Les Misérables is a 2012 film version of the stage musical of the same name, which in turn was an adaptation of Victor Hugo's epic book of the same name. It was produced by Cameron Mackintosh, directed by Tom Hooper, and starred Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean, Russell Crowe as Inspector Javert, Anne Hathaway as Fantine, Amanda Seyfried as Cosette, Eddie Redmayne as Marius, Samantha Barks as Eponine, and Sacha Baron Cohen as Monsieur Thenardier. Notable for Hooper's decision to have the vocals recorded live on set as opposed to having the actors lip-synch to prerecorded tracks to create more natural performances.The film won three Golden Globes (Best Supporting Actress, Hathaway; Best Actor, Jackman; and Best Picture), was nominated for eight Academy Awards, and won three (Best Supporting Actress for Hathaway; Makeup & Hairstyling; and Sound Mixing).
In addition to the tropes inherited from the stage version and the novel, this film provides examples of:
Absurdly Spacious Sewer: Averted, unlike some stage productions. Valjean has to force himself and Marius through a tiny tunnel, and the parts where the ceiling is high enough to stand are so filled with gunk that it's easier to drown.
Helena Bonham Carter is this yet again, along with Sacha Baron Cohen as the Thenardiers. In the novel, Mme. Thenardier is a massive, muscular woman with highly masculine features, and is frequently compared to an ogress. M. Thenardier is described as a sickly-looking "runt" who is not at all good looking. Performances of the musical tend to cast actors whose physical appearance along with make-up more or less fit those descriptions. However, Carter in the role is made-up to look blowsy looking but otherwise has no change in her apperance, and Cohen, while showing a bit of Thenardier's creepy vibe, is probably the best looking and most stylishly dressed incarnation of the character.
In the book and to a lesser extent in adaptations, Valjean looks like an old man by time he rescues Cosette (and in the book has stark white hair after being Locked into Strangeness). In the film, he's Hugh Jackman.
The younger actors fall into this too. Éponine in the book is scrawny, dirty, and not attractive at all, but in the film she is portrayed by the lovely Samantha Barks. Same goes for several of the barricade boys, who are invariably attractive onscreen.
Grantaire in particular is said to be ugly in the Brick. He is portrayed by George Blagden, who is the opposite.
Adaptation Dye Job: Fantine is brunette and Cosette is blonde, which is the reverse of their hair colors in the book. (Cosette is almost always brunette in the stage show, as well.) Dark-haired Marius is a redhead in the film.
Affectionate Pickpocket: The Thénardiers, as seen in "Master of the House" and "Beggars at the Feast".
Antagonist In Mourning: After the battle of the barricade, Javert pins his own medal to Gavroche's body.
Tom Hooper's added backstory has Army Officer fall into this. Hooper had Tveit (Enjolras) and Fraser (the Army Officer/Loudhailer) act as if they both grew up together. A blink-and-you'll-miss-it zoom on the Army Officer's face has him looking relatively distressed as he takes his shot at Enjolras and Grantaire.
Backstory Horror: When Éponine dies, the camera deliberately pans to show Gavroche, tears running down his face. This has extra resonance for those who have read the book, which explains that Éponine is his sister.
There's been confirmation that there was, in fact, a scene filmed in which Gavroche reveals this information to Courfeyrac. Note, too, that during the scene in which Javert walks through observing the damage from the battle that Eponine and Gavroche are laid out next to each other.
Javert mentions he was born in jail. In the novel it's revealed that his mother was a fortune teller who lived in jail while her husband was serving his time, and that the boy spent several years being raised in what was basically a hellhole. Explains a lot of his adult personality.
Tom Hooper had Aaron Tveit (Enjolras) and Hadley Fraser (the Army Officer) act as if the Army Officer/Loudhailer and Enjolras grew up together as childhood friends. A blink-and-you'll-miss-it zoom on the Army Officer's face shows him more distressed than determined when he takes his shot at Enjolras and Grantaire. It may also explain why the Army Officer is more sorrowful sounding than authoritative when he addresses Enjolras, as most versions of the character would be.
Badass and Child Duo: Valjean and young Cosette, amped up from the stage version by reincorporating the sequence from the novel where they flee Javert through the dark streets of Paris.
