Les Misérables - Prisoners of Fate

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Movie
Original title Les Misérables - Prisoners of Fate
Country of production France
USA
Germany
Italy
Spain
original language French
English
Publishing year 2000
length 360 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Josée Dayan
script Didier Decoin
production Gérard Depardieu
Jean-Pierre Guérin
Doris Kirch
music Jean-Claude Petit
camera Willy Stassen
cut Marie-Josèphe Yoyotte
Adeline Yoyotte
occupation
synchronization

Les Misérables - Prisoners of Fate is a four-part literary film adaptation by Josée Dayan produced for television . The international co-production was the 25th film adaptation of the novel Die Elenden (OT: Les Misérables ) by Victor Hugo .

The film takes place during the French Restoration at the beginning of the 19th century and deals with the fate of Jean Valjean, who is sentenced to around 20 years in prison after stealing bread. For Inspector Javert in particular, his dismissal does not mean rehabilitation , since in his eyes a criminal always remains a criminal. He therefore stubbornly pursues Valjean, who is on the run until almost the end of his life.

action

Part 1

Jean Valjean is sentenced to a long prison term for stolen bread. Two years before his release from prison, he saved the life of a prisoner in a prison fire. He was given two months' imprisonment, which the relentless Inspector Javert added to his existing sentence after a minor incident. Two years and two months later, Valjean was released after around 20 years in prison. He stays for one night in the church of the Bishop of Digne, where he steals silver cutlery in the morning and only does not murder the bishop in his sleep because he seems to be crying. Valjean is picked up at a passport control, but the bishop claims that he gave him the cutlery. He also gives Valjean two valuable silver candlesticks. So he brings the ashamed Valjean back on the path of virtue. Although he steals a coin from a little boy, he wants to give it back as soon as he remembers the candlesticks. The boy files a complaint and Javert, who hears this, is confirmed in his opinion: once a criminal, always a criminal.

Six years later Valjean rose socially under the name Monsieur Madeleine. In Montreuil he is the mayor and owner of a weaving mill that makes cloth from nettles . The young Fantine also works in his weaving mill. She was once impregnated by Valjean's friend Felix and abandoned by him. After two years she gave her child Cosette to the landlord Thénardier, to whom she had to pay a large sum every month for care. Cosette is kept as a maid by the Thénardiers. When Fantine's boss finds out that she has an illegitimate child, she is fired. She now earns her money with prostitution, which is how Javert notices, who was transferred to Montreuil as an inspector to investigate Monsieur Madeleine's business. Fantine has her hair cut off to pay the Thénardiers' monthly payments, but soon becomes seriously ill. When Javert wants to lock her up after an unjustified complaint from a citizen, Valjean takes her out of prison and gives her to nuns to care for. It is not only this unauthorized action that brings Javert against Valjean. The haulier Fauchelevent, who feels that Javert has treated him unfairly, encouraged Javert to research "Monsieur Madeleine". Javert accuses the mayor of being the former prisoner Valjean, but retracts his testimony when an alleged Valjean is about to be sentenced in Arras . The real Valjean then goes to Arras, where he admits in court that he is Valjean himself. Knowing that he will shortly be arrested, Valjean returns to Montreuil.

Part 2

Fantine is dying. When Valjean returns from Arras, he claims to have brought her daughter Cosette, as this is the last wish of the dying. Javert appears to arrest Valjean. He relentlessly reveals to Fantine that Valjean lied, and Fantine dies after a short time. Valjean, however, wants to grant Fantine's last wish. He escapes and can even escape a large-scale search. With the fortune that his factory brought in, he went to the Thénardier family, disguised as a simple pilgrim, from whom he bought Cosette. He escapes further blackmail attempts by the landlords by escaping prematurely from the inn with Cosette. At a market he dresses Cosette. Both move on to Paris. Meanwhile, Thénardier is arrested by Javert for helping a wanted convict to escape. This affects him all the more because he once made a name for himself at the Battle of Waterloo by saving the life of an officer.

