CL GRANADA, S. L. C/ Puentezuelas, nº 32, 1ª Planta - 18002 Granada Teléf.: 958 53 52 53 – 958 52 12 91 Fax: 958 25 15 46 E-mail:
[email protected] Web: www.clgranada.com
Les Miserables: What makes people cry in films? By Lucy Wallis BBC News, Adapted by Cabell Venable
Instrucions: This Reading is cut into 2 different parts. Read the instructions for each part separately. A full answer sheet and uncut version of this article can be found at the end of all the exercises.
Part 1: Read the text below and fill in the Missing parts with answers A-H. Oscar-nominated Les Miserables has joined the pantheon of movies that make people cry. But what things make people blub in the cinema?
There was always a hint in the title that __1_________ . As a self-confessed Les Mis fan, there was always something that struck me about this musical based on Victor Hugo's 19th Century novel - I always cry at the same moments. But it is not just me. I started to notice others in the audience at the West End musical rustling for the tissues among the empty sweet wrappers in their pockets at the same time. In a non-scientific study I wanted to see if these "teardrop" moments also applied to the Oscar-nominated film, and so I went along to a screening of the movie with some fellow film-goers where our reactions were filmed using night-vision cameras. The musical has been seen by more than 60 million people worldwide. "__2_________," says psychologist Averil Leimon. The story - a tale of revolution, love, desperation and redemption - is set in post-revolutionary France and follows the lives of characters Jean Valjean, Fantine, Cosette, Marius and Eponine. __3_________. Fantine is betrayed by her fellow factory workers for having an illegitimate daughter and is dismissed into a life of despair. I feel frustrated for her. "Witnessing unfairness and injustice causes a stress reaction," says Leimon. "It springs from instinctual, evolutionarily determined responses at brain level rather than from logical assessment of the facts. __4_________" Fantine's hopeless struggle to protect her child is painful to watch and Leimon says that mothers in particular can be more likely to identify with Fantine's agony. "They are not so much thinking about the mother and child on screen but about the immense pain they would feel if in that situation themselves." There is no respite from the sorrow and in a desperate attempt to get money to support her daughter, Fantine sells her long hair. The moment it's cut off can be especially difficult for women to watch, says Leimon. "Hair is such a signifier of femininity. It has such an intimate connection with the individual that even though she chose this action, we perceive it as an invasion." Leimon says we often identify long hair with youth, so we perceive Fantine as ageing. __5_________For Anne Hathaway who plays the character onscreen, this moment was recognition that Fantine, who she says is a dreamer, has lost part of her soul. "When she says now life has killed the dream I dreamed there's no turning back," Hathaway says. "Once something's dead it's dead, and that is the moment for her when she gives up everything she knows about herself that she holds dear." __6_________ according to Mary Hammond, Sondheim Professor of Musical Theatre Vocal Studies at the Royal Academy of Music. Hammond was one of the vocal coaches who worked with the first cast of Les Miserables in London's West End.
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CL GRANADA, S. L. C/ Puentezuelas, nº 32, 1ª Planta - 18002 Granada Teléf.: 958 53 52 53 – 958 52 12 91 Fax: 958 25 15 46 E-mail:
[email protected] Web: www.clgranada.com
A
We cannot be comforted by any type of optimism and it is the music in particular that incites the sense of loss
B
It is only a short while into the film when the first tear-jerker moment arrives and the tears uncontrollably stream down my face
C
Les Miserables is known for causing people immense emotional response. So people go expecting to be moved and are prepared to let themselves go
D
Les Miserables a novel that was made into one of the greatest all time Broadway musicals has now hit the silver screen in yet another adaptation
E
There are so many moments in the film that cause pain and suffering for the spectator it’s a miracle everyone is not crying at one point or another.
