#and actually years later valjean is kind to him again and it breaks javert

[lenievi]

maybe with more info it'll change but Javert>Valjean gets funnier with the way it goes in the book

like Javert saw Valjean when Javert was in his early 20s, then he became a policeman, and some 15 years later (when he’s around 40) he meets a guy, his instinct goes !!!! and he spends FIVE YEARS watching him and thinking about him and studying him and collecting info and trying to make him crack, but also three of those years were spent being extremely respectful towards Madeleine because he was his superior (not to mention Javert avoided him as much as he could in those three years), and all that time Madeleine is just kind to him and Javert's mind just goes: but convict? can't be? no? yes? no? but my instinct! but instinct is not infallible! convict? no?

and then Madeleine is not kind to him once and Javert gets petty and goes yeah, he's Jean Valjean after all

[shadowsong26x]

So over this past weekend, I watched a 1978 TV movie version of Les Miserables, because it is my current brainrot.

Overall, I liked it. It's a movie/adaptation that very much knows what it wants to be about. Admittedly, (at least based on AO3 stats) I don't know if it would super appeal to the majority of the modern fandom, but it definitely appealed to me.

(I say this because...well, the entire 1832 sequence is condensed to the last 35ish minutes; a solid chunk of that is Cosette and Marius making googly eyes at each other (also dedicating a couple minutes to including his grandfather because sure); the only one of the boys who is named, let alone Identifiable, is Enjolras and he's...frankly kind of underwhelming.)

But basically, this movie knows it wants to be about Valjean and Javert first and foremost, and since the two of them (and their [actual or potential] dynamic(s) with Cosette) are what I'm here for, I'm good with that. For example, we spend a solid 15-20 minutes in Toulon with the two of them and it is Great.

In terms of marks against it, I will say that I think Fantine in particular gets kind of shortchanged in this adaptation; also Thenardier never resurfaces in Paris, he's only in the one scene where Valjean acquires Cosette--like I said, the 1832 sequence is relatively short compared to most other adaptations I'm familiar with, so a lot of stuff gets cut out. The movie also ends with Marius and Cosette's wedding, which feels a little abrupt (like...it goes sewers -> Javert's death -> wedding -> roll credits). There are also a few bits of staging that didn't age super well and some facial hair that is. Very Seventies, but those are fairly minor things.

Again, overall, I liked it. It knows what it wants to be; what it wants to be appeals to me, personally, very much. There are some Good bits and some Eh bits, overall it's solid.

So with all of that, now I get to the reason why I'm making this post, and why I think you should watch it anyway, and that is Anthony Perkins as Javert. Because he is just. Fucking incredible.

Like. Cannot overstate how well this man understood the assignment.

A lot of it comes down to pretty subtle things--facial expressions; the way he looks at Valjean at different points in the storyline; the way (apart from two scenes) he's always pretty collected on the surface, even in moments when he's Clearly either Seething or Breaking underneath. (The final conversation in the sewer is just. His Entire Face.) (Also the moment where he first spots Valjean again in 1832; doesn't recognize him at first; the wheels are Visibly turning in his head and then he goes oh my god what the fuck. It's a Delight.) (And of course, the 'I fucked up and denounced you unfairly, you should punish me' scene is. Again, holding himself together on the surface but Breaking underneath and. Especially in contrast to the next scene/the confrontation at Fantine's deathbed which is one of the two scenes where he is Not particularly collected.) (And then there's that one Really Awkward Carriage Ride shortly after.)

I was going to get screencaps of some of these and. It doesn't. It doesn't really convey the full effect if he's not in motion, alas.

Essentially, the movie is fully leaning into him as a deuteragonist and I am Here For It.

(Full disclosure, I do ship them, and. This movie supports that. There's. There's a lot of staring. One might even say Gazing.)

Anyway, the whole thing is on YouTube and I highly recommend watching it, if only for Anthony Perkins as Javert.

((I have also discovered that the 2012 film of the musical is available on Netflix; so that's probably what I'm going to do next weekend after I move. I haven't seen it since it was in theatres, and my recollection is that, while there were definitely some Choices that didn't work out, overall it got a lot more flak than it deserved. We'll see if I feel the same way now, 10 and a half years later, lol.))

((I am not currently planning to watch the 1998 film, even if I can find it, because...look, I want to want to watch it, but I remember how it ends and I have Serious Issues With That. And I feel like, if the movie so fundamentally misunderstands its protagonist at that point, I don't have super high hopes for the rest. Which is a Shame, because, like...it's Liam Neeson and Geoffrey Rush; Uma Thurman and Claire Danes; like. You Cannot Go Wrong With This Cast And Yet.))

[meta-squash]

Brick Club 1.8.3 “Javert Satisfied”

I know this is technically a “good thing” since otherwise Valjean’s testimony would be for nought, but everyone except the prosecuting attorney agrees that Valjean is the real Valjean. I guess some part of me would expect for everyone to still think that Madeleine had gone crazy, or to somehow still be affected by the respect and veneration for Madeleine as mayor. But that’s not the case, and pretty much everyone believes that Madeleine really is Valjean.

Quick note that the lawyers also try to pull in all sorts of nitpicky bullshit to try and get Champmathieu indicted anyway, which courts still do today.

“This sentence, containing a great many ‘of’s, is the prosecuting attorney’s, written by his own hand, on the minutes of his report to the attorney general.” Maybe I’m wrong, but I feel like the comment on all the “of’s” goes hand in hand with the earlier critique of the provincial language of the courts.

“...although the judge was a kind man and quite intelligent, he was at the same time a strong, almost zealous royalist, and had been shocked when the mayor of Montreuil-sur-Mer, in speaking of the landing at Cannes, had said “the Emperor” instead of “Buonaparte.” A supposedly impartial person whose impartiality is a requirement for him to do his job well, actually be affected by his personal opinions and biases. I mean, that hasn’t changed in 150 years, that’s for sure. *cough Amy Coney Barrett cough* But it’s such a tiny little thing. Would the order of arrest be granted so quickly if the judge hadn’t caught that little honorific slip-up? It’s also just an example of the kind of knife-edge that things like someone’s life sits upon when in the hands of the courts. This is probably not the first case where a tiny, unrelated detail like that weighted the balance between life and death or freedom and prison for someone in this court.

Okay I don’t know anything about couriers and letter-sending and doing things quickly. If this is an official letter sent by courier, would that be one person riding horseback, without a carriage? Surely that would be faster than a horse pulling a vehicle? Especially since the deliberation went on for a little while after Valjean left the courthouse, and then the judge went in with the prosecutor, and then the letter was written and sent, but it got to Javert in M-sur-M soon enough that Valjean only had time to send his letter to Lafitte and briefly see Fantine. I’m just trying to figure out the timing of all of this.