In Paris, Valjean, who now calls himself LeBlanc, and Cosette find accommodation with Madame Gorbeau with the help of young Gavroche. When they realize that the neighborhood has been under police surveillance for some time, they both flee. They finally save themselves in the convent Picpus, where the haulier Fauchelevent got a job as a gardener years ago through Valjean's mediation. Fauchelevent recognizes Monsieur Madeleine in him and promises to help him. Before the head of the order Innozentia he passed Valjean as his brother Ultime, while Valjean introduced Cosette as his daughter. Cosette is accepted into the monastery as a novice. As a gardener, Valjean provides food, lodging and training. Javert suspects that Valjean will still be in the monastery after a few days, but does not receive a search warrant from his superior. Rather, he should take care of spying on revolutionary students, who are increasingly expressing republican sentiments openly. Baron Marius Pontmercy, who is close to the Republic and stayed with Madame Gorbeau in the room that Valjean and Cosette used to live in, soon became one of the people being monitored.

A few years later, Cosette became a young woman. With her communion the question arises whether she will stay as a nun in the monastery. She decides against it. On a sightseeing tour, Mother Innozentia also introduces the two gardeners of the monastery to the police prefect. The speech about the worth of criminals outraged Valjean, who vigorously opposed the prefect's view and suggested that prisons be abolished. Javert hears the speech and immediately suspects Valjean to be behind the gardener. He ensures that Mother Innocentia receives him. She lies to him about Valjean and later allows others to scourge her as a punishment. Valjean, however, leaves the monastery with Cosette. In the Jardin du Luxembourg they both meet Marius, who immediately falls in love with Cosette. He gives up Gavroche to look for the young woman. She appears shortly afterwards with Valjean, who now calls himself Favre, in Madame Gavroche's house, where the Thénardier family, who call themselves Jandret, are now also staying. The Thénardiers have plummeted socially and their two teenage daughters Éponine and Azelma are doing badly. Thénardier recognizes Valjean, who brings alms to the family on behalf of the monastery. He plans to take revenge on Valjean. Marius and Gavroche overhear these plans and decide to stand by Valjean.

part 3

Thénardier turns to the infamous midnight gang to get revenge on Valjean. Marius goes to Javert to prevent the attack on Jean Valjean. Javert is interested in the gang's arrest. Marius should fire a warning shot if the police should take action. It is only when Valjean and Thénardier meet that Marius learns that Valjean's opponent is the man who once saved his father's life at the Battle of Waterloo. Nevertheless, he fired the shot when it became clear that Cosette should be harmed if necessary so that Valjean Thénardier would give money. When Valjean realizes that Javert is going to arrest the gang, he flees the window. Thénardier, in turn, reports to Javert that the man who appears as Favre is none other than Valjean.

Although Javert has arrested the midnight gang, he is still only used by his superiors to hunt down the student ringleaders at the Sorbonne . So far he can only name Marius as one of the suspects. He is still looking for Cosette, who meanwhile is staying with Valjean in a villa away from the city center. Both live here with their mute servant Toussaint. By chance, Thénardier's daughter Éponine finds Cosette and later uses her knowledge to blackmail Marius: he agrees to sleep with her if she leads him to Cosette. At the same time, she realizes that Marius is indebted to Thénardier for saving his father once.

Javert confronts Marius for still not parting with the revolutionaries. He learns that Marius is in love with a certain Cosette and has him shadowed. Marius secretly meets with Cosette in the garden of the villa. By chance Valjean learns that a police inspector wants to inspect the villa to rule out that it could serve as a shelter during the revolution . Valjean immediately packs his things. He plans to flee to England, but Cosette passes out when she hears about it. Valjean postpones his trip until the next morning. Barricade fighting begins in Paris this morning and Valjean knows that the chaos will keep Javert from investigating for the time being. He learns from a letter from Cosette that was not sent that she is in love. Valjean is furious and rushes out of the house when Cosette gives him the name and address of her lover. In the unrest, Valjean searches for Marius, but finds his apartment empty. The revolutionaries spontaneously hired him as a guard on a side street. While street fighting broke out, the insurgents arrested Javert, who had crept into their ranks as an informant. Marius, in turn, who initially did not want to participate in the uprising because of Cosette, learns from Éponine that Cosette is out of the country. He now wants to die and joins the rebels. Éponine is seriously injured when she intercepts a bullet destined for Marius. She dies in his arms, but first confesses two things to him: He is not in debt to Thénardier because he did not want to save his father at the time, but thought him dead and took him with him to steal his watch. Cosette, in turn, wanted to leave, but was still in Paris. Not far from the barricades, Valjean is looking for Marius. He meets Gavroche, who tells him how much Marius and Cosette love each other. He advises him to go home and not put his life in danger, but Valjean wants to stay until he has found Marius.