F
Les Miserables could make you feel at times well miserable
H
Having been drawn into prostitution to raise money for her child, Fantine reflects on her broken dreams and the lover who left her in the song I Dreamed a Dream. Here for many people the full waterworks come on
G It is something so fundamental to us that we are outraged, even when we know that other people do not necessarily hold the same moral values as us
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CL GRANADA, S. L. C/ Puentezuelas, nº 32, 1ª Planta - 18002 Granada Teléf.: 958 53 52 53 – 958 52 12 91 Fax: 958 25 15 46 E-mail:
[email protected] Web: www.clgranada.com
PART 2: Multipule Matching. Choose the correct answer for A-D for the spaces below. "The way we produce the _1_______ in Les Miserables is not _2_______ -classical technique. We were exploring how your voice had to express what you were feeling. As I understand it the _4_______ characters all came out of acting _3_______ , so the original people that did it all developed those characters with the director." It is likely that everyone on some level might experience the _5_______ of what it feels like when life does not go to plan, as with Fantine's dreams, and it is the _6_______ between desired and actual experience, according to Leimon, that makes us so upset. With red eyes and not enough time _7_______ recover from this epic song, we move quickly on to the next teary moment - Fantine's death. As her path crosses with Valjean, he promises to look _8_______ her daughter, but in her delirium Fantine imagines her child Cosette is playing _9_______ her - a moment which brings on another flood of tears. A dying parent's goodbye _10_______ a child is a classic moment in a slew of tear-jerkers. Take the death of Emma, played by Debra Winger, in Terms of Endearment, as she says _11_______ to her two children. Fantine is so young. It's what makes the _12_______ of Jenny (Robin Wright) in Forrest Gump poignant for audiences. We are often protected from witnessing death in real life, says Leimon. Add to this the fact _13_______ major life events tend to happen _14_______ a period of years in real life, whereas in the cinema they are all condensed into a couple of hours, and it's easier to explain the "constantly heightened _15_______ state" of some viewers. Under Valjean's protection, Cosette grows _16_______ and falls in love with Marius, a revolutionary student who fights on the barricades for the rights of the poor in the _17_______ -monarchist Paris Uprising of 1832. But this is a heart-breaking love triangle and Eponine, Marius's friend, dripping wet in the rain, imagines what it must be like to be in a relationship with him in the song On my Own. Romantic entanglements can also _18_______ tears. "By the time we reach _19_______ we are geared to look for love. To find it but not have it returned is tragic," says Leimon. For Hammond, the song always _20_______ the feeling of wanting to escape from everyday life. It is this sense of escape that people can relate to. With no time to recover from our snivels, Eponine follows Marius to the barricades to fight alongside him, is shot and dies in his arms. It's on a _21_______ with the scene where Nicole Kidman's character Satine dies in Ewan McGregor's arms in Moulin Rouge. I am _22_______ exhausted, but then we come to it - the final and biggest teary-eyed scene in the film - the death of protagonist Jean Valjean. Haunted _23_______ his past, Valjean flees to a convent and in _24_______ dying moments sees the spirit of Fantine appear _25_______ him. "We have identified so intensely, seen more of that person and their emotions than we may have with our family and friends, that we have _26_______ circuited the process of bonding that would take a lot longer in real life," says Leimon. By the end of the film I was an emotional _27_______ , but I did not feel sad and maybe this is the eternal appeal of this production. Although it can tap into your most _28_______ anxieties and fears, you can still want to watch it all over again.