“The buckle of his leather collar, instead of being at the back of his neck, was under his left ear. This denoted extraordinary agitation...For his collar buckle to be awry, he must have just had one of those shocks that could be called inner earthquakes.” I know the descriptions of Javert a few paragraphs later as being overjoyed means that this “agitation” is most likely shocked excitement, but I don’t know, something about this description is so weird to me. It’s the “inner earthquake” line, I think. That feels a lot more “negative” than excitement. Javert’s entire world has been shaken by this information. Perhaps it’s because this is so big. Really, it gets treated with such flippancy within the narrative, but a respected, well-known, charitable member of society in a mayoral position ends up being a wanted convict, and Javert was not only right about it, but right about it twice. That’s big for Javert himself, but it’s also big in general because it’s probably the first time Javert has ever uncovered something like this and been right about it and then told he was wrong and then proven right again. Plus the fact that he was hiding his convict identity the whole time while being a high-ranking, well-loved, leader of the community. Like, a “criminal” government official isn’t just corrupt in the usual way, he was fully a convict the whole time with a hidden identity and everything. It must be mind-blowing for him. And it’s interesting, Valjean is the only one who’s able to deliver multiple earthquake-status blows to Javert’s world throughout the book. (Valvert shippers, I’m starting to understand your perspective a lot more in this read-through than my last two.)

“...Javert turned the knob, pushed the door open as gently as a nurse or a police spy...” What an odd comparison to make. Nurse or police spy? Those are two incredibly disparate professions with totally disparate morals. Nurse implies a calm gentleness, a gentleness that is maybe nurturing or healing or at least positive in some sense. Police spy implies a much more cautious gentleness, one whose purpose is sneaky and definitely not positive towards those behind the door. How is Javert both a nurse and a spy? Unless he’s Harold Shipman, I’m not sure what to make of the connection to the nursing profession.

“Properly speaking, he did not enter. He remained standing in the half-open doorway, his hat on his head, his left hand in his overcoat, which was buttoned to his chin. In the bend of his elbow could be seen the leaden head of his enormous cane, which disappeared behind him.” Okay So this paragraph in context with the chapters before and after it are really interesting. He doesn’t enter the room at first, just stands in the doorway. He only enters the room after both Fantine and Valjean have noticed him. I’m sure there’s a good horror movie example out there, but it’s like he’s not allowed to enter until he’s noticed. Like he’s not allowed to exist for others until they see him. Does that even make sense?

“There is no human feeling that can ever be so appalling as joy. It was the face of the devil who has just regained his victim.” Man, I like the Hapgood translation of that second sentence so much better: “It was the visage of a demon who has just found his damned soul.” Like, it’s not Javert who has singularly persecuted Valjean (I mean it is, but not really), Valjean isn’t Javert’s victim. Valjean is persecuted by society, Javert is just there to collect someone already marked. He’s not the only one doing the marking. So I like the symbolism of a demon collecting a damned soul.

“Javert’s satisfaction radiated from his commanding attitude. The deformity of triumph spread across his narrow forehead. It was the full quotient of horror that only a gratified face can display.” I love this chapter for its bizarre contrast of ugliness and grandeur. Everything Javert does in this chapter is this gross, twisted version of divine justice. His joy, which should be a beautiful and pure emotion, is perverted by its circumstance. And the description of how scary a satisfied face can be is so good because it’s so viscerally descriptive. You see that exact face on every video of a cop being a racist, condescending, sanctimonious, power-hungry cunt to people on the street. That face of “I’m better than you and I have power over you and there’s nothing you can do about it so ha ha I win.” It’s more evil than antagonists who know they’re evil because Javert fully thinks that his actions and thoughts are right. And Hugo points it out here. Triumph and glee for the wrong reasons doesn’t make a person beautiful, it deforms them.

I actually love the description of how joyful Javert is because it’s clear that this is personal for him. When he arrested Fantine and sat down at his desk to write out her sentence as a one man judge-jury-executioner, he wasn’t gleeful like this. He wasn’t sad about it, he just was. He was doing a duty and Hugo even says that he was very thoughtful about it and spent time cataloguing what he saw in order to decide what to do. This isn’t the same type of detached judgement and condemnation. This is fully personal glee at being able to be vindicated.

“At that moment Javert was in heaven. Without a clear notion of his own feelings, yet with a confused intuition of his need and his success, he, Javert, personified justice, light, and truth, in their celestial function as destroyers of evil. He was surrounded and supported by infinite depths of authority, reason, precedent, legal conscience, the vengeance of the law, all the stars in the firmament; he protected order, he hurled forth the thunder of the law, he avenged society, he lent aid to the absolute; he stood erect in a halo of glory; there was in his victory a trace of defiance and combat; standing haughty and resplendent, he displayed in full glory the superhuman beastiality of a ferocious archangel; the fearful shadow of the deed he was accomplishing, making visible in his clenched fist the uncertain flashes of the social sword; happy and indignant, he had gnashed his heel on crime, vice, rebellion, perdition, and hell, he was radiant, exterminating, smiling; there was an incontestable grandeur in this monstrous St. Michael.”

I have multiple things to say about this passage so I think I’m going to break it all down into different paragraphs because there’s A Lot of different things in my brain.

First of all this is an echo--this time righteous and vindicated--of Javert’s feelings from 1.5.13. Madeleine lets Fantine go and Javert has this thought: “Or, in view of the enormities he had witnessed over the last two hours, was he saying to himself that he had to resort to extreme measures, that the lesser had to make itself greater, for the detective to turn into a magistrates, the policeman become a judge, and that in this shocking turnabout, order, law, morality, government, society itself, were personified in him, Javert?” In 1.5.13, Madeleine’s authority overruled him, protected Fantine and humiliated Javert. In 1.5.13, he is forced to accept defeat. Now, he has all of the authority, all of law and reason and justice behind him because Madeleine no longer has that same power. Javert is again the personification of justice, law, society itself, but there is not Divine Authority to stand up for Valjean as there was for Fantine. Javert is vindicated here for his earlier humiliation, with all levels authority backing him up this time.

“Without a clear notion of his own feelings, yet with a confused intuition of his need and his success, he, Javert, personified justice, light, and truth, in their celestial function as destroyers of evil.” Okay hold on wait. In 1.5.13, Javert has a moment of nearly breaking the fourth wall, nearly deciding that he needs to become a Symbol in order to restore the balance of authority and justice that he feels Madeleine has knocked askew. He is very much aware of his potential to personify Law and Justice etc. But here Hugo says that he does all of this with “confused intuition” and without a clear idea of how he feels. Interesting that when he is conscious of being able to become a symbol, he is prevented from doing so, but when he actually becomes a symbol, he’s unaware of it. Also, here’s another moment of Javert clearly Feeling Something but not fully understanding it, again a thing that only Valjean seems to provoke in him. (Oop more Valvert fodder.)

