Les Misérables -- 2000 French TV miniseries -- Part 1
- Just look at that cast -- this is really Europe's finest! Christian Clavier and Veronica Ferres as the Thénardiers? Yes, please!
- Also, made by French public TV -- that is hopeful. Nothing like public TV for making a faithful, lengthy adaptation of The Classics, which in turn can become a classic in its own right, see the BBC 'Pride and Prejudice' from the 90s restarting an Austen boom.
- Guillaume Depardieu as young Valjean -- yep, good job, casting people. Depardieu as prisoner in Toulon would be ridiculous.
- So, now for the thing itself.
- Nope, Depardieu is Valjean in Toulon, just not the young man who stole the loaf of bread. On the other hand, he's in his forties at the start of the tale...
- Also, John Malkovich makes a very interesting Javert. He speaks very slowly, perhaps because it's not John Malkovich's first language. He's more menacing than I'd imagine him, more intentional and intelligent. But yes, interesting.
- We meet Fantine in her heyday, with Cosette's father, who is a cad from the beginning. He leaves Fantine stranded in some place where they were dancing and partying just after she told him she's pregnant.
- Javert looks interstingly Snape-like here.
- Fantine wandering with a little Cosette in a cart, and a tiny Éponine using a cannon carriage as a swing -- so this is the Thénardiers' inn.
- Mme. Thénardier is taller than her husband -- that fits with the 'ogress' image; otherwise, she is of course Veronica Ferres, and hence very pretty.
- What is the time line, though? Fantine leaves Cosette with the Thénardiers even before Valjean comes to Monseigneur Bienvenu?
- Oh hi silver candlesticks.
- The bishop is housing the poor in the cathedral every night. What a departure from some bishops!
- This thing with stealing a coin from a child even after the bishop is very odd.
- This thunderstorm is nothing but bad special effects; very cheesy.
- Javert gets sent to Montreuil because M. Madeleine is suspicious as he hasn't got an account with any bank. In the 1820s! I didn't think it was all that customary then.
- Why does Madeleine have a weaving company making fabric from nettles, not one that makes jet? Do they think we have no context for jet any more?
- Does Javert recognise Valjean at once? I mean, as Madeleine, he can TALK which he never really did as a prisoner, but otherwise, he looks just the same. That nose is unmistakeable.
- Silly Fantine entrusts her nasty she-boss with the letter to the Thénardiers? Is she still that naive after so many years of toil in a factory?
- Javert's trademark greatcoat looks as if it was made of leather -- a real Baddass Longcoat!
- Why is Javert driven everywhere in coaches -- that is odd. I think he usually walks?
- He has that tall tophat which he has in the brick.
- Javert sees that prostitution is unavoidable but wants it in brothels to control it, and keeps speechifying at M. Madeleine. And harasses Fantine especially -- he's in her room and reads a letter from the Thénardiers?? What?? He talks to her at length. How odd.
- She still has her hair, has been a prostitute for a bit, and now Javert sends her to sell her hair and teeth? What?
- Her hair is worth ten teeth?
- The scene with Fauchelevent and the cart definitely looks a bit wooden.
- And now, nuns.
- Oh, it's the hospital.
- Why is Sister Simplice in Montreuil?
- I like the hoarse almost-whisper in which Javert talks. He's very different from the 2012 Javert, but I do like him.
- The archivist is much more understanding tha Javert who he finds Valjean's case file.
- Javert goes to Monfermeil and researches the Thénardiers. And he actually sees Cosette mistreated and fetching wood.
- Fantine as a prostitute means she wears a red shawl and some paint in her face. And somebody beats her in the street.
- A nun is hugging Fantine already -- it's Sister Simplice. And she sets M. Madeleine against Javert. What is he planning to do with Fantine? He knows the truth, bloody hell!
- Fantine shouts and spits at Valjean -- I think that's in the brick? At least he doesn't kick Javert out of his own police station here. But now, he writes the letter about Madeleine being Valjean.
- Oh hi silver candlesticks! In front of an oil painting. I wouldn't do that.
- Oh, now comes the 'punish me' thing. Javert says his thing and goes. Valjean doesn't even get to say no.
- Finally, we see Valjean fighting with his conscience and talking to Sister Simplice about the parable of the good shepherd and everything before deciding to go off to Arras to save Champmathieu.
- The public accuser calls Champmatieu 'misérable' -- hi title drop!
- Why don't they arrest him on the spot as he tells everybody in the courtroom in Arras who he is? I never understood that, in any version so far.
I like the version so far -- very ponderous, very historical, all the things and places painfully correct (apart from the things that aren't, like what M. Madeleine's factory makes), everything filmed on location rather than on sound stages, minimal special effects, and a wonderful Javert. I mean, there are several ways to interpret the character; making him so intelligently obsessed and interestingly cynical is a take which I can quite follow, rather than the Geoffrey Rush version, at the very least. And John Malkovich actually works very well in that part. The Thénardiers are an interesting kind of slow-burn evil. Their inn isn't going very well, they mostly live off Fantine's money. Would I get away with using that version on their icons rather than Bonham Carter/Baron Cohen? Why do those people have these double names starting with BC both, anyway?
Also, my brain is breaking: - I am watching this in French, with German subtitles because my French is less than perfect, while maintaining this running commentary in English. Why are there no English subtitles? Why do I have to use three languages at once to deal with this thing?
So may questions! Now, supper, and on to part 2.-
Crossposted to Dreamwidth and LJ -- comment wherever you like!