Les Misérables: Beautiful.

I guess this counts as a period film so here goes my first review in the Period Reviews Challenge! Warning: may contain spoilers.

Les Misérables well exceeded my expectations. I knew it was going to be a gorgeous film, but the locations, sets, costumes, acting... everything was just amazing.
Anne Hathaway as Fantine was one of my favourite things in the film. I remember when everyone heard she was playing Fantine, there were some people who grumbled. Even I was a bit skeptical. However, she played it wonderfully, and I was sobbing as soon as she began to sing 'There was a time when men were kind...'. Fantine's death scene was so emotional. In the stage version, she says she can see Cosette, but in the film, she actually did. 
Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean was well cast, and well performed. He sang brilliantly, and his acting was believable. Russell Crowe's Javert was in tune but possibly a bit blandly acted, however I heard that one of the parts that made me cry the most was a moment suggested by Crowe himself to be added. If you've seen it, you know the moment I mean! Amanda Seyfried's Cosette was sweet and prettily sung, and her acting at the end was probably what made me start to cry rather loudly (it didn't matter, I wasn't the only one by then). Marius, played by Eddie Redmayne, was acted VERY well by Eddie Redmayne, who portrayed Marius as a faithful rebel, whilst also being completely love-struck by Cosette, and he showed his obliviousness to Éponine's feelings very realistically. Aaron Tveit was a fantastic Enjolras. In my opinion, he captured Enjolras' revolutionary, rebellious spirit near to perfectly, and his singing was very, very good. Samantha Bark's feature film debut was perfection. She has always been my favourite Éponine (25th Anniversary Concert) however she adapted to film acting smoothly and her singing was full of raw emotion. Colm Wilkinson, the Original London Cast Jean Valjean, played the Bishop of Digne, and of course his singing was top-notch. Isabelle Allen was an adorable Young Cosette, her acting was wonderful and her singing was a delight to listen to. She has of course also been in the part on the West End, but like Sam Barks, made the transition to film smoothly. Daniel Huttlestone's Gavroche was funny at the right parts, and his death was well done. His singing was brilliant.
The set was lovely to look at. Having seen the behind-the-scenes featurettes on Youtube, I knew that a lot of it was just a set, but I completely forgot whilst watching the film. The streets of Paris came alive on screen, at least for me they did. The locations chosen for the rest of the filming were beautiful and fitting. The docks at the beginning were dramatic and added to he music's effect. 
The film was put together brilliantly. The dates were shown every time there was a time skip. The editing really added to it - a lot of solos were filmed for most of the song looking at the actor's/actress' face. The barricade shots were wonderful - the barricade scenes in general were moving, and the end of the barricade section of the film in general was heartbreaking.

Now onto the costumes! Oh man, the costumes. There was a featurette on the costumes but I'm going to give my opinions anyway. 
Fantine's pink dress stood out from the rest of the factory workers once they'd taken their blue aprons and caps off. The prostitutes scenes showed her stripped down to her undergarments, and she looked vulnerable. The change from white undergarments to red showed, for me, her transition from someone who has life problems but had been getting by, into someone who was ruined. This transition happened after 'Dreamed a Dream' - no coincidence there, then! When in the hospital she was back in a plain white dress, showing that she would be at peace soon, and when her spirit returned at the end, when Valjean was dying, she was still in this plain white dress, but looked happy, as if she had been at peace for a long time.

Valjean's convict clothes at the beginning were rough and harsh looking, and changing into the smart early 19th century clothing was such a transition that my friend didn't realise who he was until the same time Javert thought he was like Valjean... what can I say? Then in the end scene, his blanket looked cosy, but he looked very uncomfortable at the same time, making it even sadder to watch.


Javert's police uniform changed with his rank and time period, keeping to a colour palette of blues and black. What he wore when spying looked a tad modern to me, however I know very little about fashions of those times - all I can say is that he also looked like a very suspicious character in those clothes and I certainly wouldn't have trusted him to 'spy' for my side of the Barricade! I was unsure of what his red medal was for as I am a tad unacquainted with that sort of thing, however his placing it on Gavroche's lifeless body sent me into a crying frenzy - was that him honouring the little urchin with his own medal of what I assume is honour, and the first sign of his breaking down? I am unsure but it struck me nonetheless.

Éponine's costumes showed her harsh life very well. Her first costume showed her as being rough but her thin shawl was soaked threw as it rained during "On My Own", emphasising her fragile emotions. You then saw her binding herself up to wear boy's clothes and join the barricade, which I think was very effective, as in the musical she wears the same blouse under her coat with trousers and her hair stuffed into a hat - the blouse always ruins it for me! She was wearing full male clothing and I think that showed how far she was willing to go to join Marius at the barricade.



The costumes designed for Cosette were wonderful. The large 1830s dress and bonnet at the beginning showed her social status - quite well off, showing the change in positions between Éponine and Cosette even more clearly. Her white nightgown and dressing gown were pure and pretty, and made the romanticism of "In my Life/A Heart Full of Love" into the innocent and sweet love that the scene displays. The rest of her dresses were very pretty, and I loved the wedding gown.
Marius and Enjolras had lovely looking costumes. The costume featurette says that the blue of Eddie Redmayne's trousers matches his eyes. The red jacket worn by Enjolras matched the red flag and emphasised that he was the main rebel in the uprising. The students' cockades added to the revolutionary sense (I actually made one and pinned it onto my jacket to wear to cinema!).


The Thénardier's costumes were extravagant and added to the comedy. They were always changing what they were wearing to match the situations, but never blended with the crowds. I thought this worked VERY well. 
The poor and Gavroche's clothes looked just right to me. They seemed to fit in with the time period and the situations. The extras blended into the scenes well with their costumes, and their costumes added to the grimey looking streets of Paris really made the sense of how poor these people were more realistic to me.

I'm sure there are plenty more things I could talk about - other actors, different settings, situations, costumes - but I simply cannot form my thoughts into written words, there are so many whirling around my head! But I can say that Les Misérables was the best film I have seen for a long time, and even though I had to wait until today to see it (damn being British!) it was well worth the wait. The amount I cried expressed just how happy I was to watch it, I think!

Other Reviews: The Young Victoria (2009); The Phantom of the Opera (2004); Marie Antoinette (2006)