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.
Directed by
Bille August
Written by
Victor Hugo (novel); Rafael Yglesias (screenplay).
Starring
Liam Neeson (Jean Valjean); Geoffrey Rush (Inspector Javert); Uma Thurman (Fantine); Claire Danes (Cosette); Hans Matheson (Marius); Reine Brynolfsson (Captain Beauvais); Peter Vaughan (Bishop). Please contact SFC to add other cast members and characters.
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Fine Acting to Accompany a Fine Screenplay
Mark Banks (United Kingdom)
Opinion: Recommended
I'll be honest here - combined with the stage play and watching other films, I must have seen Les Miserables a good three times before watching this production, and up until now I'd failed to truly comprehend what was going on, who the different characters were and what it was all about. I think the songs distracted me in the stage version (as entertaining as they are) and the other film I saw was overly long and bored me. I'm happy to say this version struck a happy medium for me and made everything clear though. Despite the fact the language is not in French this is more than made up for in the quality of the acting, in particular that of Liam Neeson as Jean Valjean and Uma Thurman as Fantine. The film is paced well and at just over two hours comes in at a good length. The ending is suitably tragic, though with this it takes on a Biblical quality to it, implicitly acknowledging that ultimately what has been taking place between Valjean and Inspector Javert has been a spiritual battle of epic proportions.
