4. Fantine’s Fall
“…as they turn your dream to shame.”
Poor Fantine. All she wanted to do was dream a dream where life would be worth living. As the “bookends” to Les Miserables, Fantine’s character is of the utmost importance even though her role was so minimal in presence and of course screentime, but so much happens in those few precious moments when her character “fell from grace,” I couldn’t help but shed a few tears. In fact, this was where the tears started for me and this is where I laughed at myself for letting it happen.
Fantine starts off as an innocent character trying to support her child. Nothing is quite as heartwarming as a mother caring for her child and that hasn’t changed even to this day. When Fantine is kicked out and forced to live on the streets, it only got worse as you really felt horrible for her. Finally, when she resorted to prostitution to afford paying the Thenadiers for Cosette’s care, it was over for me and for everyone else. I mean what I’m going to say next in a very serious tone: since women are mostly sexualized in any sort of entertainment, Fantine’s fall was effective because she was at the lowest point of sex you could get. It wasn’t her character that made the tears fall, it was the idealization and the way Fantine fit so perfectly well.
Fantine says it the best. She had a dream her life would be so different from the hell she was living. The powerful performance by Anne Hathaway – which just might get her that Academy Award – was perfectly timed to enhance the audience’s vulnerability. And my oh my did it work.
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Published: Jan 11, 2013 02:47 am