So I’ve been watching I Miserabili for the first time and I can’t stop thinking about how smart they were about Fantine????
Early on, multiple characters she’s close to refer to her “The Dumb One,” repeatedly. It’s wildly counter to her supposed perfection in the Brick, and it’s perfect. As a viewer, instead of being, “Why Fantine, Why Would You Make That Choice?” I’m suddenly, “Oh shit, you aren’t reading this situation well, and I see what you’re up against.”
(And it makes the Very Good Point that even if Fantine is flawed ... who cares? A flawed person didn’t deserve it either.)
And then, having cleared the air on the question of “Is Fantine just stupid?” (answer: “maybe”), they show that that’s a cruel misreading. Her actual flaw is repeatedly trying to rely on people to take care of her, even when those people treat her with contempt. (Which is finally a survival strategy I can see a character with her background actually having? I never understood how a kid who grew up on the streets could be so sheltered, but this makes Sense????) The people who call her “The Dumb One” are specifically the people she’s trying to trust. The phrase is as much about their contempt as her naivety.
AND THEN, when she’s losing everything and needs money for Cosette and the only person left is Marguerite (whom she’s not treating in that dependent way), Fantine says “We’re going out,” and she goes and laughs deliberately in the face of the charlatan dentist. She’s lost everything, but she’s taking control as a person, and she offers her teeth by choice. It’s incredible.
And in hating Madeleine, yes, she’s misreading the situation, but it’s real character growth for her to finally not throw herself at yet another person who treated her with contempt. She’s falling, but she’s growing.
It is BRILLIANT.
