P R O D U C T I O N   N O T E S

This has got to be one of the most faithful productions I have yet seen. Of course the French are going to go by the book, but even more than the 1958 Jean Gabin version, this one has the most authentic feel about it. Filmed entirely in France, and on location where possible (including the Luxembourg Garden!) this four part television series so seriously outclasses the 2001 French miniseries that it's a shame they released that one to English speaking audiences and not this one. It's also presented in widescreen (yay!) which is of course perfect for subtitles (hint! hint!) and the detail and depth of understanding of the material is evident all the way through.

The director, Robert Hossein, is no stranger to Les Misérables. Not only is the the director that brought the original French musical to the stage at the Palais du Sport in 1980, but he even had a bit role in Claude Lelouche's 1995 movie version. Though he's hardly a household name in the US, he is very well known and respected in France both as a director and as an actor. He became best known, oddly enough, for his villainous roles.

As for the other details of the plot:

• Not much is missing from this version except for some minor characters, such as Mabeuf and the two little boys. And they even spend twenty minutes with the Bishop before really introducing Jean Valjean, which I thought was neat.



• Only minor tweaking of the plot occurs here. Fantine is already dead when Javert comes to arrest Valjean, and he of course escapes out the window. Cosette brings her doll away from Gorbeau house, and Valjean still has it when he dies. Thénardier calls Colonel Pontmercy a colonel from the outset, never mistaking him for a general. Cosette is already about eight years old when she is dropped off at the inn. But that's nothing to the little details that do get done right, like Thénardier's failure to recognize Jean Valjean in the sewer, or the beautiful montage during which Fantine becomes more and more hideous while Thénardier's voiceover reads his letters to her demanding more money. First her hair goes, then her teeth, finally she looks like the living dead.



• All the supporting characters fulfill their specific functions. Éponine does her stuff, Gavroche does his. Each student for the little screen time he gets is his own character, not just "Students, Generic, Assorted." Even when you don't know their names, you can guess who someone's supposed to be by their role. There are no added police buddies for Javert or friends of Marius we've never heard of before.



• The credits are all done in the Caslon Antique style, including the main title. Caslon Antique is "the musical's font." It made things interesting, although that's by no means the only thing borrowed from his staging of the musical two years before the making of this series... to whit:



• Gavroche sings the Voltaire song using the same tune as the musical (the English version being "Little People"). It's also credited to Boubil and Schonberg at the end of the series. No matter how many times and how many ways they cut that stupid song, it finds a new way to creep in...



• And this is weird: how come Thénardier gets top billing over Javert? What's up with that?

C A S T   N O T E S

Pretty much this entire cast is unknown to me. I tried looking them up on IMDB and other related sites hoping that some things these people did besides this series would ring a bell, but to no avail. Instead, for cast tidbits, please go look at some Stickies, that's the best I can do.

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• The attention to plot, detail, and overall adhesion to the book instead of trying to "re-engineer" it.



• The way Madame Magloire slams the soup plate down in front of Valjean. Just forceful enough to register displeasure, but not hard enough to be called on it.



• The bit with Marius asking his grandfather for permission to marry. M Gillenormand is eating, and as he rings a bell on his table a new dish is announced and served. He takes maybe three bites and then rings again, etc. His ringing becomes more agitated and more rapid as the meal goes on, regardless of whether or not Mlle Gillenormand is quite finished with hers--when the bell rings, the plates change. Later on when Thénardier comes to blackmail Marius, he and Cosette are eating in the same fashion. It's comical in a socially relevant way, you'll see what I mean.



• Montage for when Marius and Cosette meet in the garden at Rue Plumet, they remain perfectly still while the background changes from summer to autumn to winter to spring, with Marius's note to Cosette read in a voiceover.



• Believe it or not, the guy playing Javert is a dead ringer for my college French teacher, Raymond Lemieux. Uncanny! I know, nobody else cares, but it sure was weird...

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• The main theme is a slow oompah kind of song, like the kind in one of those boxes with a crank that have monkeys attached to them. In fact, there's just such a box in the Luxembourg where Marius first sees Cosette, and that music is being played... the rest of the score is very nice, but that song is just jarring.



• Montparnasse looks like Matt Damon. That's not a good look for him. Fantine, however, looks like Leslie Caron in "Gigi." Which may or may not be a good thing. Good for the looks, bad for the part (young girl being raised to be a rich man's future mistress)



• The supertitles are kinda screwy. The introduction says that this movie takes place between 1815 and 1830 (the insurrection takes place in 1832) and the final scene is titled "Autumn, 1838" (instead of 1833, presumably).


(1838? Heck, Valjean's in Canada by then! Oops, I mean... )


• Many of the characters are not introduced by name. If you're as familiar with the story as we are, and that France is, this is not a problem. But most characters are only identified in the credits. For example, you'd never know the chimney sweep in the first episode was named Petit Gervais, or that the sister is Simplice, without having already read the book. First time viewers will get mighty confused.

T H E  S I L V E R  C A N D L E S T I C K  A W A R D S   ( " STICKIES® " )

And the awards go to....

• Best Bookends: The film starts with a chain gang struggling through mud... Javert walks up to a particularly dirty convict and says, "Valjean, you are free." At the end of the film, as Cosette and Marius arrive, Valjean looks up into the crucifix above him and there's a flashback to the prison. Javert steps forward, but the Valjean is not the convict Valjean, he's the older (present) Valjean. And Javert says, "Valjean, now you are free." Cool!



• Best Example of Hiring In The Family So You Can Save Postage Mailing The Royalties Out: and no, it's not the fact that there's a Nicholas Hossein (director's son) in the acting credits and an Alain Hossein (director's father) in the music credits... it's the fact that Monseigneur Myriel is played by a Louis Seigner and Madame Thénardier is played by a Françoise Seigner. He is (was, rather, as he's deceased) her father. Now there's a relationship fanfic hasn't discovered yet... I hope...



• Soggiest Production: It's always raining. It's raining when Fantine leaves Cosette with the Thénardiers. It's raining when Marius is moping about Cosette. It's raining when Javert witnesses the mayor lift the cart. It's raining when Marius and Cosette end their romantic rendezvous. Etcetera, etcetera. It's a wonder everyone didn't catch their death on this production! (Oddly, though, there's no rain during the insurrection. You remember, the "rain swollen river" part? "Little fall of rain" and like that? Nope, none for you.)

W H E R E  T O  F I N D  T H I S  V E R S I O N

Alapage.com, a French site, says it has it. Blockbuster.com has it listed, but not for sale or order. Or check EBay. However you get it, it will be in straight French, no dub, no sub. Good luck!