Beauty Is Never Tarnished: At least if you're a person of romantic interest. Fantine gets to be properly tarnished during her fall from grace, but Éponine is remarkably clean and well-nourished for someone living the life she has.
Casting Gag: Anne Hathaway's mother, Kate McCauley, played Fantine in the stage show's first U.S. national tour. Additionally, Eponine is played by Samantha Barks, who played the role in the West End production. And many of the actors who comprise the barricade boys played these roles in different productions.
Chekhov's Gunman: Fauchelevant, the man Valjean saves from being crushed in "Runaway Cart", has this role restored to him among the bits from the novel added back in.
Close On Title: The film has no opening credits, causing the title card to show up during the end credits instead.
Compressed Adaptation: Compared to the original novel, but actually decompressed somewhat from the stage version, with several plot points and at least one character (Marius' grandfather) restored.
Covered in Gunge: Almost everyone in the film to some extent except for adult Cosette; especially Valjean and Marius after their escape through the sewers.
Cut Song: "Dog Eat Dog", Thénardier's song in the sewers, is reduced to four spoken words ("Here's a pretty ring"). "Little People" appears only in the reprises when Gavroche exposes Javert and defies the soldiers at the barricade. "Drink With Me" and "Beggars at the Feast" are both down to a single verse each, and "Turning" gets a handful of lines.
It's worse on the Highlights Soundtrack, where several of the songs in the film were trimmed. Those songs include "Who Am I?", "Lovely Ladies", "A Little Fall of Rain", and believe it or not, "Do You Hear The People Sing?".
However, the Deluxe Soundtrack includes most of the songs except for some short ones like "The Runaway Cart" and the newly added songs still have some cut parts.
Darker and Edgier: While the musical is widely acknowledge for being unusually grim and pessimistic by the genre's standards, the movie goes even further by averting Bloodless Carnage, adopting the Dung Ages approach for the depicting the historical era, and generally eschewing the highly stylized sets of the musical in favour of gritty naturalism.
Dutch Angle: Used often to the Thenardiers in order to make them seem more unpleasant. It's also used at the beginning of Marius's meeting with Valjean, to reflect his excitement about being married to his daughter.
Face Death with Dignity: When Enjolras is cornered he stares down the soldiers and raises the flag defiantly. Even Grantaire stands tall beside him.
Family Unfriendly Death: Not only does Javert jump into the river, he lands on a ledge with such a loud CRACK! there's zero chance he survived.
Foreshadowing: "Stars" is staged with Javert standing on top of a building looking up at the stars and down on the city; the staging is echoed, in some places shot-for-shot, for "Javert's Suicide", making the latter a visual Dark Reprise. Furthermore, both times he teeters on the edge, walking the fine line between safety and doom. In several shots, there is a not at all subtle eagle sculpture behind him, giving him an angelic wing on one side, and the night's sky representing darkness and doom on the other.
Fourth Wall Psych: In Gavroche's reprise of "Look Down", he is addressing other characters, rather than the audience as he did in the stage show. As a result, when he says the line, "How do you do? My name's Gavroche" the line is addressed to a passing rich man who looks like he'd just as soon have foregone the acquaintance. At one point he appears to be directly speaking to the camera, but the next change of camera angle shows that he's actually speaking to a group of his fellow urchins.
Go Out with a Smile: Fantine, after hearing that Valjean will take care of her daughter.
High Dive Escape: Valjean escapes from Javert at the hospital by leaping from a window into the river.
Hoist by His Own Petard: A subtle one for Javert: When the students are building the barricades, Javert is seen hiding something behind a cabinet at the Corinthe tavern. When Gavroche rats him out, he runs to get it, revealing it to be a baton that he intends to defend himself with— which the students then wrestle out of his hands and use to knock him out.
Hollywood Old: Valjean, Javert, and the adult Thénardiers don't change much during the years that Cosette grows from Isabelle Allen into Amanda Seyfried (and likewise, Eponine ages from Natalya Angel Wallace into Samantha Barks), except that some of their hair greys up a little bit.
Incurable Cough of Death: Fantine starts getting one during "I Dreamed a Dream", which worsens thereafter. At "Fantine's Death", you might notice bloodstains on her bedclothes suggesting she's progressed to coughing up blood.
