really close readings

Let’s Overanalyze This Les Miserables Set Footage!

The set photographs from Tom Hooper’s Les Miserables have been coming fast and thick for a few weeks now (here’s Valjean! Marius! Javert!), but today comes a special treat: actual video, featuring Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, the barricade, and real live singing. The quality isn’t even too bad! The footage appears to be from the finale (“Do You Hear the People Sing” is included in the musical twice, but Valjean and Fantine would only be present — as ghosts — for the reprise), and it spends a while in close-up on the two leads — meaning you can see just how rough the French Revolution is going to be for these two. You would think that Fantine might be awarded a nicer dress (or some hair) in heaven, but no. Anne Hathaway is gonna milk every ounce of this sad, drab role, it looks like. Meanwhile, that is quite a wig on Hugh Jackman! And those Taylor Swift Grammys barricade jokes were remarkably accurate. Okay, that’s all we’ve got. Opine away!

Let’s Overanalyze This Les Miz Set Footage!