Les Misérables

Tom Hooper directs this Academy Award-winning big-screen adaptation of the stage musical based on Victor Hugo's classic novel. Set in 19th-century France, the film tells the story of Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman), a prisoner who breaks his parole and spends the next two decades fleeing from obsessive police inspector Javert (Russell Crowe). In his quest for personal redemption, Valjean adopts Cosette (Isabelle Allen/Amanda Seyfried), daughter of impoverished prostitute Fantine (Anne Hathaway), and is eventually elected as town mayor. But despite the events of the intervening years, can he ever really shake off his past? The ensemble supporting cast includes Helena Bonham Carter, Sacha Baron Cohen, Eddie Redmayne and Samantha Barks. Hathaway won the Academy Award, Golden Globe and BAFTA for her supporting performance. The film also won two additional Oscars and three BAFTAs, and received Golden Globe Awards for Best Motion Picture - Musical Or Comedy and Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical Or Comedy (Jackman) Les Misérables is a deeply powerful film that's rich with raw feeling, the grittiness of life in 19th-century France, and the conflict between right, wrong, and the concept of redemption. Les Misérables takes viewers on an emotionally exhausting journey as it follows ex-convict Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman) after his release from prison. Valjean breaks parole, but he is granted a second chance by a kind bishop. He then moves from place to place throughout France, trying to live an honest life while ruthless policeman Javert (Russell Crowe) hunts him relentlessly. Valjean meets the broken-spirited Fantine (Anne Hathaway), promises to care for her daughter Cosette (Amanda Seyfried) as Fantine is about to die, and finds his own life completely changed as a result of that promise. Like the stage play, the film is dark, gritty, and passionate, but it enhances the sense of place in early- to mid-1800s France as a staged version simply cannot. The intricately woven plot is somewhat easier to understand here, thanks to an abundance of visual cues and the camera's unique ability to focus in so closely on the actors' faces. In fact, the intimacy of the extreme close-ups used throughout is at once uncomfortable and hugely effective.