Les Miserables (The Movie) (UK)
The legend comes to life
Certificate: 12
Running Time: 128 mins
Retail Price: £15.99
Release Date:
Content Type: Movie
Synopsis:
Based on Victor Hugo`s classic novel, this is an epic tale of love, honour and obsession against the dramatic background of the French Revolution. Jean Valjean (Liam Neeson) lives a life on the run for stealing a loaf of bread. Settling in a remote town, he devotes himself to the care of the poor, including the beautiful, young, and poverty stricken Fantine (Uma Thurman). When Fantine dies, she leaves a daughter, Cosette, (Claire Danes) who Valjean raises. But they are haunted by Javert (Geoffrey Rush), a policeman whose lifelong search for Valjean has become an obsession. A hunt begins that will come to a final confrontation on the revolution torn streets of Paris.
Special Features:
`The Making Of` Featurette
Trailer
Video Tracks:
Widescreen Anamorphic 2.35:1
Audio Tracks:
Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0 English
Directed By:
Bille August
Written By:
Rafael Yglesias
Victor Hugo
Starring:
Hans Matheson
Claire Danes
Uma Thurman
Geoffrey Rush
Liam Neeson
Your Opinions and Comments
Les Miserables - its a book, its a film, its several films, and its a musical. There is probably even a video game of it somewhere!
It was originally a Victor Hugo book though, which sold rather well. At 365 chapters (thats chapters not pages!) it has quite a plot, and each adaption seems to focus on different bits of it.
The other bit of trivia I know about it is that it provoked the shortest letter exchange in history.
Victor sending to his publisher a letter of "?". The publisher responded with "!".
We`ve had the DVD for a couple of years, but not got around to watching it until now.
The Plot
Jean Valjean is a criminal, which in 1800`s France is not a good thing to be. He gets 19 years after he is starving and steals a loaf of bread - kinda harsh you might think.
Through an accidental encounter with a priest, he turns to good.
He has skipped the rather extended parole system of the day, which seems to basically last for the rest of you life, and rebuilds his life, becoming mayor of the town, and a wealthy businessman.
Onto the scene, comes Inspector Javert. He recalls Valjean from his prison days, but although convinced he is the bail skipper, has no proof.
Javert is relentless though, in searching down and trying to re-inprison Valjean.
Valjean has meanwhile done lots of good, and has now promised a dieing mother to look after her only daughter.
Will he manage his task, or will Javert catch him in the intricate plot twists that span many years.
The Cast
Liam Neeson plays Jean Valjean, and does a pretty good job.
Geoffrey Rush as Javert, and is also pretty good, although I felt he was played as rather too harsh.
Uma Thurman is Fantinne
The Visuals/Audio
Pretty reasonable, but it dates back a few years (1998).
Presented in 2.35:1 makes for rather a thin line on our rather old fashion shaped 4:3 TV.
The Extras
A trailer for the film.
A making of, which is just barely longer than the trailer.
Not a great set!
Summary
Its a pretty good representation of the film. Of course it doesn`t have the great musical score
of the stage production, and the plot follows slightly different aspects to the musical, but all the elements are there.