I don’t really know what to make of the superiority complex that Hugo describes here. Obviously Javert thinks that he is righteous and that he is doing a Great And Grand thing and that he is avenging society by ridding it of the scourge of the evil deceiver convict Jean Valjean. But the way Javert’s righteousness is describes feels like almost more of a “nanny-nanny-boo-boo” feeling. Is your righteousness truly righteous if you’re feeling personal satisfaction and personal superiority about it?

Javert is literally the Angel Of Death here! I know in my last post I talked about Javert as the grim reaper entering the room. His comparison to St Michael confirms this. Michael is a seraph, which are winged celestial beings with a fiery passion for doing God's good work (which is interesting to me considering how much Valjean’s symbolism is associated with fire). In Roman Catholicism Michael is the Angel Of Death who descends and gives the person the chance to redeem themselves before dying. He is also the one who will weigh people’s merits on Judgement Day. Except! Javert is Michael without mercy or patience! He judges without allowing a chance for redemption. We saw this in 1.5.13 when he sat down and wrote out Fantine’s sentence while she simultaneously explained her situation and begged for mercy. We see it now. Javert as St Michael is “monstrous,” he is the St Michael that defeated Satan, not the healing protector Michael. We even have the sword imagery. Michael used the sword to best Satan in battle; except this time the sword is “social” and to Javert at this moment, Valjean is the personification of Crime-As-Satan.

(Side note: something I love about Javert is that he as a human being isn’t really portrayed as an avidly religious person, at least not in the ways that Valjean or the bishop are portrayed as religious people. But his symbolism sure is religious. I think that’s one of the drastic differences between book Javert and stage Javert. Stage Javert is portrayed as a religious person but his symbolism is more human.)

“Probity, sincerity, candor, conviction, the idea of duty, are things that, when in error, can turn hideous, but--even though hideous--remain great: their majesty, peculiar to the human conscience, persists in horror. They are virtues with a single vice--error.” Hugo’s thought about duty done in error is so interesting. He says something similar when talking about Problem of the monastery: “To mistake a grave error for a duty has a grandeur of its own.” For Hugo, the fact of having such strong conviction alone is a grand thing. Having conviction, having a sense of duty is always a good thing--the error is not in the sense of duty itself but in what that allegiance might be to. The virtues of duty or honesty or conviction are by themselves inherently good, but they can be misused and misinterpreted and made wrong.

(Side note: This is actually a really interesting thought re: Grantaire! Hugo holds not just having beliefs but having faith in and conviction about your beliefs in such high regard. Which makes Grantaire, who is conviction-less and faithless, in the midst of all these people who are so loyal and committed to their beliefs and ideals, not a mild contrast but a massive one.)

“Without suspecting it, Javert, in his dreadful happiness, was pitiful, like every ignorant man in triumph. Nothing could be more poignant and terrible than this face, which revealed what might be called the evil of good.” God I love this line. “The evil of good” is a concept that really, really, really needs to be common usage. I feel like this line specifically really needs some in depth analysis but also I don’t really know what to say about it except that it’s just so true. Regarding Javert being “pitiful” in his happiness, this kind of reminds me of Mme Victurnien? Both think they’re doing a “good thing” and their deeds ruin lives; their triumph and feelings of righteousness are pitiful for this reason. Again, it’s the equivalent of a “ha ha I win” bully moment, but with much worse consequences. Man, I feel like this chunk needs more analysis than this but I don’t know what to give it.

[coolrobotsupremacist]

Modern Les Mis AU this. Modern Les Mis AU that. Star Wars Les Mis AU when

!!!!!!!!! Not soon enough

The scales have fallen from my eyes, my whole world changed in just one flash of light, Star Wars is the logical place to go for a les mis AU and I can't believe I didn't see it before now. The existence of destiny, the importance and possibility of redemption, heroic doomed rebels, DEmOCraCy.

Weird mix of headcanons and plot? Below.

Jean Valjean as a kind young Jedi trying to keep order in the galaxy even as the Clone Wars escalate. He works himself to the home because he knows that in addition to defending the republic he is also keeping the galaxy safe for his family though he hasn't seen them since he was a child. Order 66 happens and he flees back to his family but is devastated to find them missing, presumed dead. The trauma of war was for nothing and he flees, falling to the darkside and living as an outlaw from both the newly formed Empire. A massive bounty on his head because he's one of the last Jedi known to be alive. Valjean gives into his worst impulses and lives from day to day doing whatever he needs to do to survive and evade the Empire. He stops thinking about the innocent people who might get hurt along the way until one day he comes across a Jedi temple and out pops Myriel.

Big redemption time.

Myriel fixes him up with a new identity and valjean sets out again a slightly less broken man.

Javert is a Bounty Hunter who, unlike most other bounty hunters, refuses to deal with criminals and only chases bounties put out by the Empire. He wears what looks suspiciously like a reclaimed Stormtrooper armour and everyone is too afraid to ask( isn't the point of this job that we DON'T have to wear uniforms)

Fantine meets Tholomyès on Coruscant and when he abandons her she decides to go off world to find work and a new, safe home for her and Cosette.

Cosette is kidnapped by the Thenardiers who are at the height of their power and influence as a family that controls a fleet of pirate spaceships and are on the lookout for force sensitive children to mould into a private army of force users. Fantine, desperate to get her back, turns to the most dangerous and lucrative profession she can find and becomes a bounty hunter in order to raise enough money to hire a team of mercenaries to save Cosette. She ends up teaming up for a bounty with Javert, who wants her help infiltrating a mining station because he suspects something fishy is going on as it's not turning the profit it should be, this just turns out to be its workers being paid a fair wage but Javert is vindicated because, gasp, guess who owns the station?

Hijinks ensue but Valjean eventually agrees to be taken in because he hears why Fantine needs the money and as he's already been exposed as an outlaw he knows he can't do any more good at the station. Fantine shoves Javert down a rubbish shoot and brings in Valjean herself, taking all of the bounty. Then she immediately breaks him out again and they go and rescue Cosette.

Cool battle ensues pew pew pew smash SMASH BOOM. They rescue most of the children and find them good homes all over the galaxy then flee with Cosette to one of the few Jedi temples left. Knowing Star Wars that temple is probably on a desert planet. Thenardiers pirate empire is essentially crippled and he is left with only a few of his child soldiers. He swears vengeance.

