Monday, January 27, 2014

Les Miserables 2012 References to the Book

Upon viewing the Les Miserables film after reading the book(which took a whole month!), I noticed a whole lot of details and plot points that were influenced by the book. Which I thought was really cool. Here's a list of the ones I noticed. Why? Because I'm a geek and I totally get exited about this kind of thing. XD
Huzzah!


  • In the scenes that take place at the Bishop's house, they kept in his sister and housekeeper, Madamoiselle Baptistine and Madame Magloire. Huzzah for keeping in totally minor characters!
  • Jean Valjean's factory makes black glass. More specifically, black glass beads that are strung onto Rosaries.
  • After Javert thinks he made a mistake in suspecting Valjean of being a convict, he requests to be fired from his position. I'm glad they kept in this detail from the book, because it shows how devoted to the law Javert was, and how he wouldn't ever make exceptions- even for himself.
  • Okay, this is a super minor one, but it's Christmas Eve when Valjean arrives at the Thenardier's Inn to rescue Cosette. I don't know if that's how it's staged in the musical or not. Oh, and he gets Cosette her doll, too! Oh for cute.
  • Jean Valjean and Cosette actually get pursued through Paris by Javert, and escape by hiding in a Convent. They actually show him using a rope from a streetlamp to haul Cosette over the wall. And then Fauchelevent is working in the garden, and they ask him to let them stay there. The only way this could have been more awesome is if they had a song where the Cemetery incident happened. :D
  • Gavroche lives in the old Elephant statue! I know there is no way you can do that on stage, but I liked how they kept that in here.
  • After A Heart Full of Love, Valjean comes outside and looks around the fence, with Marius hiding just out of sight. After Valjean goes inside, Marius picks up a handkerchief, and is later seen cuddling it during Drink With Me. I am of the mindset that Valjean left the handkerchief there, to see if anyone was serenading Cosette by the gate. Because if they were adding in that bit from the book on purpose, I'm one happy fangirl! :)
  • Probably the most important and obvious change was that Eponine stole Cosette's letter and kept it until she was shot, then gave it to Marius. I really loved this change back to the book, because it gives Eponine more depth and inner-conflict than in the musical. This of course, leads to a myriad of other changes, like Marius joining the revolution because he wants to die (since he thinks he won't be able to see Cosette again), and Gavroche delivering the letter Marius wrote at the barricade.
  • The Army Captain yells "Who's there?!?"
    and Enjolras replies... "FRENCH REVOLUTION!"
    When I was done laughing, I remembered that that was in the book. XD
  • Marius threatens to blow up the barricade with a powder-keg of gunpowder, in order to make the Army retreat. This gets mixed reactions from the various students. XD
    "What were you thinking Marius, you could have gotten us all killed!!"
    "Marius, you saved us all!"
  • Eponine dies taking a bullet for Marius.
  • Enjolras and Grantaire are killed by a firing squad while cornered on the top floor of the Wine Shop.
  • While going through the sewers with Marius, there's a brief moment when Valjean almost sinks into a cesspool. I remember that part really freaked me out when I read the book!
  • Marius' Grandpa is in this! And they sort of worked him into Every Day. XD
All the book goodies almost make up for the way they made Master of the House even more crude and disgusting.
If they had kept in Grantaire's verse in Drink With Me, that would have made the whole "I'll die with you, Enjorlas!" thing a tad more significant, and that would have made up for Master of the House. XD Oh picky, picky, picky.

-Xochitl (Who is too tired to put up any Walk for Life pictures at the moment, so enjoy this random post which was written in advance.)

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