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| re: Revisiting the Les Miz film 8 years later; only a my 2nd viewing | |
| Posted by: mikem 02:03 pm EST 02/06/22 | |
| In reply to: Revisiting the Les Miz film 8 years later; only a my 2nd viewing - Delvino 09:13 am EST 02/06/22 | |
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| Delvino, I haven't seen the movie since it first came out. I don't remember the details of Hathaway's performance. Are you saying she was so overwrought that the melody of the song was lost? Hathaway is certainly a capable singer, and I don't remember her taking too many liberties with the melody, although I saw the film a long time ago. Or are you saying that she's starting at 11, and therefore there is nowhere for the song to go? | |
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| re: Revisiting the Les Miz film 8 years later; only a my 2nd viewing | |
| Posted by: Unhookthestars 02:17 pm EST 02/06/22 | |
| In reply to: re: Revisiting the Les Miz film 8 years later; only a my 2nd viewing - mikem 02:03 pm EST 02/06/22 | |
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| My memory of Hathaway’s performance — which I’ve only seen twice (in a movie theater and on streaming) 8 years ago —is that she essentially sobbed her way through the song, so much so that the melody and aria-like quality of “I Dreamed a Dream” was totally lost. I don’t blame her for that performance. As you said, she is perfectly capable of interpreting this song with the right mix of vulnerability, rawness, AND musicality. But Hooper clearly left THAT take on the cutting-room floor. | |
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| re: Revisiting the Les Miz film 8 years later; only a my 2nd viewing | |
| Last Edit: Delvino 07:49 pm EST 02/06/22 | |
| Posted by: Delvino 07:41 pm EST 02/06/22 | |
| In reply to: re: Revisiting the Les Miz film 8 years later; only a my 2nd viewing - Unhookthestars 02:17 pm EST 02/06/22 | |
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| It's decidedly late in the game to blame Hathaway -- which as you say, I didn't do -- but it's worth noting what several here point out: the song works just fine when the emotion is used in collaboration with one of the show's 3 signature melodies, not to defeat it. I saw the show early at the Barbican before it was anything close to event theater. The tickets were purchased for me by someone living in London, and full disclosure: I was only intrigued because of LuPone appearing with the RSC. But it was of course a knockout night, and one thing I remember is the way LuPone employed that instrument of hers in service of the song's pathos. If anything, the moment is Fantine's last stand against a cruel universe, a declaration of the tradeoffs she's had to make, realizing -- only at the end -- what they cost her. But Hathaway starts the number with her epiphanies realized, overwhelmed. To me, that's contrary to what musical theater offers: a chance for characters to sing what they can't say. Melody helps shape the incremental revelations; it's the means to an end, not an obstacle. Hooper seems to have less respect for that, or simply is more enthralled with presenting this woman's degradation than illustrating the fight still in her. As a result, her subsequent deathbed scene almost feels redundant, so emotionally redolent of the already-expressed defeat. Again, it's a director's medium, film, I don't hold the gifted singing actor responsible. |
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| in Ruthie Henshall's performance of the song | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 06:13 pm EST 02/09/22 | |
| In reply to: re: Revisiting the Les Miz film 8 years later; only a my 2nd viewing - Delvino 07:41 pm EST 02/06/22 | |
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| (which is my favorite), there's more effective communication of emotion, heartbreak and desperation in her "sooo different than this hell I'm living" and her soaring sensitive vocal than in all of Hathaway's messier "acting-driven" performance of it. I don't think Hathaway was not good, but I do agree with you. |
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| re: Revisiting the Les Miz film 8 years later; only a my 2nd viewing | |
| Last Edit: Unhookthestars 09:22 pm EST 02/06/22 | |
| Posted by: Unhookthestars 09:14 pm EST 02/06/22 | |
| In reply to: re: Revisiting the Les Miz film 8 years later; only a my 2nd viewing - Delvino 07:41 pm EST 02/06/22 | |
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| Delvino - I wasn’t lucky enough to see Lupone, but I couldn’t have said it any better. You’re right that where Hathaway started the song in the take chosen for the film left her with no emotional arc to her story. She has the skills to take us along on Fantine’s internal journey and break our hearts, but alas, that’s not what we got. | |
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