Human society is capable of going through dramatic changes by the actions of few individuals. In the early 19th century, liberty, equality, and freedom are not the rights for the people of France; especially for the poor. But if the people can rise and fight for their rights then they will show that equality is only achieved when everyone is dead.
In an enthralling story of a timeless demonstration and the survival of the human spirit, Les Miserables (2012) directed by Tom Hooper tells the story of an ex-convict hunted by a policeman whose life changes forever when he rises above his circumstances. This film is based on the 1985 Broadway production which was written based off the 19th century novel by Victor Hugo. Just as the adaptations for Les Miserables have many cause and effects, so does the story line. Because of the actions of few individuals, the lives of others are changed dramatically as they intertwine and overlap in unforgettable ways. The story is told over the course of seventeen years and with each passage of time, the human condition is changed as well. The rich only become richer and the poor only become poorer. But as the story unfolds, the characters each learn the meaning of justice, passion, sacrifice, unrequited love, and redemption.
The journey begins in 1815 at the galleys; this is already twenty-six years after the French Revolution. There has not been much change in France as the king is once again seated on the throne. Already, there is little equality at this time. In the very first lines of the film, the prisoners shout in unison, “Look Down!” In high angle shots, the prisoners are placed below everyone else in society. In the following cut, the official, Javert, is standing at a dramatically low angle looking down at the prisoners. He has taken his place above everyone and with the sky as his background he is seen almost at the same level as God. The fast-paced montage of the scene continues for a few more seconds before it slows down. The next shot is a medium shot where the outfits of the individuals are clearly visible. Javert is wearing light blue with a white collar and the prisoner, Jean Valjean, who he stops to talk to, is wearing a dark red. This symbolizes the colors of the French flag. Since France is the dominant force in everyone’s lives at the time, the colors on them only serve to show that France has affected all of their lives. By the end of the scene, Valjean is released from the galleys; he climbs to where Javert was standing before. And in a reverse of the beginning of the scene, Valjean is seen in a straight shot and Javert is shown in a high angle shot. This was done to show that Valjean has risen above his prisoner status and is on the same level now as a citizen. In the next scene, many Dutch angles were used in a montage of Valjean’s new life on parole. The use of a hand held camera to capture these shots was a deliberate choice to show the turmoil of his life now; he cannot find work as a convicted man, he sleeps in a stable, and he is tormented by every face he meets. The shots were filmed on location in the mountains of France to accentuate the realism of the film. But as the montage ends, the screen becomes filled with many yellows and oranges of a Church. The colors show the warmth that Valjean receives from the Bishop. He meets someone who will accept him and show him that God cares for everyone and that there is a way he can be an honest man.
In a connecting shot, Valjean rips up his prisoner badge, it flies into the sun in the sky and immediately shoots down into clouds and rain. The camera follows the paper into the city of Montreuil. The shot tells that the year is currently 1823. In very quick shots of montage, the ensemble sings “At the End of The Day.” The shots show the grime and the dirt of the city along with the disgusting poor people who litter the streets. Hooper made a conscience effort to hold nothing back, if the streets were really filthy in 1823, then he was going to make his streets filthy. Amongst the rain and filth of the city, every shot is very dark, as if it were underexposed. There are many shadows and every shot has a blue tone to it. The color expresses the sadness and depression faced by the starving poor. The police ride through the streets all wearing a dark blue uniform. As they pass the famished people, Hooper juxtaposes the rich and the poor in one simple shot. In the next verse of the song, the beggars sing, “At the end of the day, there’s another day dawning” and immediately the shot shows a beggars face lit up with the light from a break in the clouds. It provides a sense of hope for the poor that soon equality will be coming.
