Le miserables

[Doobydoobydooyeh]

Anyone watching? Not quite the same without the songs!

Yes, he's excellent in Pride. I vaguely knew Jonathan but had no idea he was that famous until the film cans out!

That was absolutely amazing - me and DH loved it. Having seen the musical a couple of times it was really interesting to see a straight (for want of a better word) adaptation.

So many wonderful performances and heartbreaking scenes - Fantine selling her hair and teeth, Javert's suicide, Cosette and Valjean in the garden - and then finally, at the end, those two little boys begging in poverty and you know that, for all the fighting, nothing has actually changed.

If awards aren't handed out for this series, then it will be a travesty.

"Do you really love me?"
😭😭😭

Amazing. I would happily watch it again now from the beginning. I hated the musical but am half way through the book and watching this has really helped me understand it a bit better.

Dominic West was brilliant in this, did anyone see him play Fred West in the tv series a few years ago? Chilling.

Loved it too! Great Sunday night TV It's my favourite musical so wasn't sure how it would be without the songs but I really enjoyed it , I could hear the songs in my head like a lot of other posters and it told the story very well. The two young men facing the firing squad had me in tears I was shouting at the TV Vive la republique !! and yes the two poor wee boys at the end showing how the poverty continues. So many people think Les Mis is too sad and yes of course it is but I love how it shows the human spirit of trying to change, both society then individuals too What a story!

'even the death of Javert got me this time. '

Same here, found it incredibly moving. David Oyelowo was totally brilliant

'did anyone see him play Fred West in the tv series a few years ago?'

Unfortunately yes I didn't get a wink of sleep after watching the second episode. His performance really got under my skin and creeped the hell out of me. He is SUCH a brilliant actor

That was great (nearly finished the book now). What an excellent Javert! In the book, the two little boys were Gavroche's brothers that his mum gave away and ended up homeless, only he didn't know.

I keep thinking the book is like a very French Dickins. Pointing the public eye towards the plight of the poor.

@EnidButton - I think the thing with the collar is that his collar being in disarray is a physical sign of his mental state. Rather than being grateful for it being straightened up, he snapped at Rivette.

There's a line somewhere in the book which mentions about his collar not being straight, which is an outward sign of his mental turmoil.

Overall, I really enjoyed this adaptation and thought it was very well done.

However I think my enjoyment was curtailed as I read the book last year (before I was aware of this adaptation) so I was frequently thinking ahead wondering if they'd cover X or how they would deal with certain aspects of the book. I am also very familiar with the musical, although comparisons with that didn't bother me so much.

I thought that the barricade scenes were very well done. It really brought it home that it really was a few "schoolboys" with their guns against an entire army. They were never going to succeed.

I thought the ending kind of fizzled out though... the scene with Marius, Cosette and Thenadier was fine, but I really hoped they'd do the bit in the book where Thenadier tears a pice of cloth from "corpse" Marius's coat in the sewers. When Thenadier produces this in front of Marius (as "proof" that Valjean had killed a man in the sewers), Marius brings out his coat with the missing piece. Which is visible proof they are the same person. Not entirely sure why this visual denouement was left out.

For those of you who read the book, did you skip over passages, or read every line? I think I will only finish it if I skip bits, it's a brilliant book but he does go on a bit!

I skipped loads. All the stuff about the Napoleonic wars, and all the stuff about sewers. I read the nun bits, because I found that quite interesting, but basically anything that didn’t seem to move the story on got skipped.

"the bit in the book where Thenadier tears a pice of cloth from "corpse" Marius's coat in the sewers. When Thenadier produces this in front of Marius (as "proof" that Valjean had killed a man in the sewers), Marius brings out his coat with the missing piece. Which is visible proof they are the same person. "

That makes more sense because it seemed out of character for Thenardier to defend Valjean in the programme. He didn't need to tell Marius Valjean had saved his life.

I'm near the end of the book, but haven't got to the sewers bit yet. I skimmed rather than skipped, as yes, Hugo does go on a bit. The description of Waterloo was very long!

Did the grandfather die?

Where did JV go back to die.

Why did he age so suddenly in 6 weeks? He looked youthful before the wedding

I was thinking today how rare it is to see a tv thread where everyone loved the programme.

Jv went to Dean I believe, the village where the Bishop had lived. Yes he aged very dramatically, I suppose because he was ill and close to death at that stage.

In the book (sorry!) Valjean doesn't go back to Digne.

Having seeing the musical several times it made me wonder just how did Valjean know he was going to die. Was he ill?? When I saw it most recently, after about 8-9 years, the thought occurred to me... does he actually commit suicide in some way because he is so convinced of his impending death?? This bit of the musical bothered me somewhat.

Book Spoiler alert.....

After Valjean tells Marius the truth about his past they agree that Cosette won't see Valjean anymore. But Marius softens slightly and afterwards does let Valjean come to see her at his grandfather's house. Cosette sees Valjean in a grotty room in the basement which is gradually made more and more uncomfortable for him by Marius (who is acting like an arse), but Valjean never complains. I think Cosette asks Valjean at one point, why doesn't he see her in the main house, but he insists he is happy to see her there.

One time Valjean goes to visit Cosette, her and Marius are out, but she has forgotten to tell him. Valjean's visits after this become less frequent. He feels that Cosette has forgotten him.

There is an utterly heartbreaking description of Valjean going to visit Cosette, then turning back as he reaches the doorstep. Next time he only gets as far as the gate. The time after that, a few houses away. He is unable to bring himself to see Cosette as he is afraid of being rejected. Valjean is like a pendulum gradually coming to a stop as he eventually never makes it out of his own house.

Cosette notices that she hasnt seen Valjean for quite some time, so goes to see him, but he tells the housekeeper to say that he's "gone away".

He stops eating, and eventually stops drinking. He is dying of a broken heart.

Then Marius and Cosette learns the truth about Valjean and they rush to be with him. Cosette "forbids him to die" (sob). He is asked if he requires a priest, but he points heaven wards, indicating that he already has one - the Bishop of Digne(sob sob).

His "last confession" is a letter to Cosette detailing the manufacturing process for the black beads his factory made. Not his life history .

And that's pretty much it.

I was surprised at the way the TV series had him return to Digne when the rest of the series had been so faithful to the book.

Loved this, so much top-notch acting & very well written. I think the theme of redemption ties so much together at the end.

Thank you Azelma I rewound it and thought that could be why but wasn't sure. Time for me to read the book again. Poor Rivette. He tried.

I agree they should've put the ripped cloth part in. It wouldn't have used up any extra time or caused any scene diversions and it'd make more sense.

Sorry for the triple post but does anyone think they could've included who the two begging boys were? Surely it would've just been a extra short scene to explain? I've had a couple of people asking about the very last scene as they didn't really understand it or who they were. The point of them still being there begging and the wealthy walking past is still there but if viewers knew who exactly they were maybe it would've had more impact on those who haven't heard any of the story before?

Just pondering,

Perhaps they wanted to give VJ a (sort of) happy ending. He seemed happy at Digne, putting his strength to good use, good honest toil, (even though he looked dreadful). And I suppose those boys could have been anyone, perhaps the writers didn't want us to assume that they were just unlucky to be the offspring of a particularly neglectful family, when in truth Paris was full of poor, hungry children.

Yes I agree, I think the writers wanted us to see the boys as ‘everyman’ - symbolic of the fact that nothing had changed for the poor.

We weren't meant to know who the boys were. It doesn't matter - as above, they are 'everyman' and sadly, the poverty was/is all too common.

We still walk past the homeless.