The style in which Anne Hathaway sings "I Dreamed a Dream", complete with dripping snot. Emphasized by the entire song being The Oner with a closeup on her face. Hathaway stated in an interview that unlike in the musical, the film’s actors weren’t all cast to be able to wow the audience with their stellar voice alone, so she imbued her performance with as much raw emotion as possible. It earned her an Oscar, so it had been a good idea.
Hugh Jackman's rendition of "Valjean's Soliloquy".
Eddie Redmayne's "Empty Chairs At Empty Tables".
Karma Houdini: The Thénardiers get roughly carried out of Marius and Cosette's wedding (after Marius has punched Monsieur Thénardier in the face), but otherwise they apparently suffer no punishment for their misbehaviors.
Kick the Dog: In "Master of the House", the Thénardiers replace an outgoing guest's luggage with a baby carrier (complete with baby) and Monsieur Thénardier casually chops off a cat's tail for "filling up the sausages with this and that". Some viewers believe that that baby may be a small Gavroche, given that Gavroche is supposed to be ten when the main action happens, which is nine years after "Master of the House"'s events happen. And given details mentioned in other trope entries.
"Lovely Ladies", an upbeat number about the demoralizing life of being degraded to a prostitute.
"At the End of the Day" has parts in F-minor and F-major where the factory workers sing about how the lives of the poor people just keep getting worser and worser.
In a way, "What Have I Done?" and "Javert's Suicide". Valjean and Javert sing the same lines at the end of each song, but one ends with Valjean starting over clean and one ends in Javert's suicide.
When the Bishop hands the candlesticks to Valjean, after he had discovered Valjean had stolen all of his silverware; it's a blink and you'll miss it moment, but at the beginning of "Who Am I?", they can be seen on his table.
When Valjean leaves Cosette and Marius to retire to the monastery to die, the candlesticks are right beside him once again.
Missing Trailer Scene: Some scenes in the trailers, such as shots of Javert and his men running with search lanterns in hand, and Cosette, who is in her wedding dress, riding in the carriage and looking very happy, don't actually appear in the movie itself.
Movie Bonus Song: "Suddenly" is a new song created for this production, in which Valjean sings about how his life has been opened up by Cosette. It was written by the same songwriters as the other songs in the musical, making it blend in better.
My Name Is Not Durwood: Thénardier always gets Cosette's name wrong, especially when he's proclaiming how much he cares for her. At one point he even calls her Courgette which is the French (and British English) word for zucchini.
The "Work Song" features the convicts pulling a ship into a drydock, which may be a reference to some earlier adaptations (including at least one production of the musical) which depicted the convicts as actual Galley Slaves.
In the novel, Valjean serves his second sentence at Toulon. He is arrested after Fantine's death, rather than escaping at "The Confrontation", and sentenced to hard labor for life at the port, but he fakes his own death by drowning (after rescuing a sailor from drowning for real) and then goes to Montfermail to rescue Cosette.
As Cosette sweeps and sings "Castle on a Cloud", if you freeze at the right moment, there's a momentary live-action reproduction of the famous engraving of Cosette sweeping◊ that became the musical's emblem.
At the end of "The Confrontation", Valjean escapes Javert by jumping off a window into a body of water. At that point in the original novel, Valjean was recaptured and brought back to the galleys, but escaped by pretending to drown.
Object Tracking Shot: After Valjean tears up his parole record and tosses it away, the camera follows a piece that floats up to the sky then swiftly falls as the scene transitions to eight years later and "At The End of the Day".
The Oner: The film sometimes pushes its (primarily film rather than stage) actors really hard in this regard. The most magnificent example of this is probably Anne Hathaway's spectacular rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream", which is done in one take and goes through Dull Eyes of Unhappiness, nostalgia, regret, sobbing and panicked gasping all while keeping the camera focused firmly on her face.
Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: The accent that Sacha Baron Cohen uses for Monsieur Thénardier varies from kind of low-class British to slightly over-the-top French when he's trying to impress someone. Cohen is the ONLY ACTOR who uses a French accent at any time in that movie. Despite the fact that the lead roles went mostly to Americans and Australians, it's surprising that so many people's solos have various shades of English accents throughout the movie.
Opening Scroll: Opens with one, perhaps to clarify to non-French viewers that this film is not about THE French Revolution, but a later one.
1815. TWENTY SIX YEARS AFTER THE START OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. A KING IS ONCE AGAIN ON THE THRONE OF FRANCE.
