I chose to analyze Anne Hathaway’s performance of “I Dreamed a Dream” in the film version of the musical Les Miserables. I think that Les Mis is an extraordinary musical and I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to see the show on Broadway two years ago. I thought that the actress who played Fantine did a great job and gave a beautiful rendition of the song. However, in the movie version of Les Mis, the actors were able to take advantage of the fact that they were on film and not on stage. Movie adaptations of musicals can certainly be interesting because actors and directors can utilize things such as close-ups that would not be possible on a stage.
Anne Hathaway gives a powerful performance of “I Dreamed a Dream” that is different from any of the other renditions I have seen or heard before. Because the audience is able to clearly see her face, she is able to express passionate emotion and have the audience see and process this more easily than if she were farther away on a stage. Her desperate weeping throughout the song adds a lot of emotion to an already sorrowful song. When examining the lyrics of “I Dreamed a Dream” it is clear that the song expresses a sad story. The lyrics express loss in Fantine’s life and a previous expectation for her life to be better than it is today. In Anne Hathaway’s performance, she emphasizes Fantine’s emotion through her shaking voice. I have not seen any other versions where the actress’s voice was shaking. This action really stresses how overwhelmed Fantine is with her current situation in life. She also chooses to highlight certain words of the song with emotion. When singing the line “they turn your dreams to shame”, she adds a lot of powerful emotion to the word “shame”. Her performance adds meaning to the song because it expresses that Fantine is extremely distraught and despairing. I found it interesting that she was able to focus on her facial expressions and and the steadiness of her voice while singing, and I was also very impressed that she was able to sing and cry at the same time. I thought she did a wonderful job adding a lot of passion and emphasizing the meaning of the song.