Dir. Raymond Bernard (1934). Tom Hooper (2012).
Being based off the classic novel by Victor Hugo, Les Miserables has had many adaptions over the years. The most recent, an adaption of the stage-musical directed by Tom Hooper, and starring Hugh Jackman as Valjean, was successful with audiences and critics alike...mostly. Bernard's 1934 French-language adaption, clocking in at approximately 4 and a half hours in length, is hailed to this this day as the most faithful to Hugo's original work, with good reason. It stars Harry Baur as Valjean. The 1934 film was so extensive it was split into three smaller films.
I mention all of this because it's interesting to compare how film-making changes over the years with the same work. There was also a popular version in 1998, directed by Billie August, starring Liam Neeson as Valjean which I've yet to see. Despite the obvious differences in musical vs. straight adaption, both films are a delight to watch. The 2012 version positively zips by after watching the 1934 version, in no small part due to musical numbers keeping everything engaging. But for a near five-hour film, the 1934 version is no slouch, the story moves fast enough through the plot-events of the book and is never dull enough to warrant a lack of attention. The biggest differences I noticed was the different approach to Javert's suicide. In the 1934 version, a letter is received, written by the now-deceased Javert detailing why he felt his life was no longer valuable, we see nothing of his death. Compare this to the 2012 version where one of the most pivotal songs in the film is 'Javert's Suicide', where Javert (Russell Crowe) conveys the same message as the letter, but we see it directly, including his jump into the Seine.
But anyway, Valjean's candle-sticks. The convict Jean Valjean, released on parole from his nineteen-year sentence, is rejected from town-to-town for being a convict. He reaches a town, and seeks refuge in a church. Here, a kindly Bishop allows him to stay the night. The next day, Valjean is captured by the police, brought to the Bishop, and told that he stole the silver from the church for his own ends. The Bishop however, being a saintly man, speaks to Valjean as a friend, and tells him that he forgot to take two silver candlesticks in his haste. He relinquishes the valuables of the church, stopping Valjean from being re-imprisoned, and giving him more valuables to sell.
The approaches of the two versions are great to see. In Bernard's version, the maid of the church is extremely hesitant to allow Valjean, a convict, to stay in the church, fearing for her life. The Bishop allows it however, and yet Valjean falls back on his old ways, stealing from the church regardless of this kindness. The same message is conveyed in Hooper's version, but far faster, and of course, through song. You can see the 2012 version's approach here, and the 1934 version here. [A nice bit of trivia also, The Bishop in Hooper's version is played by Colm Wilkinson, the original actor to play Jean Valjean in the musical stage-adaption, adding a nice meta-element to the entire exchange, as we feel that it's Valjean's actual future redeemed self influencing him. Some of the best meta-casting I've seen this side of Birdman.]
This leads to a change in Valjean's entire character. Despite the fact he only was imprisoned for stealing a loaf of bread, we see that he continues to steal, in fact, worsens, stealing more valuable objects. What the Bishop's intervention does here is make Valjean question himself, the path of his life, both past and future. You can see it here, and you should, mainly for the crescendo. Despite all criticisms of Hooper's direction, his overuse of only either close-ups (which you can see in the clip) or long tracking shots, it's damn fine cinema. Melodrama is a part of all musicals, and here it's entirely focused on Valjean.
Skip now to far later in the film. And this is the moment that I think is brilliant, moreso in the 2012 version due to it's brevity. After Cosette (Amanda Seyfried), Valjean's adopted child has met her future love Marius (Eddie Redmayne), she wishes to stay in Paris. Valjean doesn't, as earlier in the day they saw Javert, the police inspector who has hunted Valjean his entire life. There is a quick shot of Valjean praying in front of the candlesticks. This is the first time we know what occurred to the candlesticks after Valjean re-lives his life as an honest man. In this one shot we see that he's kept them, as a symbol of the kindness of the Bishop.
It's so powerful. It tells you so much about the man without words, which are plentiful elsewhere in the film. I'll praise Hooper for this, the contrast is brilliant. Throughout his entire travels, becoming mayor of a town, meeting Fantine, escaping Javert, bargaining with the Therandiers for Cosette, and reaching Paris, he has kept these candlesticks. At his lowest low he never sold them, and in his moments of desperation he ensured that these candlesticks, gift of a now long-dead Bishop, were kept with him. They are a symbol of his redemption, his penitence, and his piety. The long-running influence of a kindly Bishop, leading to a changed man. Valjean adopts Cosette from the abusive Therandiers, redeeming his failure to save Fantine. He enters the revolutionary battle-zone to save Marius for Cosette, and succeeds. He doesn't take revenge on Javert, when he is at his mercy. This act is returned, as Javert allows him to escape saving Marius. In Bernard's version this is spoken aloud, in Hooper's it's done through the use of a gun. It leads to Javert's crisis of faith, and his suicide. And in the ending of the film, as Valjean dies, we know that Cosette and Marius will marry, happy in future.
All of this, because of the kind actions of a Bishop, who gave a convict two candlesticks. Bravo Victor Hugo, and bravo to Bernard, Hooper, and every other director who has kept these important objects in their adaptions. In the closing moments (2012 version here), Valjean is at peace with Cosette and Marius, who know his entire tale. Hooper brings back the Bishop and Fantine as personifications of how Valjean has changed so much for the better. The film ends in heaven, a barricade, with the dead young revolutionaries, Fantine, and Valjean singing "Do you hear the people sing?". It's cinematic, it's rousing, and it encapsulates all the threads of the film, a musical celebration of liberté, égalité, fraternité, and of course redemption.
The 1934 adaption is quieter, Valjean lays old in his bed, Cosette and Marius support him. He tells us the core message of the book, and particularly this adaption: "To love another person is to see the face of God". The camera pans to the table, to the two candlesticks alight on the table. We know that all they represent is culminated in this moment, and yet the flames, like Valjean, must die. Hooper uses The Bishop to remind us of the pivotal moment that changed Valjean's life, Bernard used the candlesticks. Both are excellent, and both transcend differences in time, film-making techniques, even colour and black-and-white, to symbolize that most pivotal of themes - love.
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