P R O D U C T I O N   N O T E S

This is the earliest attempt at a French television version of this story. There are two two-hour blocks of story involved, called Gorbeau House and St.-Denis. But wait, I hear you say, what about Montreuil-sur-Mer? What about Toulon? What about Digne? Well, they're there, but...

This story is told in almost the same manner as Homer's version of the Siege of Troy. Homer did not write it out linearly, from start to finish. He started from the middle and then went back and forth as the tale progressed. He would introduce a character and then go back to the history of him, and then come back to the story and it would continue. Many parts of Hugo's own work were constructed the same way. We are first introduced to Valjean, then once he is at the Bishop's, we learn his history. Then the story continues from there.

In the same way, this movie starts with Marius right before his father dies, introducing him and the Friends of the ABC in great detail and continuing on through his estrangement, his meeting with Cosette in the Luxembourg, and so on. It is only when Valjean realizes that Cosette is in love that we see an hour of flashback that covers the first half of the book up to that point. Then we go on from there. It's intriguing that we get introduced to Valjean in this way, only now that he crosses Marius's path. It's hard to imagine a version where basically Marius is the central character and Valjean is relegated to the position of featured costar, but this shift in focus does a few things that some other versions don't: it allows for a greater expansion on the themes of Hugo's obsession with the revolutionary spirit of the times, it focuses more on the younger cast members than (forgive me) the old fogeys, and it helps speed up the action. As interesting as Valjean is as a character, you can only watch him lift that cart so many times before it becomes blasé. Changing up the story flow tightened the drama and made for a fresh view on the whole thing.

As for the other details of the plot:

• Much of the first part of the book, since it is in a flashback, relies heavily on narration and characters explaining things. Necessarily, many things are absent from the pre-Marius story, such as the cart lifting, the convent, the first Gorbeau sequence, the doll scene, even the factory. Valjean does not get invited into the Bishop's house; he is chased into it by a crowd of angry citizens. And even after the flashbacks, anything with Valjean is shortened and the time given to the students. Valjean doesn't even get to confess to Marius, it's not even a flashback, it's casually mentioned by Marius when he's confronting Thénardier.



• However, the second Gorbeau incident is extremely detailed and mostly faithful to the book (Valjean's escape is somewhat less stealthy and a bit clownish), down to the names of the criminals. Likewise, the students all look as Hugo envisioned them, right down to the fact that amid all these students in their black frock coats, Feuilly is there in his laborer's smock and floppy hat. More on that later.



• It's neat to see certain things that you know are part of the book. Seeing Père Lachaise cemetery in the last moments was a cool ending, especially.

C A S T   N O T E S

• Bernard Fresson (Javert) played Victor Hugo (!) in a 2002 French TV movie about the struggle Hugo had to put on his first great play, Hérnani.



• Lucien Nat (M. Gillenormand) is an old veteran of Les Misérables on film. His second role was in the 1934 version, playing Montparnasse. This role, as Marius's grandfather, was his last film role.

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• One of the toughest things about this work, no matter how it's performed, is that there are so damn many students you can't keep track of them without a program book and some "hello, my name is" nametags. However, if you've read the book and you understand the personalities of the characters, they look like who they're supposed to be. Enjolras is no red-vest wearing blond, he portrays his bourgeoise upbringing in his bearing and his patriotism in his behavior. Anyone can play Grantaire as a drunkard, but this guy plays him as a person, torn between not caring and having to choose to care. Prouvaire looks eerily like another poet, Poe. Lesgles is very pleasant, as is Courfeyrac, and in the very first shot of Joly, just a reaction shot to him listening to Enjolras speak, you can almost see the thought balloon over his head to the effect that he could really use a cup of Theraflu.



• Gavroche and the boys! You betcha! And the Elephant! Of course, the boys vanish and are not heard from again. Would have been nice in that case to see the scene with the swans and the fountain to tie that up, but you can't have everything...



• Finally we get to see Cousin Théo do something but hold the furniture down. He's only on screen five minutes but he's every bit the pompous windbag stuck on himself that the book portrays him as. And with this we also get to see Mlle Gillenormand do, well, something! Woo hoo!



• A very small bit: when Valjean is leading Javert out of the barricade, there's a cannon shot explosion nearby, scattering them with dust and debris. The great thing is that when it hits, Valjean shields Javert from the fallout. It's a very tiny act, but it's perfect!

