#les miserables 2000

[blond-valblond]

*screechs in valvert*

I need to write for them again

In my mind Valjean rescued Malkovert from the seine and proposed to him,then they got married and lived happily ever after

[lesmisadaptationranking]

Les Misérables Mini Series 2000: B-tier

Ok, first, let's adress the elephant sized nose in the room: Gerard Depardieu is a massive fucking piece of shit, to say it lightly. I know there's been some controversy in the fandom concerning this adaptation and it went as far as harassing a user who said this was their favorite. And I know that "separating the art from the artist" is difficult and nuanced and having that fucking guy play the main character makes it difficult to not constantly remind one's self of who he is and what he did. Still, I do want to give this adaptation as fair of a rating as the other ones, despite him. If you disagree with my aproach to this, I 100% understand that, but I really beg you not to come after me for this.

Now that that's (hopefully) settled, onto the mini series.

I don't actually think that this is too bad of an adaptation. It does have flaws, which I will get into, but aside from these, I think it's mostly a pretty stellar watch that turned out being better than I expected.

(As much as I hate to say it because of obvious reasons), I mostly like this version of Valjean. Generally, a lot of characters in this adaptation feel more humanized than in other adaptations. For example Simplice getting more screentime than in any other adaptation so far (minus Shojo Cosette) and showing how lying affects her mentally. Showing the bishop open up his church to everyone in need. Javert showing a more empathetic side by offering Fantine advice on getting "proper/decent" work instead of prostitution (it's douchey and condescending but it comes from somewhat of a good place) and asking Cosette if she's happy living with the Thénardiers. Having the Thénardiers be a loving family towards each other; M and Mme being very affectionate to each other and adoring their kids (in the first 2 parts at least), letting them lie in their bed and telling them stories. Gavroche asking for a motherly kiss on the forehead from Éponine and pretending to get shot to mess with Courfeyrac and literally getting his ass kicked for it. Petit Gevrais had a pet (not sure what it was, but it was!).

Catherine being the only thing JVJ had left of Cosette after she moved in with Marius actually broke something inside of me. AND we finally get a live action Cosette who questions JVJ but doesn't have her hate him.

I also found it to be an interesting little detail that Javert addressed Madeleine with Sie/vous (formal you) until he found out he was JVJ, and from then on addressed him with du/tu (informal you), and only switching back to formal after bringing Marius to his grandfather's house.

Also my favorite thing is that JVJ was released on tuesday the 14th of october and we watched it on tuesday the 14th of october. I was so excited I nearly fell off the couch.

I do think that Fantine was a little bit neglected in this one. It feels like absolutely no time passes between her getting fired and turning to prostitution. One scene of her trying to find work and being rejected would've showcased her desparation, but we never got that so it feels rushed.

Although I like this Valjean, he was characterized a bit wobbly in the beginning. When we first meet him and when he's released he's very hopeful and brighteyed, for lack of a better term. He's excited, he talks about what a beautiful and hopeful and happy color the yellow of his papers is. So having the almost very next scene being him considering stabbing the bishop is a liiiiittle bit of tonal whiplash.

He also berates and even hits Toussaint (who is a man for some reason). ALSO HE IMPLIES THAT HE HAS ROMANTIC FEELINGS FOR COSETTE?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?

When he confesses his past to Marius, Marius seems pretty chill with it, but then this exchange happens:

JVJ: "I love her."

M: "As a father?"

JVJ: "No. I love Cosette."

Like, I totally understand why Marius was so insistant on keeping him away from her. I wouldn't want my wife's father around her after he told me he has incestous feelings for her. He also explains this to Cosette when they go see JVJ on his deathbed. And it retrospectively makes the scenes where JVJ talks to Cosette about love and her becoming a woman disgusting, because it initially had the feel of "Oh, he's just not ready for his little girl to grow up so fast and he wants to keep her safe" and now it's just EUGHHH. Also the fact that it's Gerard Depardieu is just so disgusting. This scene made me consider putting the movie in F, to be honest.

And I think he stepped on a rat in the sewers.

Also they messed up the timeline, which makes Cosette three years older than she's supposed to be, which would be whatever, since it's not the first time anyone's messed it up. But this leads to an issue:

Since she's 20 in 1832, Cosette was born in 1812. BUT Fantine found out she's pregnant with her in 1813...? Because she finds out 2 years before Valjean is released. It's a small detail but it really drove me insane while watching.

Also also, M and Mme are said to have met during Waterloo which would make Éponine born 1816-17, even though she was shown to be older than Cosette. And Azelma is a baby when Éponine is around 5 so she should be around 12 in 1832. But she's ~15. The math isn't mathing, as the kids say.

