Went and saw Les Miserables at our tiny theatre where tickets are only 4.00 a person (they were 3.00 until a couple months ago).
I was deeply moved- to the point of near speechlessness. It’s beautiful. I love the way the story of Law vs Grace shines through the music and characters in this film- even though it had be done with quick brush strokes.
One song in particular brought forth so many tears that the napkin I used to dab my eyes was actually dripping when I was done. I couldn’t swallow.
Here’s Empty Chairs at Empty Tables:
This is what it made me think of.
We chose not to take the FYB, and that was a decision I am satisfied to have made. The HM also chose to wait for it to come out on DVD to watch at home.
I am inspired to reread the book, as it has been probably 15 years or so since I last read it.
2 Comments
Totally agree. I think the themes, though I had read the book and seen the theatrical version and heard the music before, were clearer to me in the film than ever. I don’t know if that’s my getting older, the way the film was made, or both. Regardless, I loved it too. I look forward to getting a DVD copy and hopefully watching it with my mom when I see her this summer (hope it’s out by then
).
I think it is a case of being clearer in the movie- I think that’s because the movie stripped the story bare of so many other thing- that’s not a criticism, it’s just the only way they could fit a story told in over a 1000 page into a 2 hour movie. Pip also tells me that there are some changes from the play/musical to the movie that were probably deliberately done to get that across even more. For example, she says in the musical, Lovely Ladies is, at least in part, played as comedic- like Master of the House. But the movie, I think, does it right and shows the despair among those ladies of the night that, by contrast, puts a spotlight on the grace Jean Val Jean offers Cossette’s mother when Javert would only offer Law.