life beaten out of her, mascara and all. Hugh Jackman gives Valjean everything he’s got, but his voice seems a bit thin when pitched against the score’s demands. Russell Crowe… well. I respect the boldness, but his singing sits in this awkward place between musical theater and campfire karaoke.

The best thing director Tom Hooper did, and probably the most controversial, is the live singing. Hearing the actors’ voices crack and waver as they’re acting in real time gives some songs a real punch you never get from lip-synced soundtracks. But it’s a double-edged sword. The emotional rawness comes at the cost of musical polish, and I found myself wincing through some shaky notes more than once.

Visually, the film is stuffed to the rafters. There’s no mistaking that you’re in a grimy, miserable world, but sometimes Hooper just shoves the camera so close you can count pores. It gets claustrophobic and draws attention to every sniffle and spit fleck. On the flip side, the epic crowd scenes—“Do You Hear the People Sing?” especially—feel big and alive. The scale works when he lets the story breathe.

Pacing is relentless. This is a long movie—over two and a half hours—and doesn’t really slow down to let moments land. Some sections, like the romance between Marius and Cosette, whiz by so quickly you barely get to know them as real people. There’s not a lot of subtlety either. Emotions are cranked to maximum, and after a while, it can feel a bit numbing instead of cathartic.

Still, despite the bumps and excess, Les Misérables gets to you. By the end, I was moved, if totally wrung out. The flaws are obvious, but the ambition wins out—how often do you see a massive mainstream musical go all-in like this? If you love musicals or melodramatic epics, you owe it to yourself to try it, even if you find yourself rolling your eyes at Hugh Jackman’s breathy whispers or Crowe’s… singing.