Les Miserables
2000
Set against the background of the French Revolution and based on Victor Hugo's classic novel this is the story of Jean Valjean who is sent to prison for stealing a loaf of bread and is released after nineteen years. He meets and cares for a beautiful but poverty-stricken young girl named Fantine who has daughter Cosette. After .. Read more
| Starring | Gerard Depardieu, Christian Clavier, Virginie Ledoyen, John Malkovich |
|---|---|
| Director | Josee Dayan |
| Genres | Drama |
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Les Miserables
Set against the background of the French Revolution and based on Victor Hugo's classic novel this is the story of Jean Valjean who is sent to prison for stealing a loaf of bread and is released after nineteen years. He meets and cares for a beautiful but poverty-stricken young girl named Fantine who has daughter Cosette. After Fantine's death Valjean brings Cosette up but he is haunted by Javert - a policeman whose search for Valjean has become an obsession.
| Starring | Gerard Depardieu, Christian Clavier, Virginie Ledoyen, John Malkovich, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Enrico Lo Verso, Asia Argento |
|---|---|
| Director | Josee Dayan |
| Studio | ARROW FILMS |
| Run time | DVD: 2 hrs 52 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Drama |
| Language | DVD: English |
| Released | DVD: 20 Sep 2004 Production year: 2000 |
| Format | DVD |
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Most helpful member's review
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12 out of 12 people found this review helpful
It's Les Mis, captain, but not as we know it
If you have never read Les Miserables, this film is a good watch. The acting is - mostly - credible and the film creates a sense of dramatic pace from a very long novel spanning decades. Watch and enjoy - it's probably the best film version yet made.
That said, if you've read the book, or even heard the BBC radio series a few years ago, what a disappointment. This film misses the point of Hugo's masterpiece in so many ways that I am curious why so many other reviewers rate it so highly. I can understand why the screenwriters have to cut such a long work, but why invent scenes that don't develop the plot and, worse yet, create alternative threads and motivations for characters? Because they're afraid that modern viewers would not understand the social environment of 19th Century France? Or because it would be too complex? What a missed opportunity.
It's just too, too clean. The settings look great, until you remember that 'Les Miserables' concerns the real lives of the destitute, not only in the financial sense, but also in the political, moral and spiritual ones. For instance, the set of Valjean's heroic journey through the Paris sewers makes them look like a picnic compared to how Hugo describes them. Or Fauchelevent being crushed under the cart: Hugo has Valjean on his knees, almost on his stomach, in deep mud, under the cart as it sinks deeper and deeper. We get none of this, as the scene has been changed to a nice clean dry paved road and Depardieu calmly lifts the cart from one side. The symbolism is lost. By only hinting at the dismal dirt and decrepitude of every day life, we get no real sense of how hard it is to remain honest in this world.
To get around this lack, the film dwells only on Jean Valjean's struggle to do good in the face of Jabert's relentless hounding. What should be a heart-breaking tale of one man's fight against institutional oppression becomes another hum-drum police costume drama. -
Most recent members' review
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1 out of 1 person found this review helpful
Good, miserable tale
Although I've seen much better versions of this classic story, Gerard Depardieu does his very best with some poor direction and even poorer support actors, with the exception of John Malcavitch, who is superbly creepy and vindictive as a policeman with one mission in life - to hound down Jean Valjean
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vive la difference (165)
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Set against the background of the French Revolution and based on Victor Hugo's classic novel this is the story of Jean Valjean who is sent to prison for stealing a loaf of bread and is released after ... -