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CL GRANADA, S. L. C/ Puentezuelas, nº 32, 1ª Planta - 18002 Granada Teléf.: 958 53 52 53 – 958 52 12 91 Fax: 958 25 15 46 E-mail:
[email protected] Web: www.clgranada.com
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A
Voice Almost First Improve
Sadness Gap For Before Behind For Farwell Dyeing Which
Over Emotional Down Pro Show
Adulthood Materializes Track Feelings For His For Long Wreck Primal
B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B
Songs Near
Original Improvisation Sad Hole With For
Beside To Farewel Leaving
That Up Irritable
Up Con Make Adolescence Forms
Par Emotionally Since He In Short Crash Base
C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C
Voices Quasi Basic Inprovisation Sadlessness Wide On Out Beset From
Farewell Dead Where Under Mournful On
Anti Indicate Childhood
Invokes Take Physically By Him From Cut Dent Primeval
D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D
Score Quazi Complete Improbable Sadly Expanse
To After Near A Fairwell
Death Who For Sad Off None
Prompt Old age Make Sight Happily During Her To Integrate Woman Primordial
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CL GRANADA, S. L. C/ Puentezuelas, nº 32, 1ª Planta - 18002 Granada Teléf.: 958 53 52 53 – 958 52 12 91 Fax: 958 25 15 46 E-mail:
[email protected] Web: www.clgranada.com
ANSWERS: Oscar-nominated Les Miserables has joined the pantheon of movies that make people cry. But what things make people blub in the cinema?
There was always a hint in the title that 1FLes Miserables could make you feel at times - well miserable. As a self-confessed Les Mis fan, there was always something that struck me about this musical based on Victor Hugo's 19th Century novel - I always cry at the same moments. But it is not just me. I started to notice others in the audience at the West End musical rustling for the tissues among the empty sweet wrappers in their pockets at the same time. In a non-scientific study I wanted to see if these "teardrop" moments also applied to the Oscar-nominated film, and so I went along to a screening of the movie with some fellow film-goers where our reactions were filmed using night-vision cameras. The musical has been seen by more than 60 million people worldwide. "2CLes Miserables is known for causing people immense emotional response. So people go expecting to be moved and are prepared to let themselves go," says psychologist Averil Leimon. The story - a tale of revolution, love, desperation and redemption - is set in post-revolutionary France and follows the lives of characters Jean Valjean, Fantine, Cosette, Marius and Eponine. 3BIt is only a short while into the film when the first tear-jerker moment arrives and the tears uncontrollably stream down my face. Fantine is betrayed by her fellow factory workers for having an illegitimate daughter and is dismissed into a life of despair. I feel frustrated for her. "Witnessing unfairness and injustice causes a stress reaction," says Leimon. "It springs from instinctual, evolutionarily determined responses at brain level rather than from logical assessment of the facts. 4GIt is something so fundamental to us that we are outraged, even when we know that other people do not necessarily hold the same moral values as us." Fantine's hopeless struggle to protect her child is painful to watch and Leimon says that mothers in particular can be more likely to identify with Fantine's agony. "They are not so much thinking about the mother and child on screen but about the immense pain they would feel if in that situation themselves." There is no respite from the sorrow and in a desperate attempt to get money to support her daughter, Fantine sells her long hair. The moment it's cut off can be especially difficult for women to watch, says Leimon. "Hair is such a signifier of femininity. It has such an intimate connection with the individual that even though she chose this action, we perceive it as an invasion." Leimon says we often identify long hair with youth, so we perceive Fantine as ageing. 5HHaving been drawn into prostitution to raise money for her child, Fantine reflects on her broken dreams and the lover who left her in the song I Dreamed a Dream. Here for many people the full waterworks come on. For Anne Hathaway who plays the character onscreen, this moment was recognition that Fantine, who she says is a dreamer, has lost part of her soul. "When she says now life has killed the dream I dreamed there's no turning back," Hathaway says. "Once something's dead it's dead, and that is the moment for her when she gives up everything she knows about herself that she holds dear." 6AWe cannot be comforted by any type of optimism and it is the music in particular that incites the sense of loss according to Mary Hammond, Sondheim Professor of