Shooting musicals based on historical novels impose a lot of complex elements that should as trained soldiers - lined up in a slender row of beauty, courage and grace.
This film is reminiscent of what is happening on the barricades shown in the film. A huge motley mass of flowers, furniture, dirt, songs and confined space. At times, the film turns into a combination of fiction and fantasy with a very deep stylization into the history of that period. This causes a response. The game of reality and the truth of feelings breaks off when a picture or scenery that is very inappropriate to the plot arises in the frame. Perhaps the use of styling intended to show that period without embellishment. As a result, artificiality is very clearly seen. Therefore, it is difficult to believe in the experiences of the heroes. An important point - director Tom Hooper constantly plays with close-ups. At times, scenes consist only of close-ups. It looked very good in The King's Speech, but how this technique is used in this dynamic musical destroys the integrity of these close-ups.
In this film, there is probably one best example - the innkeeper’s song about how he cleans his clients. Very mischievous, stylized story in the style of films Tim Burton. The rest of the little things do not allow to fully immersing themselves in the composition.