The Queen's Latin: It is suprising that with the cast primarily being composed of American and Australian actors, many of them have shades of British accents during solos.
Real Men Love Jesus: Valjean's religiosity is trumped up in the movie adaptation, but the honor of being a more classical (and borderline redneck) kind of this goes, as usual, to Javert.
Javert's habit, if you can call it that, of walking on high ledges. Weird? Yes. Dangerous? Yes. Demonstrative of his belief that he is morally superior (and therefore higher), that God will not let him fall, and foreshadowing for his eventual death? Oh hell yes.
The eagle and night sky behind Javert forming an angelic wing and void.
The barricade erected by the doomed revolutionaries has coffins mounted on the front of it. It has a big red coffin and a small blue one. What were Enjolras and Gavroche wearing?
As Valjean prays to God in "Bring Him Home", a giant eye "Looks Down" on him from a billboard in the background.
In "A Little Fall of Rain", Éponine and Marius lean on a French flag, with the words "La Mort" clearly visible. And what does it mean? Death. Makes one wonder what's going to happen to her and the barricade boys.
Colm Wilkinson who played the original Jean Valjean in the stage version appears as the Bishop of Digne. When he gives Hugh Jackman's Valjean the silver candlesticks in the movie he is passing on the baton of Jean Valjean. A number of actors that make up the Amis/the barricade boys also played Marius or Enjolras in the stage versions.
"Don't they know they're making love to one already dead?" sings Fantine, and for "I Dreamed A Dream," she spends the next few minutes in a box resembling a coffin, complete with pillows. note Anne Hathaway even said in interview with Jon Stewart that, among the many, many takes of "I Dreamed A Dream" that were shot, one of them was entirely inside a coffin.
When Marius asks Éponine to tail Cosette for her, they spar lines set to the melody of "I Was Made For Loving You" by Kiss.
The hymn sung on the barricade has chords and a melody that suspiciously sound at times like the "Chant des Partisans", the hymn of the French Resistance during WWII.
During Javert's walk on the roof in "Stars", there is a shot of Notre-Dame without her spire. It's accurate, since the original one was demolished during the 18th century, and the building of the current one did not begin before 1845. Also, the depiction of the area of Saint-Michel as one huge dirty hovel. At the time, it was just that.
The police uniforms: the 1823 version sports the fleur-de-lys, the traditional symbol of the French monarchy. On the 1832 version, it has disappeared, since the July Monarchy had dropped its use in 1831.
Signature Style: The film, like The King's Speech, is filled with distinctive walls with distressed layers of paint, eye-catching bricks, or battle damage.
Stealth Pun: After the final battle at the barricade, when Valjean flees with Marius into the sewers to avoid capture, there is a shot of Javert searching for him with that Determinator face he has. Cut to Valjean in the sewers, and the background music is now the melody of the Work Song from the beginning, when it was accompanied by the lyrics "look down, look down".
Take a Third Option: Javert's solution of whether To Be Lawful or Good — morally, he can't continue to harass a man who saved his life, but legally he can't let a convict go free — is to kill himself.
A Taste of the Lash: Valjean is not shown being flogged during his time as a convict, but in the "Work Song", he's got injuries suggesting that it's happened to him.
That Poor Cat: Gets its tail chopped up and put in a mincer.
Thousand Yard Stare: Marius sports this briefly after the events at the barricade. It takes a love song from Cosette to pull him out.
You Have No Chance: Said nearly word for word by Loudhailer to Les Amis.
Colm Wilkinson (who originated the role of Valjean) is the Bishop of Digne. Frances Ruffelle (who originated the role of Éponine), is a prostitute that appears in "Lovely Ladies". Samantha Barks, who plays Éponine in the film, had played the role in the London production.
Similarly, quite a few of the barricade boys are played by barricade boys from the West End production — Killian Donnelly (who was a swing and played pretty much all the roles, and then a principal Enjolras), Fra Fee (who understudied Enjolras and Marius), and Alistair Brammer (who was principal Marius for a while), for instance. Also, Hadley Fraser (who has played Grantaire, Marius, and Javert) as the Army General/Loudhailer.
It's not limited to the barricade boys: female Les Mis alumni appearing in the film include Katie Hall, Alexia Khadime, Gina Beck, and Caroline Sheen.
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