Chris, Andrew and I saw Les Mis with the kids yesterday.
8 things.
1. Don't take your kids to see it. The beginning section with Fontine and prostitution is pretty confronting and inappropriate. Actually, the whole movie is pretty confronting. The kids are pulling me up on my double standards - why did I 'make' them see that when it is so much less suitable than other things that they'd like to see? Having said that, Nathan (aged almost 13) liked it a lot.
2. If you do take your kids, don't buy them extra large slurpies or give them paper bags full of snacks. Paper rustling and toilet breaks kill the mood.
3. The two lead guys weren't up to it vocally, but their acting was great. Some 'moments' that should of happened didn't happen - and I was waiting for them and was disappointed. But overall it still worked. I was moved. I felt stuff. I was a little teary at the end.
4. The women were excellent.
5. The death scenes and particularly the resurrection bit at the end were well done.
6. Marius was lovely. Of course.
7. The alto had her heart broken then she died.
8. The soprano got the man.
The alto won my heart.
ReplyDeleteChris said the same thing.
DeleteI feel for her.
Plus. She was the best singer by a mile.
DeleteMarius and his chick were cardboard cut outs.
I actually thought he did the puppy love scene really well. The characters are shallow at that point, but they moved on.
DeleteI first saw LM when I was about 8 - I expect it was the (non-musical) movie released that year. My parents took us to see it.
ReplyDeleteI thought the prostitution scene was entirely appropriate - it's what a lot of women were (and still are) driven to by poverty. To gloss over it would have done it injustice.
I love that grace triumphs over law - it's the big story; the counter-revolution is just the setting.
A flaw? The letter that Eponine carries from Cosette to Marius would be un-readable after she was soaked to the skin in that rain. And the camera focus was wrong in a few spots.