Years later Marius is a Prince of a planet with a suitably keysmashy name Snarfan-5? Snarfan-5. With his grandfather as regent Marius trusts that the right thing to do is agree to the demands of the Empire, until he finds out that his Father was a Mandalorian who didn't abandon him but was killed when the Empire attempted genocide in all the Mandalorians. Marius buys a helmet which he vows to never take off until he restores Madalore to its former glory, and starts to reclaim his roots which he's fairly sure have something to do with being good at fighting? He'll figure it out as he goes. Hopefully he can find this Thenardier guy who once saved his father's life.

Then he runs away to join the rebellion.

Enjolras was a Padawan before the republic fell who escaped Order 66, he never got to finish his training and accepts that the Jedi Order had a lot wrong with it but that didnt stop him from internalising all that stuff about the only acceptable love being vague love for people as a whole. He only used his force abilities when absolutely necessary: he considers it an unfair advantage.

Combeferre is fascinated by the force as it's both a proven scientific phenomena and a religion? Wild. When he was a child he wanted to work as a diplomat travelling from planet to planet, solving problems peacefully. Part of him hopes that if enough systems band together, they can force the Empire to yield peacefully.

Coufeyrac doesn't need the force to let you feel the love hes primarily a pilot and picks up Marius on a supply run. Not in the least bit force sensitive, cheerfully so.

Feuilly used to work in a workshop that made cybernetic limbs. He taught himself how to use the force without really understanding until later how unheard of it was. His long-term goal is to rebuild the Jedi without all the toxic feeling repression. He's most fluent in droid because he grew up around them and he really hates how people often treat droids as expendable machinery.

Prouvaire knows about force ghosts, we all know what he's doing with his time.

Joly has taken 345 vaccines for diseases which aren't transmissible to humans but better to be safe than sorry, right? He's always excited to go to a new planet because it means he can research local diseases/medicine.

Bossuet has been accidentally shoved out of 345 airlocks.

Grantaire is technically a darksider. He was a Padawan at the same time as Enjolras but struggles to live by the Jedi code, and was pretty easily seduced to the dark side as a result but he made an even worse Sith than he did a Jedi because he couldn't jam with the cruelty and sadism. Upon realising that the Sith were actually philosophically evil instead of just really liking the aesthetic he sort of sheepishly slips out the back door. The lesson he took from this is that there is no right way to wield power: you either become ineffectual monks or megalomaniac sadists so the only option is to give up. He eventually nominally joins the resistance and he keeps having horrible force visions about all his friends dying which he trys to drown out with copious amounts of alcohol(it never works). 

Bahorel is a Wookie. I don't think that requires further explanation.

Marius settles in with them although he learns to keep his mouth shut about the glorious old days of the Mandalorian empire.

Thenardier tried to train his few remaining child soldiers by throwing sharp objects at them. Long story short Eponine still can't use the force and only has one ear but she is very good at dodging things. Gavroche escaped on his own and is basically a 13 year old Han Solo. He stole a novelty yacht in the shape of an elephant, despite this hugely distinctive ship he has never been gotten close to bring caught. Has close ties with the resistance.

Cosette is taught at Fantines insistence how to use the force and blast people to hell and back, she learns these skills pretty well but more importantly Cosette is given more love that any one person needs so she grows up to be exactly as kind and loving as she is in canon. Valjean is secretly delighted to have a Padawan but also scared that he's going to pass his icky Sith germs onto Cosette. Blasters are Fantines speciality; she teaches Cosette to shoot first. They are eventually honest about their pasts with Cosette, mostly because it would be dangerous not to be. Cosette makes the decision to leave dispute the danger not wanting to live in hiding for the rest of her life.

There's a prophesy about a chosen one and everyone keeps mistakenly assigning it to Enjolras but it's very very clearly about Cosette

[bbclesmis]

David Oyelowo: ‘We had an illegal amount of fun doing Spooks. We all stay in touch’

The star of the BBC’s new Les Misérables adaptation on colour-blind casting, his love for his breakthrough show, and how playdates with Angelina Jolie’s children influenced his new film

David Oyelowo, 42, was born in Oxford to Nigerian parents and graduated from Lamda. He became the first black actor to portray an English monarch for the RSC and got his screen break in the BBC spy drama Spooks. Now based in LA with his family, he was nominated for a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Martin Luther King Jr in Selma. This Christmas, he stars as Javert in the BBC’s six-part adaptation of Les Misérables.

Were you a fan of Les Misérables? My only relationship with the story had been the film, so when I was approached about Javert, my mind went to a boo-hiss villain. I was initially trepidatious about playing that kind of one-dimensional character over six hours of television, but that concern was quickly alleviated by reading Andrew Davies’s adaptation, which is much more layered. Then when I read Victor Hugo’s book, I was bowled over by how well Andrew had captured it.

That’s exactly how I see it and that’s certainly alluded to in the novel. In some ways, Valjean represents what Javert could have been. Javert was born in prison to criminals but has chosen the opposite path. You can argue there’s an element of self-hatred there.

In your version, there’s also some beard rivalry between them. Well, yeah. And Javert seems obsessed with how strong Valjean is. I feel like they had an arm wrestle at some point and Valjean won.

How was it working with Dominic West, who plays Valjean? We’re both ambassadors for the Prince’s Trust so we’d met before, mostly at Buckingham Palace. So it was completely antithetical to meet again amid the mud, blood and sweat of the prison hulks. Dominic’s a phenomenal choice for the role and a great guy. You have to like and trust each other to be that nasty. We spend a lot of time glowering at each other but there are many outtakes of us cracking into giggles.

It’s a dramatic version, not a musical one, but could you burst into song if you had to? I like a good warble. I’ve done musicals in the past and intend to do them in future. But here I hope viewers get swept away by the epic storytelling, rather than missing the tunes.

Might people criticise the colour-blind casting as “typical BBC political correctness”? You can’t please everyone. Some people will applaud the way we’ve chosen to tell the story. Everyone else can go and read the book.

You get to wear a lot of period hats, too. There’s a whole bunch of hat work. I was nervous about the Napoleonic one I wear in the later episodes. That’s a difficult hat to pull off. A bit like wearing one of those paper boats you’d make at primary school.

You’ve just finished shooting a film called Come Away. Tell us about that.

There’s more hat-work in that, actually. I had a very period summer – parked myself in the 19th century and stayed there. It’s a reimagined origin story of Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan, with them conceived as brother and sister. Angelina Jolie and I play their parents. We suffer a tragedy and our children use their rich imaginations to try and pull us out of despair.

Weren’t you already friends with Angelina Jolie via children’s playdates? She’s got six kids, I’ve got four, and they’ve got together in the past to wreak havoc. I’m a producer on Come Away and really had seen Angie mostly as a mother because that had been my interaction with her. I asked her if she’d like to do it and she relished the prospect. She’d never actually played a mother who interacts with her children on screen before. We had a blast.