One key element of this film is that it is done entirely in song as a tribute to the Broadway Production. The film is done realistically, but through song, the reality heightens and allows for expressionism. But one significant part of the singing was that it was all sung live in multiple takes. In most films, songs are dubbed over the actors. Films with actual singing live have only been done a handful of times in history. So for this film, actors were given earpieces which allowed for an on set piano of the song to play in their ear. Each song was done in multiple takes in various ways. Hooper would pick which on he liked best and then had an orchestra play to match with the action of the scene. The live singing added to the drama of the scene and each actor was able to bring their character to life. Abandoning the standard method of pre-recording was challenging but by embracing a new method only made for a more iconic and extraordinary piece of work. The song sung on the streets is immediately continued into the factory scene where all the women are lined up in rows doing the same motions of sewing. They are all wearing blue except for one girl dressed in light pink. She is the main character, Fantine, and as shown, she is remarkably different from every other girl in that factory. She stands out in her dress and in her sweet melodious voice. Through Hoopers color scheme and angles of her, he shows that she is prettier than the rest of the girls and receives attention from the foreman, thus, every other girl chooses not to like her and essentially gets her fired from her job.
Without a job, Fantine needs to find another way to support herself and her child that she keeps at an Inn. If the poor cannot find work, they will not be able to eat, and if they cannot eat they will starve to death. There is only one choice left for Fantine where she must now sell herself to pay for her child. The scene unfolds in a dark and dismal place of the docks. Every shot is nearly black and cuts quickly. Some of the shots scarcely last a second long. Hooper needed to make his scenes as realistic as possible. So for this scene, Hooper drowned his set in 8 inches of mud, complete with real dead fish, and cold air temperature. The actors are actually shivering and have running noses due to the conditions of the set. Nothing on screen is fake; even when Fantine decides to sell her hair to get money; the actress actually gets it cut live on screen. The scene is filled with low and crooked angles, depicting an expressionist type of scene amidst realism. It creates a dream-like sequence as everything moves rapidly. As the boats hover above the people at the docks, the wooden angels stick out off the bow above their heads. An angel is usually used to represent purity, but in a scene filled with prostitutes these angels represent anything but that. They serve to contrast with where these people are in society, at the “bottom of the heap.” As Fantine degrades herself further into this new life; all of the ladies line up with Fantine at the front and a man is walked down towards her. The shot acts almost as a reverse marriage where instead of the bride meeting the groom, the groom walks up to the bride. The ladies soften their singing in unison and sound as a choir singing at a wedding. In the last line of the shot, Fantine sings, “Don’t they know they’re making love to one already dead?” This is significant for it evokes a message that she is already dead on the inside and her life now means nothing.
Shortly after, in a quick cut rather than a fade or dissolve, the scene changes to another story line in another town. Fantine’s daughter, Cosette, is introduced. She is living a miserable existence in the inn of the Thenardier’s and their daughter, Eponine. In these brief shots, inequality is vastly displayed as Cosette is dressed in rags, doing the chores, and getting yelled at for nothing while Eponine is wearing a new winter dress and bonnet being adored by her mother who talks to her in a sweet voice. Further, as Madame Thenardier continues to scold Cosette, the dialogue is exchanged through slits in the staircase. This shows the barrier between them. Since Cosette is not really their child, they can treat her as a slave; there is no attachment that they have for her thus a wall is built between them. The scene continues into a montage of the Inn, showing how they are dishonest people robbing every man blind of their possessions. Hooper adds the comic relief element to this scene, breaking up the dramatization of the sad life of the poor. Through the various camera pans, angles, tilts, and the mixed focus of the shots, Hooper gives some expressionism into the realism of the film. He uses the expressionism to tell of the inner psychological state of the Thenardiers. In all of the close ups, the camera was about ten inches from the actors face bringing to life the scene and bringing the audience on a journey closer into their life.
