Les Miserable

Les Miserable 

On October 11, I watched the movie ‘Les Miserable’ by Victor Hugo on YouTube.  The story is  basically about a man Jean Valjean after 19years of being slave (because he stole a bread to feed his dying sister) he is real see from a French prison. However no places are willing to hire him since he is an ex-convict. After he is inspired by the god father and starts to believe in god, he took 8 years become a mayor. Javert, the police chief, recognizes Jean Valjean since they have talked in the prison. Jean Valjean meets woman named Fantine who has a 13 year old daughter Cosette and decides to adopt her.  Th after 9 years, French Revolution has started in Paris which is where Jean Valjean and his daughter live. Cosette is immediately in love with one of the patriots Marius. The revolution has failed, but fortunately Marius is saved by Jean Valjean. Marius eventually marries Cosette, then Jean Valjean dies peacefully. This play has several themes including: love, justice, war and tragedy.

The movie begins with Jean Valjean and other slaves pulling the ship, one if the compelling things that I notice is the lyrics they are singing which is ‘look down, look down, don’t look them in the eye.’ This quote really emphasizes the fear that slaves have to the guards. In this play, sounds as one if the most significant elements of staging is well shown in the movie. For instance, when Jean Valjean is talking about his behavior that he steals the silvers from the god father, he describes himself as ‘a thief in the night, and a dog on the run.’ (The lexical choice dog which is simile perfectly tells audience that he is regret of what he has done) the background music’s tune becomes lower and lower just like Jean Valjean‘ inner conflict. In this play, there are four characters who are highlighted as important characters. They are Jean Valjean, Marius, Cosette, and Fantine. Hugo puts a lot of attention on them in order to create their backgrounds. For example, he spends a lot of time to describe the life of Fantine and how the harsh reality forces her to become a hooker. Also, the theme of love is showed when Marius and Cosette first meet, their love is so deep that Marius even says he did not live before he sees Cosette. Costume as another important part of the staging is used to show the status in this play. When Jean Valjean is still a slave, his cloth is covered by dust and with a few holes on it. However,  when he becomes the mayor, his clothes are changed to clean and fine suit, the golden button on Javert’s cloth also shows his high status.  

The theme of fate is showed between Jean Valjean and Javert. The war between them has been on for Almost 20 years. They have different perspectives of how the world works, Jean Valjean thinks everyone deserves a second chance, but Javert thinks once did wrong, always wrong. Dramatically, Jean Valjean is the one who controls the life of Javert, and he decides to let Javert go, which followed what he believes. Throughout this whole play, my favorite character would be Javert. He has a strong sense of pride in himself, and he also has his own belief about justice. Even though his stubborn thinking about justice could be wrong, his perseverance really touches my heart. Eventually, his sense of self-esteem brings him to death, since he did not accomplish his mission that to bring Jean Valjean back to prison.


In conclusion, I really like this movie and it taught me a lot about theater. Since this is my first time watch a musical, I found it really interesting and useful to use different volume and tune of the background music to show character’s emotions.

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