You starred in crime caper Gringo earlier this year. Apparently you made co-star Charlize Theron pee herself? That’s going to be my claim to fame. I’ve never actually seen that happen before – someone literally pee themselves from laughing. It was extraordinary. Lovely Charlize. I’m sure she’s very happy we’re discussing this!

You’re British-American-African. Which is worse from your viewpoint, Brexit or Trump?

Gosh, they’re both quite egregious in my opinion. At least I don’t have to choose where I live because both places are pretty challenging.

The first thing many of us saw you in was Spooks – do you have fond memories? Very. We all stay in touch. I just reached out to Keeley [Hawes] because I loved Bodyguard. I recently did Othello in New York and Matthew [Macfadyen] came to see me. It’s where my screen career started and those guys are part of a formative time in my life. We were in our 20s, not long out of drama school, and had an illegal amount of fun doing that show.

You once said you won’t play “the black best friend” or do superhero movies. Do you still have rules about the roles you take? I try to stay away from anything that feels obvious. I don’t want to do anything derivative, cliched or stereotypical because images are political. They inform how people view people like me. My other rule is not to do anything that flies in the face of how I’m raising my kids. I’ll do things that are dark in tone but I gravitate towards things that have redemptive, life-affirming qualities.

There’s often talk of who’ll be the first black James Bond but technically you were first, right? I don’t think it’s fair to count an audiobook! That doesn’t quite give me the right to stake a claim. But to me, all that conversation signifies is that the audience is ready to see different kinds of people in those roles. We’re seeing that with our Les Mis, with Black Panther, with all sorts of things. The gatekeepers have had the keys taken away and they’re firmly in the hands of viewers now. It’s an exciting time with different voices emerging.

After Martin Luther King, are there any other historical figures on your bucket list to play? I’m going to do a film about the boxer Sugar Ray Robinson – the best pound-for-pound fighter who ever lived. I’ve been fascinated by him for a long time.

Do you get a break over Christmas? I do, although I’m also directing my first film next April, a coming-of-age story called The Water Man, so I’ll be sneaking off to do some prep for that and hoping my wife doesn’t get annoyed with me.

Les Misérables starts on BBC1 at 9pm on Sunday 30 December

The Guardian, Sun 23 Dec 2018 (x)

[mystery-star]

Liveblogging Les Misérables (2012) – Part 2/2

Here’s part 1 of the liveblogging

The elephant.  

Gavroche just climbing into that carriage. The disgust on the rich’s face.

“Cut the fat ones down to size” I just love it. The double meaning

Eponine is BEAUTIFUL. I also love her dress.

Well you call that love at first sight…

“Borrowed” Colette. Didn’t he make it obvious he’ll let her live with him forever?

Ah yes Javert again. Is there only one police officer in France?

There, Javert invading personal space again.

How hard. Eponine loves him and he asks her to find him the girl he saw like 10 seconds and fell in love with.

Boy please remember, you only saw her like 10 seconds. The world isn’t gonna end if you don’t see her again…

“It’s better than an opera” is that a hidden message that Les Mis is better than operas??

The way Enjolras pronounces “boy” boii.

Enjolras seems so offended by them joking around and Marius being in love

Marius, you only saw her fucking ten seconds…

“General Lamarque is dead” Enjolras going off like the guy in that meme bc he found his sign (you could actually make a meme with that… gimme a sec):

Aaand Marius is gone the second Epoinine is back because love

Ah at least Cosette askes herself if you can fall in love that quickly.

Valjean still got the candlesticks…

Nooo poor Eponine looks so hurt and broken when Marius is so happy about Cosette.

Also Marius, remember: 10 goddamn seconds!

You’re name’s just Cosette? No surname?

Ah the love-triangle….

Yeah calling your daughter a hussy. How nice. Dad of the year.

Also, are they trying to go and rob Valjean or what?

*Police presence announced* Valjean: “It must be Javert” sure, we established already that he’s the only police officer in France.

He’s packing the candlesticks: Because that’s the most important thing to take, alright

On my own reminds me so much of my daydreams with fictional crushes. Like 1:1

Poor Marius so stressed when he doesn’t find her…

And please to the both of you, you’ve know each other a day!

Just why does Javert know the Revolution will be that day? Ah never mind, he probably heard them advertising it. Lol.

Ah so many people singing different things a time… No understand.

BARRICADE DAY

How the soldiers just wait until the students finished singing before they do something…

Lol Javert trying everything to blend in with the peoples/students.

I’d be the first to die by getting hit by a falling piece of furniture.

Ah yeah, sending Javert best idea. How easily they just trust him. Like why not send one of your friends you know you can trust?

What has Javert actually been doing in the time he “spied” told the police what he found out at the barricade?

Ah yes Javert, you can take up on all these people all alone, trying to fight them is the best thing to do.

Dear Javert, even if Gavroche hadn’t called you out, they would have noticed literal 2 mins later that they are indeed attacked before dawn and your cover wouldn’t have been blown too…

“They’re coming over the barricade” Well, did you expect them to just shoot at the furniture or what??

Eponine, if you had time to grab that weapon, why direct it at you? Why not in the sky or down or something?

“You get something, I get something. Who needs charity?” Gavroche, you’re my hero.

“Stay away from there [the barricade]” Uh-uh he surely will

How Valjean pauses after reading that Cosette loves Marius. The shock…

Cosette is the child of Valjean’s autumn days? Fantine said her real father was gone when autumn came. I love the interconnections. And of course how some melodies are the same but different people singing different lyrics.

Valjean, after your short solo about Marius taking Cosette away your “I must find this boy” Sounds wrong. As if you wanna make sure he doesn’t come and take your child…

Ah yeah stealing an officer’s clothes to sneak up on people that fight officers. Best idea.

And look the students learned and closer inspect the volunteer this time first.

Did Javert just nod at Valjean (When he looks up after the students show him to Valjean)?? Or am I overinterpreting

“Give me Javert” how Javert’s eyes go like “Fuuuuck”

Javert you don’t understand what “Get out” means? He’s fucking changed, he told you so. Apparently, you changed too from prison scum to inspector. Is THAT the way of the lord to hate someone forever and not give them a second chance? Geez.

“Once a thief always a thief” I’d be like “One more word and I’ll also be a murderer”

Thank you Valjean for telling him off (and sayings he was always wrong)

Boiii Valjean just WANTS to be arrested.

How cute that Gavroche is always some notes behind in “Drink with me”

Ah Marius please do me a favor and don’t pretend you’re life is over because you might won’t see Cosette again or that she’d be sad if you die. You could actually die, you got bigger problems.

Valjean stop singing, the people are trying to sleep. They have to fight tomorrow. Honestly, why does no one ever complain that people are always singing?