Nine years later, it is now 1832 in Paris. In another connecting scene with no cutting, the time lapse is seen as the shot goes from dark immediately to the brightness of day. After looking at dark images for half of the film, the white sky behind white stone buildings is nearly blinding. Things have taken a turn for the worse over the years as poverty has increased along with the degradation of the time period. But with this blinding light, the director has moved the attention to where he wants it; contrasting the rich and the poor. The beggars’ huddle together begging for scraps of bread; in low camera angles the subjective camera follows their eyes to the rich people who turn their faces away in disgust. The scene sweeps through the streets following a young homeless boy, Gavroche, as he tells of the heartache of the city. In many quick cuts and edits, a mob has formed around two bourgeois boys who are trying to rally the people to fight for their rights. In this scene they compare the people who are trying to fight for the rights of the poor, and the poor who are trying to steal from the rich. Through this use of juxtaposition, it shows how poverty and crime creates sin. The purpose of this scene is to get one to question authority. By the straight angles looking at the bourgeois, and then at the people, it asks why there is suffering alongside grotesque wealth. Subconsciously the director tries to show the people on the same even ground because in actuality they are all people with no differences aside from social status.
As society has degraded, the tables have now turned; the innkeepers who were once wealthy have now become “a swarm of worms and maggots” begging and conning people out of their money. That goes the same for their prettified daughter, Eponine, who now dresses in rags, with matted hair, and does her father’s bidding. Yet, still underneath she is beautiful. The lighting surrounding her is always dark except for her face, which is always well-lit. This provides a glimpse into her world of darkness showing that she still has a light spot in her world that she can always look to. This light spot would be her unrequited love for her best friend, Marius. Most of her shots are close ups showing the horrified and submissive attitude that she has now attained. But in the busy marketplace scene, Eponine and Marius catch a quick glance of Cosette and Valjean handing money to the poor. Marius falls for the “bourgeois two-a-penny thing” which breaks Eponine’s heart further. But as Eponine still gazes at Cosette, she undeniably brings to the attention their now reversed roles when she whispers to herself, “Cosette, how can it be, we were children together, look what’s become of me.”
As many new faces are introduced in this new period of time, few individuals become the center of attention. Enjolras is the leader of the revolution who brings the people in line to start a revolution. As this new scene unfolds in the café as Enjolras tells the students of his plans, most of the shots are built of reaction shots. The character speaking is only shown for a slight second and the reaction of those around is the remainder of his line. This is to show the affect that the words have on the individuals. If he is talking of equal rights and freedom for everyone, the students are always responding to his words. The scene taking place is also made of dramatically quick cuts. Hooper most likely builds his film of quick edits because he wants to direct the attention of the audience. Unlike various stage adaptations, directors did not have control of the audience’s attention, but now in a film, Hooper is using this control to his advantage. This scene unlike many others is very warm, using yellows as the central color instead of blue. This is done to show a new world about to dawn, giving hope and security and showing that the dark of ages has passed. Again immediately following, the next scene is again blue. Here, Eponine bring Marius to Cosette. They approach each other with a wrought iron gate between them. Paralleling with Cosette speaking to Madame Thenardier through the stairs as a child, now as a grown girl, she speaks to Marius through a gate. This is to show that Cosette is fenced in; she had never truly been freed. She lives a sheltered life now under the care of Valjean, but her whole life is looking from behind a fence. Eponine had been left in the shadows as even the light on her face has gone. She is truly left in the dark as lights appear on the faces of Marius and Cosette.
As Eponine realizes their reciprocated love for one another, she falls lower and lower in Marius’ eyes. She understands that she will never be equal to Cosette and now she is at the very bottom while Cosette “bursts like the music of angels; the light of the sun.” Marius has confided in Eponine that he is “at one with the Gods in heaven” and that he “soars through a world that new that is free.” As they walk and he says this line, Marius jumps up on a stone to heighten the idea that he is above everyone else and is one with God. He places himself level with God at this point because he has found love. Now that Eponine is lost in shadows, it starts to rain. The rain serves to enhance her despair. In little cutting of the scene, Eponine weeps to herself about “happiness that she will never know.” The scene starts out with Eponine in a full wide shot walking slowly. The shots gradually get closer and closer until they are in a close up and one can feel the emotion of her misery. The rain drops pouring down her face act as tears for her reality that he will never love her, and the idea is only in her mind. By the end of the scene, Eponine is sitting in the corner of an alley with a steep high angle shot looking down at her. It conveys the idea of how she is placed at the bottom of society and at the very bottom of Marius’ heart.