Musical Theatre Vocal Studies at the Royal Academy of Music. Hammond was one of the vocal coaches who worked with the first cast of Les Miserables in London's West End. "The way we produce the voices in Les Miserables is not quasi-classical technique. We were exploring how your voice had to express what you were feeling… As I understand it the original characters all came out of acting improvisation, so the original people that did it all developed those characters with the director." It is likely that everyone on some level might experience the sadness of what it feels like when life does not go to plan, as with Fantine's dreams, and it is the gap between desired and actual experience, according to Leimon, that makes us so upset. With red eyes and not enough time to recover from this epic song, we move
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CL GRANADA, S. L. C/ Puentezuelas, nº 32, 1ª Planta - 18002 Granada Teléf.: 958 53 52 53 – 958 52 12 91 Fax: 958 25 15 46 E-mail:
[email protected] Web: www.clgranada.com
quickly on to the next teary moment - Fantine's death. As her path crosses with Valjean, he promises to look after her daughter, but in her delirium Fantine imagines her child Cosette is playing beside her - a moment which brings on another flood of tears. A dying parent's goodbye to a child is a classic moment in a slew of tear-jerkers. Take the death of Emma, played by Debra Winger, in Terms of Endearment, as she says farewell to her two children. Fantine is so young. It's what makes the death of Jenny (Robin Wright) in Forrest Gump poignant for audiences. We are often protected from witnessing death in real life, says Leimon. Add to this the fact that major life events tend to happen over a period of years in real life, whereas in the cinema they are all condensed into a couple of hours, and it's easier to explain the "constantly heightened emotional state" of some viewers. Under Valjean's protection, Cosette grows up and falls in love with Marius, a revolutionary student who fights on the barricades for the rights of the poor in the anti-monarchist Paris Uprising of 1832. But this is a heart-breaking love triangle and Eponine, Marius's friend, dripping wet in the rain, imagines what it must be like to be in a relationship with him in the song On my Own. Romantic entanglements can also prompt tears. "By the time we reach adulthood we are geared to look for love. To find it but not have it returned is tragic," says Leimon. For Hammond, the song always invokes the feeling of wanting to escape from everyday life. It is this sense of escape that people can relate to. With no time to recover from our snivels, Eponine follows Marius to the barricades to fight alongside him, is shot and dies in his arms. It's on a par with the scene where Nicole Kidman's character Satine dies in Ewan McGregor's arms in Moulin Rouge. I am emotionally exhausted, but then we come to it - the final and biggest teary-eyed scene in the film - the death of protagonist Jean Valjean. Haunted by his past, Valjean flees to a convent and in his dying moments sees the spirit of Fantine appear to him. "We have identified so intensely, seen more of that person and their emotions than we may have with our family and friends, that we have short circuited the process of bonding that would take a lot longer in real life," says Leimon. By the end of the film I was an emotional wreck, but I did not feel sad and maybe this is the eternal appeal of this production. Although it can tap into your most primal anxieties and fears, you can still want to watch it all over again. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A
Voice Almost First Improve
Sadness Gap For Before Behind For Farwell Dyeing Which
Over Emotional Down Pro Show
Adulthood Materializes Track Feelings For His
B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B
Songs Near
Original Improvisation Sad Hole With For
Beside To Farewel Leaving
That Up Irritable
Up Con Make Adolescence Forms
Par Emotionally Since He
C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C
Voices Quasi Basic Inprovisation Sadlessness Wide On Out Beset From
Farewell Dead Where Under Mournful On
Anti Indicate Childhood
Invokes Take Physically By Him
D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D
Score Quazi Complete Improbable Sadly Expanse
To After Near A Fairwell
Death Who For Sad Off None
Prompt Old age Make Sight Happily During Her
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CL GRANADA, S. L. C/ Puentezuelas, nº 32, 1ª Planta - 18002 Granada Teléf.: 958 53 52 53 – 958 52 12 91 Fax: 958 25 15 46 E-mail:
[email protected] Web: www.clgranada.com
25 26 27 28
A A A A
For Long Wreck Primal
B B B B
In Short Crash Base
C C C C
From Cut Dent Primeval
D D D D
To Integrate Woman Primordial
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