Also also what the fuck did they do with Gavroche? Cosette and him meet when she's 10 and her and JVJ first arrive in Paris. The problem? He's older than her (let's say around 13 maybe). 6 years later, she leaves the convent at 16. How old is he? 13. Why does the boy not age? And why is the boy not a Thénardier? And why tease Gavroche (who sells coffins) say that no one wants to buy this one coffin because there's a hole in it and... not utilize it?!?!?! Have his job be anything else then because I got so hyped to see the coffin scheme be played out in a live action adaptation. Real let down.

Another thing that bugs me is that they idealize Marius. Like, they seriously had everyone say "Omggg Marius, your speech was so fetch, it was the best doctorate paper in the history of college also you're so cool you're one of Les Amis now and not a Bonapartist :DDD". I saw that Courfeyrac was listed in the credits, so when a guy was hyping Marius up after his presentation (or whatever it was), I assumed it was Courfeyrac. But it was Enjolras. He would NEVER.

This Marius hype that half the adaptations had so far just- I don't really like it. He's a pathetic little wienie with a complicated relationship to the paternal figures in his life and their corresponding political belives and him trying to figure his life out and have autonomy without depending on other people's money is so much more interesting than "Marius doez revolution cuz Mariuz is cuul :3". I get why they do it. But I'm not a fan.

Last big point is how they handled Éponine in this one. It's genuinely hard for me to pinpoint my exact problem with it. In this adaptation it feels like they tried to villainize her a lot more than in others. I don't think she should be glorified, because she is a complex and pretty messed up character, but it feels like they made her more evil than her parents in this one. Maybe I'm misunderstanding the Madonna-Whore complex, but if you take into consideration that they repeatedly make her say she wants to sleep with him and trying to get him to have sex with her in return for a favor and how they just make her unapologetically evil, and contrast that to Cosette's sweetness and innocence... it just feels wrong, yknow?

Also couldn't help but notice how JVJ's sister is never mentioned. He said he felt proud stealing bread for children, but never mentioned whose children.

One thing I noticed is that Victurnien actually calls Maeleine Valjean. In front of Javert. Which is probably a german dub exclusive mistake but I found it extremely funny.

And they pronounce Marius as "Mariüs", which is the French way to say it, yes, but it just sounds so wrong in german. Like, get your French Mariass out of here and sprich deutsch du hurensohn.

Now, you might say "Hey, this is a pretty long list of complaints for an adaptation that's ranked this high". And you'd be right. But honestly, these flaws are relatively minor things (except the incest implications) — timeline inconsistencies and mischaracterizations (which should be a bigger deal, but at this point I'm just happy that they're at least there) — that just stuck in my mind and I wanted to talk about. It's still a rather fun watch and it just didn't feel right to put it much lower than B.

Maybe I'll change my mind and put it lower eventually, but until then it'll remain in the upper half of the ranking.

FUCK GERARD DEPARDIEU

[moonyjulian]

[lenievi]

during the Montreuil-sur-Mer era, Malkovich!Javert would be so annoying, actually. Any time he'd have a complaint, he would go to Madeleine and just talk his head off

and Madeleine would just be all stop wasting both of our times, Javert, but next week, Javert would be back with something new

additionally, Madeleine would often tell him to just offer the person to work at his factory, and Javert would just keep grudgingly recruiting more workers for Madeleine's firm because he could not refuse the Mayor

[beforewecutthefatonesdowntosize]

Guys, I have been thinking and I guess we haven't hated Félix Tholomyès as much as we could...

This needs to be changed, this idiot needs to be spoken about and hated properly by this fandom!

[ariel-seagull-wings]

what are some things you dont like about Les Mis 2000

Definitly the insertion of Freudian subtext in the Valjean x Cosette originally platonic father and daughter relationship.

Also Asia Argento (without entering in her real life controversies) may be precursor of making "Eponine hot goth looking girl" trend.

@the-blue-fairie @princesssarisa

[on-holidays-by-mistake]

[skuggspel17]

The Les Misérables tv mini-series from 2000 was my introduction to the story and remains my favorite adaption of the book. I read the book because I watched this series, and thanks to the book I also read other of Victor Hugo’s stories. I discovered my favorite one - The Man Who Laughs, thanks to this mini-series. This video is the main theme and also a kind of summary that’s vague enough for people not familiar with the story to become intrigued by it, and familiar enough for people who know the story to know exactly what’s being shown.