At this point in the story, all of the story lines from the various characters converge with the same thought that it is unknown of what tomorrow brings. Each have their own struggle boiling inside of them and it is only one day more before it all explodes. This dramatic picture that takes place cuts between every character as they share their conflict either to each other or to themselves. But throughout this entire scene, there is darkness with minimal lighting among each of the characters. As the characters in unison crescendo into the ending note the shot fades into the blinding light of day that was previously done. This is the ultimate point for the beginning of the revolution that the students have been building towards. Through speed montage, the students rally the citizens to help them build a barricade to fight against France. The revolution that is happening is perennial to every era of civilization. The oppressed want a better life and armies are created of people that have nothing to lose that will fight against those in power. To demonstrate this in the film, Hooper shows the people unite in building this barricade. The actors literally were the ones building the barricade on set. This scene was done in one take with multiple cameras and cameramen dressed in period uniforms to blend with the scene. In the few minutes that the barricade is being built, it looks like mayhem in the streets. But in reality, this shows the fact that society is a jungle with the strong taking everything and leaving everyone else to wither away. Upon the completion of the students’ barricade, the camera pans to Enjolras standing on the top with a red flag. As the cutting ceases for a moment, the hue of the shot turns red, as Enjolras sings, “Red: the blood of angry men.” This moment foreshadows what is to come by the end of the revolution.
The scene shortly continues with dark images as night has fallen. Javert has pretended to be part of the revolution to gain information to tell the French army. When they realize he is a spy, the cameras show him at a high angle looking down upon him. Each shot of the students and Enjolras, is done in a subjective point of view and a low angle looking up. This shows the reverse equality that is being gained by the revolutionaries as they detain Javert. The first attack strikes upon the students as they were not expecting it. The only casualty in the first attack is of Eponine who jumps in front of a bullet to save Marius from being shot. As she huddles at the bottom of the barricade in a high angle shot, tending to her wound, Marius sees her. It begins to rain again as Eponine smiles through the tears on her face. The rain signifies the wretchedness of her life; it becomes a motif for Eponine’s character. The happiest point in her life was her death because she knew she was finally free of the torment, and she could enjoy her last moments in Marius’ arms. As she sings in her last breaths, the camera angle is straight forward on her, showing that she is finally equal. Valjean arrives at the barricades and asks to take care of the traitor, Javert. But instead of killing him, he rises a step ahead of him and lets him go free. All the while this scene takes place, the interaction between Valjean and Javert is done on the same straight camera angle. Valjean has shown justice and mercy to the one who has tried to arrest him for years. It places them at the same level of one another for the first time.
The revolutionaries realize that their battle will not be won because the people of Paris have not stirred. Light has poured into this scene from the light of day, but the shadows on their faces only accentuate the grief on the inevitable. But Gavroche, sees a chance to rally them through singing their battle song. In a solo, the sound uplifts the spirit of the scene and everyone joins in song with him. Gavroche is shown singing in a low angle raising this little kid above all the revolutionaries. When Gavroche steps out in front of the barricade to collect ammunition, he is faced with the French army. Even then, his shots are comprised of low angles while the army is shown at high angles. This gives a heightened sense that this little boy has more courage, more power, and more strength than the entire French army. When they shoot an innocent boy down, he never finishes saying his line. The same was true when Eponine died. The word she never had a chance to say was “Grow” and the word Gavroche never had a chance to say was “Up.” If one combines it, it says “Grow Up;” this is something both of them never had a chance to do. They were lost in a world filled with grief and inequality and paid the price for everyone else’s sins. Enjolras tells the army before the shooting begins, “Let others rise, to take our place, until the earth is free.” This line says much about the oppression that befalls the people. It gives hope that at some point, everyone will be equal and the earth will be free. With that, inexorably, the final battle ensures and Enjolras stands before about ten army men prepared for his fate. The shots turn into the red hue that was seen before. It foreshadows the deaths about to occur. The music slows down in a powerful moment that displays the human condition in full force. Enjolras raises his red flag and is killed. For the first time, slow motion is used by Hooper as Enjolras falls out of the window still clutching his red flag. The slow music and the slow motion show that finally he is on level ground with everyone else.