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• Because of the flashback thing, there are two ways to convey information that the viewer needs to know, assuming they don't know what's going on: narration, and exposition. The narrator does a credible job especially during the early part of the first episode, but by the end of the first half the narration has mostly given way to exposition, and not in a good way. The last thirty minutes of the first part comprises the second Gorbeau sequence, just the ambush part of it, and it seems to be running in real time as Thénardier plays Basil Exposition from the Austin Powers movies: he has Valjean at his mercy and seems to insist on talking him to death while Mrs. T goes off with "Urbain Fabre's" letter to Cosette. And in the second part, the narrator disappears, unless it's to tell us how noble the students' cause is.



• In the very beginning, before we're introduced to the students as people, we basically see students gather, meetings broken up, speeches made, a (very) obvious Javert spying on the meetings, guns being gathered, gun caches being siezed by the police, and so on. And all through this we see almost nothing but guys in bushy mustaches, painters smocks, and floppy hats. They look so, so, I dunno, 70's? Like James Taylor, or Epstein from Welcome Back, Kotter. But then, during the Gorbeau sequence, all the bad guys are in coats and ties. What the heck?



• Wow, talk about some short shrift for some characters. The only time we see Fantine at all is during her arrest sequence. Petit Gervais is mentioned, without name, as just another of Valjean's victims during a brief descriptive by Javert. The bishop at least gets a few more lines than that, but on the other hand, Cosette going to the well whining and babbling about how frightened she is got more screen time than he did! And dang, how can you cut the cart sequence? And how can you cut it in favor of, I kid you not, Gavroche skinny dipping in the river? On one hand yes, it's nice to see a lot about minor characters, but not at the expense of the main story!



• Along the same lines, the scatterbrained attention to detail. So much of the Valjean backstory is butchered and yet they managed to put the numbers 50-52 on Gorbeau House. Or the fact that after all this exactness, they have Javert disappear right after he and Valjean take Marius home. It's almost like the Valjean parts of the book are just dressing for the "important" barricade stuff. One might remember that this was in '72, and that student protests were still on everyone's mind as being an everyday thing, all over the world. Still, I know I've used this simile before, but it is a bit like remaking Moby Dick and barely mentioning the whale.



• And Valjean's sudden-head-jerk-back, instant rigor mortis death scene, after all the really nice stuff Valjean did in this version (what they let him do on camera, anyway) was a bad bad BAD way to end his part. Hell, Gavroche did better in the dying department.

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And the awards go to....

• Strangest Casting Shortcut AWARD Dominique Zardi is credited as both Montparnasse and Claquesous, and refers to himself as both in different parts of the film. Did I miss something here? Or couldn't they afford two separate actors?



• Coolest Luxembourg Sequence Ever AWARD: Marius, poor, hungry, is reading on a bench in the garden. He looks up, nothing special, people passing by, other people on the bench across the way. He goes back to reading. He glances up, and POW, there's these blue eyes looking back at him! Cosette turns away, a small smile on her face, as she speaks to Valjean seated next to her. She waits a moment, then looks back; Marius is still gawking at her. Suddenly she is walking towards him, and he stands up to meet with her as this operatic aria swells in the background. Their hands almost touch, and instantly he's in a much better suit and she's in white, with orange flowers in her hair, and they are arm in arm. Valjean watches them walk away, unnoticed by them, and the music cuts abruptly and Cosette is sitting next to Valjean and he says "let's go," but he has seen Marius looking at her, and he knows. And you can just see it seething under Valjean's surface that in that one tiny moment he has lost Cosette. Frickin' awesome.



• Most Matrushka Doll Plot Points AWARD: I've mentioned that there's flashbacks aplenty in here. But during the flashback to Montreuil-sur-mer, Valjean flashes back to a previous point where Javert attempts to resign in the wake of denouncing him before the prefect. I'm pretty sure that having a flashback inside of a flashback incurs a fifteen yard penalty with a loss of down.



• Cheapest And Most Obvious Set-Doubling-As-Metaphor AWARD: Every time Valjean moves on during the flashbacks, he goes up a large staircase. When he leaves the Bishop's house in transition to Montreuil-sur-mer, he goes up a huge staircase. He does the same on his way to Arras. When he gets Cosette, they go up together. Yes, we get it, he's elevating himself bit by bit. Would it have killed your budget to spring for some paint and plywood? (and heck, even Javert goes up and up, before he takes an awesome plunge off the bridge... the best yet, btw)



• Runner-up, Cheapest And Most Obvious Set-Doubling-As-Metaphor AWARD: there's an awful lot of façade images in here. The story starts with a montage of Parisian architecture and a long-winded narration about what goes on behind the façades, how the walls could speak of the history and soul of the nation, and so on. And after the students died, again with the façades! And yes, Valjean's façade as a respectable man... and so on... yep...

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This movie was available on video, French language only (no subtitles) but it is no longer in print. As with so many other versions, try eBay.