I’ve never really been one for musicals.  I don’t know if it’s the fact that I’m incompetent at interpreting stories when they are sung or the fact that I always spend the final part panicking that I might miss the last train to Bumpkinsville.  Either way, when I saw Les Miserables in London years ago, I was left with a feeling that I’d seen something amazing but I had no real idea what the story was.

The film has come to our local cinema and mum really wanted to go.  Dad refused on the grounds that last time he saw a film it was ‘too noisy, everyone mumbled’ and ‘it wasn’t funny enough’.  On that basis I offered to go with Mum to see Les Miserables, which we did last night.

If you’ve not been, even if you’re not much of a musical fan, I highly recommend it. Amazingly, I finally completely understand the story.  And after the first cinema wide giggle at Russell Crowe’s singing, I was totally absorbed.  (Poor Russell, it’s a bit like those X-factor contestants who are convinced by family and friends that they are better than anyone else and nobody tells them the truth.  At least he’s not quite that bad….).

I also recommend drinking a pint of water beforehand as there is a good chance you’ll lose that quantity in tears.  And take a box of tissues.  If you don’t use them all, you can make friends by handing them around – everyone (men included) was sobbing last night.  I blubbed like a complete baby.

Kleenex should have sponsored that film :o)

PS:  Maybe I should point out, I also cried at Nanny McPhee when I watched it for the first time this weekend.  Although that might have been due to the fact that I’d been likened to her by a friend and that’s enough to make anyone cry!

Nanny McPhee. Well I guess there are similarities…