Javert walks through the bloodbath and red streets after the fighting had ceased. The army men and the revolutionaries are all on the same level at this point. One can argue that equality was now achieved as each foe is lying on the ground in the same manner. The French army man and the revolutionary have no greater social status than the other. The camera pan through the streets of the dead only serves to heighten this point being made. The next scene turns dark, nearly black as Javert has an internal quarrel with himself. He cannot go on living in “the debt of a thief.” Javert’s only solution for his problem is suicide. The camera goes to a close up of his shoes as he walks along and balances on the edge of the bridge. This shot was done previously in one of his other soliloquies. It enhances the point that he faces two options; to continue his struggle in life or end it all. In his first soliloquy he chose the first option and now he chooses the latter. In a low angle shot from under the bridge looking up at Javert, it mimics the first scene of the movie where he stood against the sky looking down at the prisoners. Except now, he looks down in misery against a black sky. The song he sings carries the same tune of Valjean’s soliloquy from the beginning of the film as well. In Valjean’s and Javert’s soliloquies they each sing about a change of heart that they have for the better. In using the same melody for their realizations, it paints the convict and the policeman on equal grounds. By reprising events, Hooper directs the audience’s attention back to where he wants it; letting the audience get inside the characters mind to their inner psychological state.
Hooper greatly uses parallelism at the end of the movie. The characters and the songs they sing parallel their grief felt at this time. As Marius and Cosette vow their love for one another as they reprise their duet, “A Heart Full of Love” and Valjean becomes the equivalent of Eponine at this point in time. He echoes her line saying, “She was never mine to keep.” Through this symbolic parallelism, the struggles of the character overlap showing that the human condition is universal. In the last scene of the movie, Valjean waits in the convent for his imminent death. The entire scene takes place in close ups, clearly portraying the misery and wretchedness of the individual. In the quick cutting montage, surprisingly, the scene does not speed up. Instead, the scene moves along at just a quick enough of pace for the goose bumps to set in. The idea conveyed is that any amount of people can unite together and rise above their circumstances for the better. The song that is sung is a reprise of the song used for Fantine’s death and fades into a reprise of the song, “Do You Hear the People Sing?” Valjean passes away and walks to meet all the others that died in the battle who are awaiting him on top of a newly constructed barricade. Every single shot of the characters that are standing on the top of the barricade is captured at a low angle raising them high above. These low angles shots only add to the proposal that equality is only reached at death. This scene is the only time in the movie where every shot is at full exposure. The light in the sky is beaming above the barricade and the colors are vibrant. The dark hue and the blue are replaced by warmth and smiles showing that freedom and equality have finally been achieved.
Each character on the barricade is joyful while they sing about “the future that they bring when tomorrow comes.” In all the same low angle shots, this is the only time these wretched characters smile because they are finally free and equal to every other person standing beside them. Hooper portrays a scene about the human condition and the survival of the human spirit through these characters which give hope to those living today that eventually every human will be equal. The point being made is that unlike their uneven lives on earth, they are at last equal in death. The theme of the film is relevant to every era of society and especially relevant today. The film cannot be better summed up than when Gavroche sings the lyrics: “This is the land that fought for liberty, now when we fight, we fight for bread. Here is the thing about equality; everyone’s equal when they’re dead.”