Part 4

Gavroche is shot dead by soldiers while they are flatting corpses. Valjean is outraged, but continues his search for Marius. He meets the captured Javert. He prevents its execution by the insurgents, which he wants to carry out himself. Instead, he secretly frees Javert. The barricade fighting continues meanwhile. Fauchelevent is shot and Marius seriously injured when cannon fire on the barricades. Valjean flees with him over his shoulder into the sewer, where he meets Thénardier again. He believes Valjean murdered the man for the money and so sided with Thénardier. He helps Valjean out of the sewer labyrinth and at the end takes the money from Marius, but also a handkerchief that Cosette once received from Marius. He also finds a letter in which Marius asks that his body be brought to his grandfather Gillenormand.

Valjean is expected by Javert shortly after his exit from the sewer system. He agrees to come with him if he can bring Marius to his grandfather beforehand. He once had an argument with the grandson, but now believes that he will receive his body. This reconciles him with Marius and he is relieved when his grandson comes to after a while. Valjean, however, is led away by Javert before he can talk to Marius. Valjean's request to be allowed to say goodbye to Cosette is fulfilled by Javert and addresses him for the first time with the politeness "you". Valjean allows Cosette to marry Marius and suggests that she will leave her forever. However, when he steps out of the house, Javert's carriage has disappeared.

Javert has recognized that his long hunt for Valjean does not have a satisfactory end and that he would be punishable by arrest as well as by helping to escape. He chooses suicide and drowns himself in the Seine. Meanwhile, Marius' recovery continues and he is visited by Cosette. Gillenormand agrees to marry them. Valjean makes Cosette's simple and unknown origins forget by giving her a dowry of 600,000 francs in the marriage. The wedding takes place after two months. The Thénardiers see the couple and recognize Valjean. He now knows that Javert is dead, but tells Marius about his and Cosette's origins after the wedding. He also reports on Marius' wounding and says that he was saved by Javert at the time. Valjean's confessions lead to a break between Marius and Valjean, especially since Valjean admits to love Cosette himself. The years go by and Valjean lives secluded in his old villa, which he once shared with Cosette. Before Cosette, his absence is explained with business trips to London or Egypt. After all, it is Gillenormand who calls for medical attention for Valjean when he becomes seriously ill. Thénardier, in turn, seeks out Marius as an alleged ambassador and wants to extort money from him for information about Valjean. When Marius refuses all information as he already knows, Thénardier explains that Valjean is also a murderer, so he once surprised him with a corpse in the sewer. To prove it, he shows Marius the handkerchief he found on the body. Marius realizes that he owes his life to Valjean and is deeply ashamed. Because he also knows Valjean's critical state of health, he rushes to Valjean's bedside with Cosette. They are with him when he dies and Valjean is happy to have seen Cosette again before he died.

Production and Background

Les Misérables - Prisoners of Fate was commissioned by the French broadcaster TF1 and was filmed in and near Prague , Pilsen and Paris from October 1999 . The shooting time was five months, the budget of the film 165 million Francs or 50 million DM, half of which was taken over by the US American Fox. In addition to a version that was shown in Germany and France, a 170-minute film version was made especially for the US market, which was “more emotional and less socially critical”.

The film adheres more closely to the original than previous film adaptations. However, there are also minor differences to the novel. In the film, the street boy Gavroche is not the son of the villain Thénardier. In the film, after being rescued by Jean Valjean, Inspector Javert lets not only him run, but also a petty criminal who has to look after a disabled woman. In the film, Javert is not the son of a fortune teller, but comes from an impoverished, once respected family.

Les Misérables - Prisoners of Fate ran on French television on September 4, 2000 on TF1, with an average of around 10 million viewers. Although the film was internationally successful and sold in more than 30 countries around the world, it flopped when it was first broadcast on Sat 1. The station showed the four-part series in three sections: The first two episodes ran on January 14, 2001, making the total run time four Hours, with the film "excessively dismembered by too many commercials". The second part (January 15) achieved an audience rating of 12 percent, the third part (January 16) saw only around 3.64 million viewers. “It's a wonderful costume drama, with a strong cast, right down to every historical detail. But of course it's different than I'm marrying a millionaire or sister Stefanie or Big Brother . Perhaps that's why the quotas are not particularly good , "wrote the Thüringer Allgemeine , but also saw the current abundance of historical multi-parts with Gérard Depardieu in the lead role (including The Count of Monte Christo , Balzac - A life full of passion ) as a reason for a possible weariness of the audience.

