Why is the whole movie Les Miserables sung?
Every dialogue of the Movie Les Miserables is rhyming with the background music being played. I know it's a musical, so does that means every dialogue has to be sung?
Best Answer
No, it does not mean that all dialog is sung, have a look at Phantom of the Opera, Wicked, West Side Story, etc.
The reason that the movie has all dialog rhyming etc. (known as 'sung through') is because the West End musical that it is based on is sung through (although there are versions where Valjean speaks a normal line to Javert when he gives him his address but this is less usual).
How much of the musical is sung and how much is spoken is down to the taste of the director and his colleagues. Usually the main scenes and emotive moments are conveyed via song (like in Rock of Ages or the Phantom of the Opera) but sometimes everything is in song (like in Les Mis).
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Is Les Misérables film all singing?
Les Mis\xe9rables (the opera) is, well, an opera. Almost all dialogue is sung. This is why all dialogue is sung in the movie. If you don't like the singing, there are many movie versions which do not include or where not all dialogue is sung.Does Les Mis have spoken dialogue?
Les Mis\xe9rables is categorized as a "sung-through" musical. Unlike most musicals, which alternate between singing and spoken dialogue, sung-through musicals have very few spoken lines. If the spoken lines were eliminated altogether, it would be an operetta.Who did the singing in the movie Les Misérables?
Jackman (Jean Valjean) and Hathaway (Fantine) sang every take live in the film, which would go on to win three Oscars (including best supporting actress for Hathaway, while Jackman was nominated for best actor).What is the message of the movie Les Misérables?
Les Mis\xe9rables is a show about courage, love, heartbreak, passion, and the resilience of the human spirit\u2014themes which undoubtedly transcend time and place. Perhaps the most relevant themes, however, are related to the dignity of the human person.Why the Music in Les Misérables (2012) is Worse than you Thought
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Answer 2
It's historical
As noted by Alfred Cobban in "A History of Modern France" and Phillip Mansel in "Paris Between Empires", it was common in mid-19th-century France for people to sing rather than talk. To quote Mansel:
Despite the bitter cold, outbreaks of thyphus, and the appalling stench of the dead, which clogged the Seine as well as the streets, there was near-constant music in the city. What might now be called 'recetitive' or 'sprechgesang' was, in fact, a common mode of speech among Parisians, who subscribed to the idea that "Tout ce qui peut être dit, c'est mieux si elle est chantée" (whatever is said, is better if sung).
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