Les Misérables (1995 film)
Encyclopedia
Les Misérables is a 1995 film written and directed by Claude Lelouch. Set in France
during World War II
, it concerns a poor and illiterate man Henri Fortin (Jean-Paul Belmondo
) who is introduced to Victor Hugo
's classic novel Les Misérables
and begins to see parallels between it and his own life.
The film continues with the encounter of a ballerina Elisa and André Ziman (a young Jewish journalist who studies law) after an interpretation of a Les Misérables ballet. Later, during World War II, in an attempt to reach the Swiss border to escape from the Nazis, the Ziman family, which now include their daughter Salomé, meet Henri Fortin, who owns a moving company. They start talking about the work of Victor Hugo. During the effort to cross the French-Swiss border, the Ziman family entrust their daughter to Henri and register her in a Catholic school managed by nuns. The Zimans later find themselves ambushed, while trying to cross the frontier with other fugitives. Elisa is arrested and a wounded André finds shelter with the farmers who find him.
Henri takes part in the French Resistance with old friends, a gang of house robbers who take advantage of the surprise bombings. Elisa is part of a group of women who are forced to entertain Nazi and France's occupation offices. Due to her unwillingness to cooperate, she is sent to a concentration camp. After a bombing attack against a train which carried money of the Vichy France
, Fortin and his mates travel to Normandy, to visit the tavern where he lived during his childhood. The next day sees the first actions of the D-Day
invasion and Fortin helps the Allied forces to capture the beach, saving the life of the tavern owner's son, Marius.
At the end of the war, Henri accepts the offer to run a resort by the sea, in Normandy. There he receives a letter from the Ziman's daughter, Salomé, who has nobody else to contact, and he takes her with him to the resort (which he named Jean Valjean Château). Her mother, Elisa, arrives later, after surviving a concentration camp in Poland.
The past catches up with Fortin, however, when a former Vichy police agent accuses him of being part of his old gang during the war and robbing and burning a Vichy train. He is put in prison to await his trial. Meanwhile André Ziman manages to escape the farmers, who have turned into Thénardier-like wanna-be kidnappers, who intend to keep him secluded and live off his bank account. After reuniting with his family, Ziman represents his friend Fortin at his trial and wins.
The film ends with the civil marriage of Salomé and Marius, presided by Fortin, now the mayor, in the presence of the Zimans and the mother superior of the Catholic school who sheltered Salomé. Salomè, during the civil marriage, in the French version of the movie, wears a cross around her neck. André Ziman quotes Victor Hugo: "The best of our lives is yet to come."
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, it concerns a poor and illiterate man Henri Fortin (Jean-Paul Belmondo
Jean-Paul Belmondo
Jean-Paul Belmondo is a French actor initially associated with the New Wave of the 1960s.-Career:Born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, west of Paris, Belmondo did not perform well in school, but developed a passion for boxing and football."Did you box professionally very long?" "Not very long...
) who is introduced to Victor Hugo
Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo was a Frenchpoet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France....
's classic novel Les Misérables
Les Misérables
Les Misérables , translated variously from the French as The Miserable Ones, The Wretched, The Poor Ones, The Wretched Poor, or The Victims), is an 1862 French novel by author Victor Hugo and is widely considered one of the greatest novels of the nineteenth century...
and begins to see parallels between it and his own life.
Plot
The film starts with the accusation of the father of Henri Fortin, a chauffeur, for the death of his boss, who committed suicide. During the process and imprisonment, Henri's mother finds a job in a tavern at a beach in Normandy where Henri sees a movie about Les Misérables for the first time. While attempting to escape with another prisoner, Henri's father dies. Henri's mother, upon receiving the news, commits suicide. Henri grows up an orphan and learns boxing.The film continues with the encounter of a ballerina Elisa and André Ziman (a young Jewish journalist who studies law) after an interpretation of a Les Misérables ballet. Later, during World War II, in an attempt to reach the Swiss border to escape from the Nazis, the Ziman family, which now include their daughter Salomé, meet Henri Fortin, who owns a moving company. They start talking about the work of Victor Hugo. During the effort to cross the French-Swiss border, the Ziman family entrust their daughter to Henri and register her in a Catholic school managed by nuns. The Zimans later find themselves ambushed, while trying to cross the frontier with other fugitives. Elisa is arrested and a wounded André finds shelter with the farmers who find him.
Henri takes part in the French Resistance with old friends, a gang of house robbers who take advantage of the surprise bombings. Elisa is part of a group of women who are forced to entertain Nazi and France's occupation offices. Due to her unwillingness to cooperate, she is sent to a concentration camp. After a bombing attack against a train which carried money of the Vichy France
Vichy France
Vichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...
, Fortin and his mates travel to Normandy, to visit the tavern where he lived during his childhood. The next day sees the first actions of the D-Day
D-Day
D-Day is a term often used in military parlance to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. "D-Day" often represents a variable, designating the day upon which some significant event will occur or has occurred; see Military designation of days and hours for similar...
invasion and Fortin helps the Allied forces to capture the beach, saving the life of the tavern owner's son, Marius.
At the end of the war, Henri accepts the offer to run a resort by the sea, in Normandy. There he receives a letter from the Ziman's daughter, Salomé, who has nobody else to contact, and he takes her with him to the resort (which he named Jean Valjean Château). Her mother, Elisa, arrives later, after surviving a concentration camp in Poland.
