These new clips will also be helpful for reminding awards voters about the ensemble nature of the film, highlighting the acting not just in soliloquy numbers like “I Dreamed a Dream” but in scenes like this one, “At the End of the Day.”
It’s set in a factory owned by Valjean, many years after he turned fugitive and used a surprisingly generous gift to establish himself in a new identity. The other women in the factory turn on the humble Fantine (Hathaway) and expose the fact that she is an unwed mother to their sexually-harassing foreman, who already has a grudge against Fantine because she rejects his advances.
This is a bad scene for Fantine, the beginning of a harrowing downfall for her. It’s also a good example of how the music fits into a scene that in a more traditional musical would just be spoken dialogue.
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