♫ A Heart Full of Love ♫

The Girl and I got a sneak peek at the new film version of the brilliant Broadway musical Les Miserables.  It opened everywhere on Chirstmas day but we were lucky enough to see it on the 19th, thanks to Miss Melanie, a terrific PTA friend with superb connections.

It was marvelous.  I loved the musical stage version.  I have seen it twice by a professional touring Broadway company, and once by an outstanding high school cast locally.  I weep every time.  It is a beautiful story of repentance, forgiveness, redemption and love.  It is one of my favorite books, so the story has been familiar for a long time.  The music has been a favorite since the musical came out in the late 80s.  But putting it all together and in front of an unfurling 19th century Paris is a visual and auditory feast.

I had looked forward to seeing this preview showing almost as much as kids look forward to Christmas morning.  It did not disappoint.   I went through four tissues and two napkins.  Yep.  It was powerful.

Performance-wise, this was stunning.  Hugh Jackman plays Jean Valjean with gut wrenching emotion.  His face reads the emotion as you hear it through his voice.  Russell Crowe is the Police Inspector Javert and I didn't realize he could sing.  His take on the character was different from the previous versions I've heard, but it was emotionally true and gave him a deeper resonance.  Anne Hathaway played a beautiful and tortured Fantine with grit and focus.  Wow.  She really went there for that character's truth.  Stunning, and a little bit uncomfortable--as her character felt life slap her in the face over and over again.  Eddie Redmanye, who looked familiar--but have since realized he has been in several of the Masterpiece TV series over the years, just not the Jane Austen ones--played Marius in such a way that I finally "get" why Cosette falls for him.  In the other shows he always seems very shallow and wishy-washy, but this portrayal was strong and youthful and determined.  The Thenadiers are the general show-stealing pair because they get to be played so over the top, but Sasha Baron Cohen and Helena Bohnam-Carter were more subtly comedic--if those characters can be played that way.

The production let the actors sing the songs live--rather than prerecorded in a studio and then lip-synced on film.  What a difference that made!  Wow! There was an element of in-your-face raw emotion that you can't get any other way.  And you could feel the difference as they performed those beautiful songs.

I was thrilled to get to see this, and have already asked Genius Golfer to put the Blue Ray version of this on my Valentine's wishlist.  It is an inspiring story that echoes the understanding I already have of the atonement and redemption.  I can't recommend this enough.  But take some tissues with you.