COMMENTARY
'Les Mis' reigns on film, minus the message
- Published: 9 Feb 2013 at 00.00
- Newspaper section: News
The verdict is unanimous: Russell Crowe has crowed himself into semi-embarrassment, veins tense and uvula quivering, in the latest film version of the musical Les Miserables, while Anne, dear Anne Hathaway, dreaming a dream in Napoleonic France, has won and will win every supporting-actress prize around with her tonsured turn as the wretched Fantine.
Eddie Redmayne, as Marius, scores with the number Empty Chairs, a woeful lament for a foiled uprising, and Hugh Jackman is adequately reliable as Jean Valjean, the man who hoists the French flag - another post-revolution burden - like the eternal Sisyphus who goes through hell all for stealing a loaf of bread.
Did Jean Valjean suffer much? "Oh, the red coat, the ball on the ankle, a plank to sleep on, heat, cold, toil, the convicts, the thrashings, the double chain for nothing, the cell for one word; even sick and in bed, still the chain!" he told the Bishop early in Victor Hugo's novel. "Dogs, dogs are happier!"
This article is older than 60 days, which we reserve for our premium members only.You can subscribe to our premium member subscription, here.
