Wednesday, January 23, 2013

'Empty Chairs at Empty Tables', from the film soundtrack of Les Misérables

Dear students & readers of this blog,

Last Friday, while revising the past simple tense in class, we listened to a song. It was from the film Les Misérables, based on the famous West End and Broadway musical. Le Mis is currently the talk of the town, because it's on at the cinemas and especially, because it has a few oscar nominations.

The song is called 'Empty chairs at empty tables', and is sung by Marius Pomercy, played in the film by Brisith actor Eddie Redmayne.

The context of the song is as follows: Marius is a young revolutionary who is taking active part in the Revolution of the 1830s in Paris. He has fallen in love with a young woman he saw in the street, Cosette (Amanda Seyfried), but he is determined to fight with his comrades for freedom. Unfortunately, the revolution does not succeed, and Marius is the only one to survives, thanks to Cosette's father, Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman). Still recovering from his injuries, he goes back to the café where he met with his friends the night before the rising, and sings this deeply moving song. Enjoy!!

Sorry I couldn't find the video of him singing in the film!



Now, fill in the gaps:


Empty Chairs at Empty Tables
(from the musical Les Misérables)

MARIUS
There's a grief that ___________ be spoken.
There's a pain goes on and on.
Empty chairs at empty tables
Now my friends are ___________ and ___________.

Here they _____________ of revolution.
Here it __________ they __________ the flame.
Here they ____________ about `tomorrow'
And tomorrow never ____________.

From the table in the corner
They ___________ see a world reborn
And they ___________ with voices ringing
I __________ hear them now!
The very words that they had sung
____________ their last communion
On the lonely barricade at dawn.

Oh my friends, my friends ____________ me
That I live and you are _____________.
There's a grief that ___________ be ___________.
There's a pain goes on and on.

Phantom faces at the window.
Phantom shadows on the floor.
Empty chairs at empty tables
Where my friends will meet no more.

Oh my friends, my friends, don't ask me
What your sacrifice ___________ for
Empty chairs at empty tables
Where my friends will sing no more.

For the full lyrics, click here.

1 comment:

Conchi said...

Hi Leticia,
There was three moments in this movie that made me cry and this song was one of them. It was a really moving moment.
The part in which Fantine sings "I've dreamed a dream" is other touching moment for me.
And finally , when Jean Valjean passes away and Fantine comes to thanks him for all the efforts that he made to look after her daughter is another heartbreaking scene.
" And remember the Truth that once was spoken,to love another person is to see the face of God". It was striking good, I couldn't stop crying!!!