What kind of deeps sleep does Marius have? He fell asleep mere minutes ago and Valjean is right next to him singing loud and he sleeps like an angel…

Courfeyrac said the power would get wet…. Why didn’t someone put it out of the rain?

Sorry but shooting at a child and then finding it funny. Sir, as your superior I’d have arrested you.

Ah now that he’s dead you look shocked.

How organized the students are, discussing which cannon/men they take out first.

Also, why didn’t the officers bring the canons in the night?

“Ah no we’ll fight, doesn’t matter if we don’t stand a chance” but then becoming desperate. Maybe could have considered that a tad sooner?

Why didn’t you inspect the place you want to build the barricade before to make sure you have an escape route or something, huh? Or do so in the night?

The irony that the soldiers lie where they died, scattered over the floor and the revolutionaries are nicely lined up and all. Who did that?

Also, first time Javert notices that MAYBE he’s been a bit of a prick. How he gives Gavroche his medal. My heart.

Then sees the sewers/hears Valjean and is all “Valjean hunting” mode again.

How/why did Thénardier get in the sewers?

May I say they are in… deep shit?

“This man’s done no wrong” Uh sorry, he was at the barricade. He probably killed someone. Isn’t that worse than stealing bread and fleeing?

“One more step and you die” Valjean just walks away… and nothing happens. Lol

Valjean caught you in the trap? You went there yourself, Javert and Valjean only came hours later.

He’s balancing in front of a deep again.

“Nothing on earth that we share” do you want me to make a list? Starting with similar lyrics, deeds, or just biological or cultural similarities? For starters, you both live on Earth, both in France at the same time and you’re both male.

Wait is he singing like 1:1 what Valjean sang before ripping his papers? Ship-mode activated

Because suicide was the ONLY option you had boii. It’s one (1) thief you’d let go free, do something good instead and be happy, forget it. Or invent fines and let Valjean pay some francs for fleeing. Arrest him and let him go free then immediately or let him escape… arrest him and be like “He did good stuff; his sentence is reduced to one month. Tell someone else to arrest him… Want me to go on?

Ahh the “Empty chair at empty tables” melody that features in at least two other songs.

And how hard it must be for Marius, to be the only survivor. Survivor’s guilt. It’s not even his fault he lives.

I generally admire the people can sing despite they emotion. Like I can’t sing at all and it gets worse when I’m emotional.

“A night full of you” I’m sorry that sounds wrong.

Ah everyone is singing at the same time again…

Valjean looks like my grandpa when he was younger.

“No more words” or “Not another word” seems to be Valjean’s fave line.

How cute Marius looks, listening to Valjean’s story so eagerly like a curious child.

Why would his “crime” make Cosette’s heart break? Isn’t just leaving her worse?

Has he packed his candle sticks again? I’m sure he has them.

The carriage boy’s look when the Thénardiers come through it “Where tf they come from?” also great disguise and great fake name.

Besides, do they even know their daughter died? How did they feel about it?

There, it’s pronounced Boii again, twice.

And I still don’t know what exactly they wanted Marius to think that they came to the wedding; That Valjean is a bad man?

The candle sticks in the convent…

Valjean looks like he aged 20 years in the past minutes.

Wait he’s dying now and believes/dreams Cosette is near, just as Fantine did when she died? Parallels...

Okay for Marius “Bring him home” meant let him live, but now you say “Bring me home” means let me die?

So Valjean promises to try and stay alive, only a minute later he’s gone.

I still stick to my headcanon that the Bishop is God. At least for Valjean.

The altered lyrics of “Do you hear the People sing?” does it to me.

But honestly, will all the afterlife be waving a flag on the barricade?

And the hidden meaning that they did get their better tomorrow in death. Damn.

Also, I asked myself where Javert was. Then I realized he might be in hell. Like his whole “Mine is the way of the Lord” maybe wasn’t that righteous? Or because he committed suicide?

[meta-squash]

Brick Club 1.5.7 “Fauchelevent Becomes A Gardener In Paris”

Valjean has Fauchelevent--who is not an employee of his--sent to the infirmary for his employees. This, plus the purchasing of his horse and cart, plus the fact that Fauchelevent is then given work in a convent, feels like a weirdly cobbled together imitation of the bishop’s “I’ve bought your soul and give it to god.”

Valjean doesn’t actually speak to Fauchelevent in person when he gives him the thousand francs and purchases his horse and cart. It’s all in a note, and we don’t actually hear him speak again until 1.5.13 when he rescues Fantine. (This also means the last words we heard him speak were last chapter’s “Quick! Help!” from under the cart.) Valjean has left Fauchelevent money in a similar manner to how he breaks in to people’s homes and leaves them coins. Again, Valjean gives to avoid talking (and smiling), and writes notes or breaks in to avoid the awkwardness of giving in person and having to talk and/or smile.

Some questions: Does Valjean know that employing Fauchelevent in this convent means he’s basically going to be a recluse? Maybe the whole segregation of the sexes appealed to him? How is gardening easier with a stiff knee? If he was originally a notary or lawyer, why wasn’t he given some sort of law-related job or a clerk job or something? Silly question, since I know the answer is “Symbolism,” but still.

It’s after this incident that Madeleine becomes Monsieur le Maire. I wonder if this happened before or after he rejected the first time he was appointed mayor. Also I love how Javert and Marius have similar reactions to things that make them feel weird in their Feelings About Justice areas, which is to just avoid those things at all costs and then be extremely awkward if they actually have to encounter them.

There is also more imagery of dogs as the enemy of wolves. Initially I found these comparisons just So Weird because in my mind, dogs are the docile ones and wolves are seen as aggressive hunters. But I suppose from a more agricultural perspective, the dogs are set to guard livestock at night, so it would make more sense that Javert is the guard-dog of the law and he sees Valjean as the wolf coming to try and tear it to pieces. The “wolf in his master’s clothes” imagery also is interesting because it indicates the claiming of a role. It’s not a wolf in the master’s house, which wouldn’t necessarily mean an influential role. Javert would still feel that that righteous aggression, but maybe less violated. But because the wolf has pulled a Little Red Riding Hood and climbed into the master’s clothing, it’s not only the Evil Of Crime in Javert’s vicinity, it’s the Evil Of Crime having some sort of power over him and most others in the town.

“When his official duties absolutely demanded it, and he could not avoid contact with the mayor, he spoke to him with profound respect.” We see this again after Valjean spares Javert at the barricade. He stops using the “tu” he began to use as soon as Valjean revealed his identity at Arras and starts to use “vous” again.

