Les Miserables director Tom Hooper’s first choice for the role of Jean Valjean was Hugh Jackman. His second choice? “Refer to number one.” Jackman is a rare find: a tenor who looks like he could lift very heavy things, as well as an actor who prefers the heightened medium of song to normal speech. Jackman flings himself into Valjean’s skin, becoming emaciated for the sake of Valjean’s first few scenes. His performance is raw and emotional. He carries the film, as he carries an enormous flagpole in the opening number, with vigor and determination. But by no means does he carry it alone; he has a flock of magnificent actors surrounding him.

As much as I love live theater, it is difficult to feel like part of the action, especially when you are exiled to the back of the mezzanine. The intimacy of solos and duets is lost in direct proportion to your distance from the stage. This film production of Les Miserables, through its close attention to detail and dazzling cinematography, successfully transported me to a tumultuous 19th century France and into the souls of the show’s wretched protagonists. During this film’s many solo numbers, the actors’ faces filled the entirety of the screen so that no shift of the eye or wrinkle of the brow could be missed. My heart never stopped churning the entire time: with horror and grief, with joy and laughter.

The casting was impeccable. Many Les Miserables fans gasped in horror as rumors that Taylor Swift might play Eponine emerged, but the part was instead given to Samantha Barks, a Hollywood newcomer who played Eponine in the West End production. Anne Hathaway was so incredible as Fantine that I forgot I had ever seen her on screen before. Her “I Dreamed a Dream” was heart-wrenching and intimate. It is unfortunate that her character dies so early in the story, but we do not miss her for long because soon Helena Bonham Carter is seducing and swindling men out of their money as Madame Thenardier, and the young Marius (Eddie Redmayne) and Cosette (Amanda Seyfried) are pouring their “Heart(s) Full of Love” through a wrought-iron gate.

Director Tom Hooper only saw the musical of Les Miserables for the first time two years ago, but he fell in love. He came to this production, remarkably only his third feature film, with a strong vision. Hooper resolved that he would, for the first time, film the singing live, instead of pre-recording. He refused to do it any other way. This made the musical, which is entirely in song, much more organic for the actors and viewers alike. Les Mis fanatics will notice an original song, “Suddenly,” by Claude-Michel Schönberg that fills in the gaps of Valjean and Cosette’s story. The song, although it has already won many awards, is not nearly as memorable as the rest of the score.

The epic film concludes with the equivalent of a curtain call: all of the dead characters revive for a triumphant reprise of “Do You Hear the People Sing?” This was a strong choice; without it, the audience would be left sunken and depressed by most of the characters’ miserable fates. Instead, the revolutionary spirit is revived for a final battle cry that leaves the audience in bittersweet awe.