Les Misérables

[martindn]

Been to see the film today. It was wonderful, one of the best films I have ever seen I think. It brings out the horror of the French Revolution and the squalor of life in 19th century Paris. If you haven't seen it it is a must see. Nearly 3 hours long, but utterly compelling from start to finish.

Martin D

[stevemacdonald]

Has anyone ever wondered why they have an American actress putting on a fake British accent for a character who's supposedly French?

[martindn]

Well, she is a superb actress for sure. Not so convinced about her singing, she blubs her way through I Dreamed a Dream and perhaps that is to disguise her lack of singing ability. I prefer Hayley's much cleaner version any day. My favourite Hayley performance is I think the one from Proms in the Park last year.
But I guess English speaking audiences would prefer English language dialogue to subtitles. As for the Brit accent, isn't there a Shakespeare connection in there somewhere, with that girl's name. Of course, the Engish of Shakespeare's day is nothing like modern English. We might find French more understandable.

Martin D

[comet]

Feb 25, 2013 14:24:33 GMT stevemacdonald said:

Has anyone ever wondered why they have an American actress putting on a fake British accent for a character who's supposedly French?

Yep ! I would have picked someone who could really sing.

:wink: Would Susan Boyle have looked the part for Fantine

[Simba]

Martin I have to disagree, I think the way Anne sung it was intentional and not to disguise any inabilities, because she's a wonderful singer www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPPH-UzsAgM as seen by her wonderful singing in the movie Ella Enchanted with "Somebody to love"

And this nice live performance too www.youtube.com/watch?v=dh0ER-HM3HA

[susieverity]

Hi everyone,
I think Anne Hathaway has an ok voice, it's pleasant enough and by no means the worst in the whole film, but i do love Hayley's version and Sierra Boggess' version which is the one I have seen most recently on stage at the west end. Anne is a great actress and definitely got all the emotion out of the performance.

Susie

[comet]

Delighted and a little bit chuffed to see Samantha Barks on The Royal Variety Performance 2020 last night.

I was disgusted when the CD Soundtrack for Les Misérables was released and the Samantha Barks performances were completely omitted.

[comet]

I finally got the original 1980 French Cast version of Les Miserables on two LPs, spent two days struggling with a 45 year old turntable loosing the right channel, faulty wire or loose contacts in the pickup headshell. Recorded it all to my computer, wow sounds great.

Then I found out it was available on CD.

[Dave]

And on streaming - at 24 bit quality!

But doing what you did with that old turntable and LPs is far more satisfying than just clicking on a streaming button, I'll bet!