“It may be said that poverty and public wealth have an infallible thermometer, the cost of tax collection.” All this talk about how great it is that the district of Montreuil-sur-Mer was making money under Valjean’s leadership. When the population suffers and there’s no work, no one can pay tax. But everyone in M-sur-M is happy and pays tax, right? That means there’s no poverty, right? A chapter later, we start to see this crumble. Especially since Hugo specifically sets up this town-wide prosperity and tax payment beside the entrance of Fantine to the town. Also, maybe this is just a translation thing, but I find it a little weird that he uses the word “symptom” when referring to this prosperity. Doesn’t “symptom” usually have negative connotations? These sections talking about M-sur-M’s prosperity feel like we’re seeing the town through the lens that Valjean is looking through, meaning he doesn’t see the things he doesn’t know to look for, like the sex work side hustles or the less obvious poverty or the terrible and damaging rumor mill. Again, Valjean and Fantine both have this problem of rose-colored glasses when looking at things that they really really want to have work out.

“The door to the factory was like the face of a friend.” This is such a weird phrase. Half the time when the word “ami” appears in this book I expect it to be accompanied with a pun, but this isn’t even that. How can this factory be a friend to Fantine, if it wasn’t a place she worked at before she left the city, and nobody remembers her? I do think this line is very similar to the way she looked at everything in Montfermeil. Fantine trusts this new factory job in the same way that she’s trusting the Thenardiers to take care of Cosette. Both of them are going to screw her over a chapter from now.

Fantine receives almost nothing in wages because she’s not very good at her job. According to Pilf’s incredibly helpful post about wages, she makes somewhere between 13-20 francs a month. Which is another little wobble in the reality of Valjean’s system. Paying employees by their output rather than a more fixed rate means it’s pretty much a guarantee that some will be impoverished. Plus Fantine makes so little, most of which ends up in the hands of the Thenardiers, and who’s to say there aren’t others like her in M-sur-M. It also makes me wonder how much more the more skilled workers are making.

But Valjean’s treatment of wages kind of makes sense. Barely. The last time he had a job was 1795, and then he was paid almost nothing (half a sou per day) for his work for 20 years in prison. His idea of adequate wages is about 24 years behind the times. And it won’t hurt the upper class to pay their workers less, so I doubt they’d say anything about it. Not to mention that by the time Valjean is mayor he seems to have relegated a lot of the factory admin to others. I mean, it’s really shitty. That pay is almost nothing, especially because you’d have to take into account food and board and clothing and child expenses (whether that child is secret or not). I mean, I know I said it in the above paragraph, but Hugo really keeps insisting that everyone was really happy and had all this money but when you look at the details you realize that no, they have like nothing, what the hell are you talking about Hugo. No wonder people are turning to sex work in this garrisoned town where that sort of thing is an accessible side hustle.

This chapter is so interesting to me because it’s almost entirely scaffolding. It explains where Fauchelevent ends up so we can meet him again in 2.5.9, it sets up Javert’s suspicion and unease more firmly so that the entire Champmathieu affair takes place, it frames the prosperity of the town in a way that makes Fantine’s poverty even more stark, and it sets up Fantine’s feeling of accomplishment at earning a living in order for it to be dashed next chapter. There’s no dialogue, and the only real action occurs in that first paragraph, the rest is summary. This is the first chapter where Valjean, Fantine, and Javert’s paths are really moving closer to converging. It’s the first real, concrete building blocks of multiple characters’ storylines happening all at once.

[meta-squash]

Brick Club 1.5.3 “Money Deposited With Lafitte”

We establish Valjean’s solitary nature here. And okay, so I just rewatched the first two Mad Max movies with my best friend because she’s never seen them, and really Valjean and Max Rockatansky have a lot in common. Lonely, solitary guy with a backstory that’s a mystery to others but not to the viewer, who is also very skilled at many things, waltzes into a town, saves it from various crises while not talking much and being pretty socially awkward despite his charisma, and then leaves never to be seen again. Someone write an AU. Okay, moving on.

“He talked with very few. He shrank from compliments and with a touch of the hat would walk on rapidly; he smiled to avoid talking and gave to avoid smiling.” God my favorite thing about Valjean is just how awkward he is, despite also being unknowingly charismatic. He’s fantastic at fooling people simply because he’s so kind, and from that they choose what they want to see, but really he’s just so awkward. He doesn’t want to talk to people or do much socializing, which I think is another reason for his avoidance of upper class society affairs. Not only is he not interested because he’s not interested in advancing himself up the social ladder, he’s also not interested because it would mean he’d have to talk to people.

Valjean’s library is “well chosen,” and I’m wondering what books that would mean. Surely the bible, but what else? I assume he learned what the Right Books were by listening to conversation or looking at what was on other people’s shelves (perhaps during his Benevolent Break-Ins?) or something. His language starts to become more polished, too, as he educates himself through literature as well as (I presume) through his brief social interactions. The people seem to notice it but also don’t seem to think much of it? This doesn’t seem to factor into the rumors about him as much as his solitary nature does.

Valjean’s aim with a gun is frighteningly accurate (Where did he learn to shoot a gun? Would that have been another skill from his time as a pruner?) but he never kills inoffensive animals/small birds. I think this is the only other time we see Valjean with a gun aside from when he’s at the barricade. This description feels weirdly dark; I think it’s the word “frightening” (in Hapgood the word is “terror”). This skill with a gun seems like a hint not of his laborer past but of his past at Toulon, the potential he had prior to Myriel of becoming “the worst man.” Now he only uses it on threatening animals, but his aim itself is a threat. (Which is an interesting thing to establish only to have him definitely Not Use It on the barricade.)

“He would offer a hand to anyone needing it, help a fallen horse, push a mired wagon, or grab a rampaging bull by the horns.” What a parallel here. In Tome 3 we had Fantine as a horse that falls. In the coming chapters were have a broken wagon. I’m not sure if the “rampaging bull” would be Javert or perhaps Thenardier or something else? I would assume Javert, since his goodness essentially stops Javert mid-”rampage.” This is also an example of Valjean throwing himself in front of more dangerous things to help others, potentially heedless of his own wellbeing.

“If we took a little time, the nettle would be useful; we neglect it, and it becomes harmful. Then we kill it. Men are so like the nettle!” This line reminds me of all the parallels I was getting to modern day back in Tome 2. It’s just something that’s still so prevalent today. Someone grows up in a way that’s considered “bad” and instead of figuring out how best to help and communicate and nurture that person into something that is not “bad,” we just toss them away and neglect and ignore them and then when they adapt to that treatment in a certain way that we again consider “bad,” we either lock them up or force them out onto the streets. (Sorry, I’m mad at how relevant a 150 year old book is. A local homeless man was murdered by a housed person at a camp last week for no reason and the treatment of people living at homeless camps around my city has been so awful recently.)

