WITH Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe starring and singing, and Tom Hooper directing, the highly anticipated “Les Misérables” is a bold sung-through adaptation of the massively popular stage musical that substitutes close-up intimacy and naturalism for theatrical scale and sheen.

    The approach could well divide audiences, with fans of the show and musical theater in general falling heavily for the full-on emotion and non-fans finding it all a bit confusing and over the top.

    The movie received eight Academy Award nominations Feb. 24 in the United States and won three. These were best supporting actress for Hathaway, best sound mixing and best makeup and hairstyling.

    “Gladiator” writer William Nicholson worked on the screenplay with original show creators Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schonberg and Herbert Kretzmer and the team jumps straight into the story of love, sacrifice and redemption set against the backdrop of 19th century France.

    In just a handful of pacey scenes, the film takes Jackman’s Jean Valjean from the brutal prison where he first encounters ruthless policeman Javert (Crowe) to his new life as a mayor and factory owner. Valjean’s encounter with prostitute Fantine (played by Anne Hathaway) leads him to adopt Fantine’s daughter Cosette.

    Pursued by Javert for breaking parole, Valjean goes to Paris with Cosette where they become involved with a group of students trying to lead the struggling citizens into rebellion.

    The film follows the stage show format of having the characters sing almost all their lines, but here the singing is more natural and speech-like than it could ever be on stage. The approach preserves the feel of a musical but offers little context to ease newcomers into the story.

    Hooper (best known, of course, as director of “The King’s Speech”) chose to have the actors singing live on camera rather than lip-synching to playback and the decision gives many scenes a real emotional force. In early scenes particularly, that force is underlined by shooting characters in close-up and often singing almost direct to camera. The effect is most dramatically felt during Hathaway’s anguished delivery of “I Dreamed a Dream,” one of the shows best-known songs.

    As the story goes on, scenes begin to open out and the songs become more elaborately staged. Another key number, “Master of the House,” allows Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter to provide comic relief as sleazy innkeepers. And love song “One Day More” is performed as a nicely staged ensemble piece.

    Among the individual actors, Jackman stands out for the force of his performance and the nuance of his singing. Crowe’s singing is less confident but his intensity mostly makes up for the lack of vocal range. Elsewhere in the cast, Amanda Seyfried (from “Mamma Mia!”) makes an appealing adult Cosette and Eddie Redmayne (from “My Week With Marilyn”) is strong as Cosette’s love interest Marius.

    The movie is now being screened in Shenzhen.

    (SD-Agencies)