Les Misérables (miniseries)
| Les Misérables | |
|---|---|
| Written by |
Victor Hugo (novel) Didier Decoin |
| Directed by | Josée Dayan |
| Starring |
Gérard Depardieu Christian Clavier John Malkovich Virginie Ledoyen Enrico Lo Verso |
| Composer(s) | Jean-Claude Petit |
| Country of origin | France |
| Original language(s) | French |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) |
Gérard Depardieu Jean-Pierre Guérin Doris Kirch |
| Cinematography | Willy Stassen |
| Editor(s) | Adeline Yoyotte Marie-Josèphe Yoyotte |
| Running time | 400 minutes 171 minutes (English dubbed version) |
| Distributor |
DD Productions GMT Fox Family Channel |
| Release | |
| Original release | 2000 (France) |
Les Misérables is a 2000 French television miniseries based on the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo. The miniseries was broadcast in four parts. A three-hour English version was also released.
This version is very true to Victor Hugo's novel. It maintains the setting, time period and covers the full arc of the story.
Jean Valjean is released from prison on parole and finds life unbearable until Monseigneur Bienvenu covers his theft of silver and gives him two silver candle sticks. Valjean breaks his parole and makes a new life as a business man and ends up being elected Mayor. His life is busy and he is unaware that Fantine a young woman who worked in his factory, has been fired and her difficult life as an unwed mother has gotten even worse. When it does come to his attention it is too late for Fantine, but he vows to care for her daughter.
The Thénardiers abuse Fantine's daughter Cosette and treat her like a servant. Valjean bargains with them for Cosette and they leave after he has paid for her. Valjean takes her to Paris to live in a convent where he takes on the role of the assistant gardener. They remain safely hidden until her schooling is finished. Valjean finds a residence in Paris, but before too long, runs into Thénardier and Javert, the inspector who has hunted him for years for breaking his parole.
The events of their lives are drawn into a student uprising. Cosette meets and falls for a young student, Marius. Valjean fears for their safety and his freedom and decides to leave Paris and head for England, but that is the night that the student take up arms. Marius and the other students face a city unwilling to help and soon realize their cause will die with them. After intercepting a message to Cosette from Marius, Valjean joins the students and rescues Marius when he is injured. Javert intercepts them, but lets them go, committing suicide shortly after.
As Marius and Cosette prepare for their wedding, Valjean tells Marius of his past and that he must leave. Marius does not stop him. Now alone, Valjean's health quickly deteriorates. But at the wedding, Thénardier shows up and tries sell Marius dirt on Valjean. Thénardier is convinced that Valjean killed a man the night the barricades fell, but the trinket he shows Marius belonged to Marius himself and he realizes that it was Valjean who rescued him. He and Cosette race to find Valjean, but by this time he is on his death bed. They arrive just in time to say their farewells. (The events of this part of the story are often omitted from theatrical versions of the story such as the 1935, 1952, and 1998 films.)
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