The past catches up with Fortin, however, when a former Vichy police agent accuses him of being part of his old gang during the war and robbing and burning a Vichy train. He is put in prison to await his trial. Meanwhile André Ziman manages to escape the farmers, who have turned into Thénardier-like wanna-be kidnappers, who intend to keep him secluded and live off his bank account. After reuniting with his family, Ziman represents his friend Fortin at his trial and wins.
The film ends with the civil marriage of Salomé and Marius, presided by Fortin, now the mayor, in the presence of the Zimans and the mother superior of the Catholic school who sheltered Salomé. Salomè, during the civil marriage, in the French version of the movie, wears a cross around her neck. André Ziman quotes Victor Hugo: "The best of our lives is yet to come."
Cast
- Jean-Paul BelmondoJean-Paul BelmondoJean-Paul Belmondo is a French actor initially associated with the New Wave of the 1960s.-Career:Born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, west of Paris, Belmondo did not perform well in school, but developed a passion for boxing and football."Did you box professionally very long?" "Not very long...
: Henri Fortin / Jean Valjean - Michel BoujenahMichel BoujenahMichel Boujenah is a French actor, comedian, film director and screenwriter.-Career:Boujenah has appeared in over twenty-five films and almost ten television productions...
: André Ziman - Alessandra MartinesAlessandra MartinesAlessandra Martines is an Italian-French dancer and actress.-Biography:She is best known for her portrayal of Princess Fantaghirò in the Fantaghirò series and her interpretations under the direction of her ex husband, the French director Claude Lelouch, in several movies Alessandra Martines (born...
: Madame Ziman - Salomé Lelouch : Salomé Ziman
- Annie GirardotAnnie GirardotAnnie Girardot was a French actress.She began performing in 1955, making her film debut in Treize à table. Girardot won the Prix Suzanne Bianchetti in 1956, and in 1977 won the César Award for Best Actress portraying the title character in Docteur Françoise Gailland...
: Madame Thénardier (1942) - Philippe LéotardPhilippe LéotardPhilippe Léotard was a French actor, poet, and singer....
: Thénardier (1942) - Clémentine CélariéClémentine Célarié-Filmography:-References:...
: Catherine / Fantine - Philippe KhorsandPhilippe KhorsandPhilippe Khorsand was a French actor. His father was Iranian and his mother was French. He first appeared in a number of small roles in the 1970s. One of his most memorable roles as husband and father in Tableau d'honneur .Khorsand died of a hemorrhage at the age of 59 in Paris.-External links:* *...
: Le policier / Javert - Ticky HolgadoTicky HolgadoTicky Holgado , pseudonym of Joseph Holgado, was a French actor and a frequent collaborator with Jean-Pierre Jeunet....
: Le gentil voyou - RufusRufusRufus may refer to:People * Milan Rúfus , Slovak poet and writer* Rufus * Rufus , consul in 457* Several Saints Rufus* Rufus , French actor...
: Thénardier (1830) - Nicole CroisilleNicole CroisilleNicole Croisille , is a French singer and actress. She has appeared in 24 films between 1961 and 2005 and recorded albums since 1961. Croisille made an attempt to represent France in the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Tu m'avais dit," but was not selected.-External links:...
: Madame Thénardier (1830) - William LeymergieWilliam LeymergieWilliam Leymergie is a journalist television producer and host, best known for the French breakfast television news show Télématin, broadcast on public broadcaster France 2.- Biography :...
: Toureiffel - Jean MaraisJean Marais-Biography:A native of Cherbourg, France, Marais starred in several movies directed by Jean Cocteau, for a time his lover, most famously Beauty and the Beast and Orphée ....
: Monseigneur Myriel - Micheline PresleMicheline PresleMicheline Presle is a French actress also known in English language films as Micheline Prelle.Born Micheline Nicole Julia Émilienne Chassagne in Paris, she wanted to be an actress from an early age. She took acting classes in her early teens and made her film debut at the age of fifteen in the...
: La mère supérieure - Daniel Toscan du PlantierDaniel Toscan du PlantierDaniel Toscan de Plantier was a French film producer. Educated at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques he became advertising manager for the France Soir daily newspaper in 1966 and between 1975 and 1985 was director-general of the Gaumont Film Company, and president of Unifrance, an organisation for...
: Le comte de Villeneuve - Michaël CohenMichael CohenMichael Cohen may refer to:*Michael Cohen , Director of the Graduate Program in International Affairs at The New School*Michael Cohen , a Canadian actor...
: Marius - Jacques BoudetJacques BoudetJacques Boudet is a French stage and screen actor. He had great success in the 1980s with his appearance in Exercises in Style, and is featured in the film The Names of Love ....
: Le médecin de campagne - Robert HosseinRobert HosseinRobert Hossein is a French film actor of Azeri origin, director and writer. He directed the 1982 adaption of Les Misérables, and appeared in Vice and Virtue, Le Casse, Les Uns et les Autres and Venus Beauty Institute...
: Le maître de cérémonie - Darry CowlDarry CowlDarry Cowl, born André Darricau, was a French actor and musician. He won a César Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in 2004 for his role as a concierge in Pas sur la bouche , which proved to be his last appearance.He was born in Vittel, and came to prominence when he was cast by Sacha...
: Le bouquiniste - Antoine Duléry : Le voyou fou
- Jacques GamblinJacques GamblinJacques Gamblin is a French actor.He was born in Granville, Manche. He studied at the Centre dramatique de Caen before he tried to film in Paris.-Filmography:*Périgord Noir...
: Le bedeau
External links
- Les Misérables (1995) at Films de France