“My friends, remember this: There are no bad herbs, and no bad men; there are only bad cultivators.” This one is so interesting because it sort of sets Valjean up for future failure. A cultivator (whether it’s a person or a machine) is someone who prepares land for use. Montreuil-sur-Mer itself is this land, and yet Valjean neglects certain parts of it. He makes this comment about the nettle, about finding a use for it if you only take a little time, and yet he gives up on and/or just sort of ignores the sex workers (and any other adjacent community) that are pretty much guaranteed to exist due to it being a garrisoned town. Valjean I love you but I have Concerns about your weird moral hoops that people have to jump through. I’m sure there are women who work at the factory and also as sex workers, who are hiding their second job and hoping no one finds out. But what about the women who are already known sex workers, who (I assume) don’t even have a chance? Valjean gives hospital beds, universal healthcare, a place for old and infirm laborers to stay, an “infant school/place of refuge” (I still don’t quite know what that is), but he doesn’t put any sort of aid in place for women who are already “fallen” or “morally indigent” etc. There are no bad herbs or men, only bad cultivators, but what happens if you’re great at cultivating three quarters of your field, but you decide not to bother to work the land of that last quarter? Anything you plant there will die, and you’ll yield fewer crops. It seems like a weird oversight on Valjean’s part to do good for most of the city and townspeople except for these women. There’s clearly a divide between the “honest” working women and the sex workers; we see it clearly later on with Fantine. So it’s not as if it’s a hidden secret. But for Valjean to enforce these specific moral standards without giving those suffering the most a way to achieve them and the support to do so, it’s just bad practice. @everyonewasabird mentioned that maybe it’s because he never really knew any women, so he doesn’t really know how drastically different life is for women and how different it is to “be an honest woman” vs an “honest man,” or how difficult it is to get there if you’re already trapped in sex work, but if he’s fairly aware of the goings-on in most of the town, you’d think he’d realize there was a divide and that people on one side were suffering while people on the other were not.

Oh my god I thought this post was going to be short but apparently I have Opinions.

“With his eyes raised to heaven, he listened with a sort of longing toward all the mysteries of the infinite, to the sad voices that sing on the brink of death’s dark abyss.” Ah, Valjean and his many deaths. Valjean listens to the “sad voices," but he never (or almost never? I can’t remember) actually talks to or “listens to” god. He never assumes that god is specifically listening or speaking to him, it seems.

Valjean breaking into houses to place money on the table is the exact reverse of his stealing the silver from Myriel. But it also goes hand in hand with his “can’t take compliments” nature; it would probably be really hard for him to stand there and listen to people thanking him for his generosity. But I think it’s also something from when he was poor himself. It’s an understanding of the shame and humiliation that comes with having to ask for money or for charity. Valjean breaking into people’s houses to not-so-secretly place money on their table circumvents that entirely. He avoids having to take a compliment and the people of Montreuil-sur-Mer get to avoid feeling awkward or shameful at asking for money.

A brief refocusing on the candlesticks here. Just a reminder for the audience about where all of this goodness comes from, but also a little example of the way Valjean himself displays the candlesticks as a reminder. I’m not sure what would make them “unusual” to the townspeople though? Surely everyone had candlesticks?

We also get a taste of the nature of rumors in Montreuil-sur-Mer. A rumor occurs, and despite multiple people being able to dispel the rumor, it persists and grows. But Valjean has a reputation and a status to back him up despite the darkness of some of the rumors. Fantine never has that. The rumors about her only serve to push her further down. He’s a savior and she’s a scapegoat. Again they are parallels of each other, moving in opposite directions.

[bbclesmis]

The Independent: Les Misérables review, episode 3: Unyieldingly bleak but hard to look away from

Lily Collins offers a harrowing performance as Fantine, while Dominic West delicately navigates Valjean’s internal battle between compassion and barely suppressed rage

Lily Collins filmed Fantine’s harrowing final gasps, finally taken in tonight’s third episode of Les Misérables (BBC1), on day two of shooting the six-part drama. Her character had not yet frolicked in the forest with the beguiling cad Felix (Johnny Flynn), nor walked arm in arm with her Parisian friends. She hadn’t been dumped by Felix, duped into leaving her daughter Cosette with the recklessly abusive Thenardiers, or been taken in, and then cast out, by Jean Valjean / Monsieur Madeleine (Dominic West). “I had just come directly off another film,” recalled Collins, “and I came to Brusells and it was like: ‘Nice to meet you, here’s your death bed.’”

All of which makes Collins’s performance as the wronged, dying Fantine even more impressive. In Fantine’s broken death rattle, and in her desperate pleas to be reunited with her child, you can feel the weight of a lifetime of injustices – even if Collins hadn’t actually filmed any of them yet. In fact, the only thing that threatens to detract from the sombre atmosphere is the nurse’s frankly ludicrous (though I’m sure historically accurate) cornette headwear.

For his part, West delicately navigates Valjean’s internal battle between compassion and barely suppressed rage. He’s just been forced into confessing to a petty past crime in order to save an innocent man’s life, and arrives back in town in handcuffs, much to the shock and dismay of the locals (for some reason, all the crowd mutterings are in French – which works OK until someone actually has a line, and breaks out into blimey guv’nor Cockney). He was supposed to be bringing Fantine’s young daughter to her death bed, but he left that task in the hands of his conniving, contemptuous employee, Madame Victurnien (Kathryn Hunter). To absolutely nobody’s surprise, she did no such thing.  

When Fantine finally shuffles off this mortal coil, Valjean's guilt-ridden grief makes for profoundly affecting viewing. He is at once undone and resolute. Consider the line he utters to a stunned Javert (David Oyelowo): “I advise you to stay away from me for a moment.” In lesser hands, it would be unremarkable, but West's delivery – vacillating between a roar and a whisper – is so sad and unexpected that it alone should see him showered with awards.

Two years later, having escaped from prison by faking his own death (he is nothing if not resourceful), Valjean tracks down Cosette, still being sorely mistreated by the Thénardiers (Olivia Colman and Adeel Akhtar, world class actors playing pantomime villains). In perhaps the first act of kindness Cosette has seen in years, he buys her a doll from the same tradesman to whom Fantine sold her hair and teeth years earlier. The fact that her new doll might well have her dead mother’s hair on its head is both touching and deeply, deeply creepy.

After Valjean pays the Thénardiers a tidy sum to rescue Cosette, it seems the pair might finally be able to live the good, quiet life they deserve. But it is not to be. Soon, Javert is on his tale again. At this point, his dogged determination to track down Valjean is as confusing as it is frustrating.

Still, at least he spares a moment to have the Thénardiers arrested. It says a lot about the unyielding bleakness of this drama that Madame Thénardier’s attempt to abandon her own son provides a moment of light relief.

But as grim as Les Misérables is, its slowly unfolding, interwoven tragedies are so well told that it’s hard to look away. (x)