On January 2, 2011, Sat.1 showed a 205-minute version of the multi-part as a coherent film. All four parts were fully broadcast between April 5, 2012 and April 28, 2012 on Das Vierte .

The young Jean Valjean was portrayed in the film by Gérard Depardieu's own son Guillaume. Christian Clavier plays the former Waterloo soldier Thénardier in the film. He can be seen in uniform, among other things, and impressed Gérard Depardieu, who was co-producer of the four-part Napoléon in 2001 . He advocated the occupation of Clavier as Napoléon and said in an interview: "I saw him [Clavier] in, Les Misérables in the uniform of a Waterloo soldier, and I realized that this is Napoleon." Clavier was given the lead role French emperor, where he stood in front of the camera with numerous actors from Les Misérables , including Gérard Depardieu and John Malkovich.

synchronization

role actor Voice actor
Jean Valjean Gérard Depardieu Manfred Lehmann
Javert John Malkovich Joachim Tennstedt
Thénadier Christian Clavier Udo Schenk
Cosette Virginie Ledoyen Nana Spier
Marius Enrico Lo Verso David Nathan
Fantine Charlotte Gainsbourg Heidrun Bartholomäus
Éponine Thénardier Asia Argento Claudia Urbschat-Mingues
Gillenormand Michel Duchaussoy Otto Mellies
Mother Innozentia Jeanne Moreau Eva Katharina Schultz
Madame Victurnier Elisabeth Wiener Barbara Schnitzler
Chabouillet Arthur de Penguern Bernd Vollbrecht
Champmathieu Maxime Leroux Wolfgang Ostberg

In the German dubbed version, Madame Victurnien, the foreman of the factory, calls Valjean by his real name, although she shouldn't have known it and should have called him "Monsieur Madeleine".

criticism

For Welt am Sonntag , Les Misérables - Prisoners of Fate was “lavishly produced, opulently furnished, excellently cast and movingly staged. Seldom have TV millions been better invested. A top film. ”The Sächsische Zeitung praised the film as“ an opulently furnished historical drama in which Josée Dayan succeeded in bringing to life a bygone era, which is not so well known in this country. ”The film is“ optically brilliant and with a sure sense for the historical ambience staged ... "and an" entertaining, by no means bone-dry history lesson. "For Südkurier , the film was a" TV production that was impressive over long distances ", while the Passauer Neue Presse described Les Misérables as an" exceptionally grandiose ... literary adaptation " and the criticism with the words “More of these films. TV makes you want to watch again. ”Concluded.

For Die Welt , the multi-part series was “a gruesomely beautiful picture book that eight to eighty-year-olds can comfortably look at in front of the cigarette box.” “Very colorful, very long, very big, all of this. For works like this, film critics have created the appreciative and at the same time a little disparaging label 'great narrative cinema', "said Der Tagesspiegel , praising the performance of Depardieu, Sander, Moreau, Malkovich and Ferres. “Thanks to the good cast, this elaborate TV adaptation by Josée Dayan was also a great success,” wrote prisma.de.

Harald Keller tore the film in the Frankfurter Rundschau , so the screenplay would “sequence scenes to a large extent and without coherent cohesion [...]; Efforts in film dramaturgy cannot be made out. ”In particular, he assessed the fact that the character of Gavroche does not seem to age despite the long intervals between them as“ gross sloppiness ... ”with regard to the handling of temporal processes. Director Josée Dayan, on the other hand, prefers “uninspired ... camera positions” that lead to “always the same static image sequences bathed in cold, pale blue uniform light”. Keller summarized that Les Misérables - Prisoners of Fate in the series "pompous pompous costume hams in the operetta style [add], which neither have an artistic signature nor are able to adequately translate the literature used as a template into film images." Der Spiegel found that Gerard Depardieu “[drags] through the scenes as if the heavy weights never want to fall off him. He also tends to mimic minimalism, in German: whether joy or sorrow, he almost always looks at it the same way. ”The Leipziger Volkszeitung also found that Depardieu was played against the wall by John Malkovich, the film itself had a“ common ... Story that ran like clockwork to the rhythm of a reader. Epic picture book television - with visual value and pleasure in visual fabulousness. "

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Paul Barz: The hunters of the just . In: Welt am Sonntag , No. 2, January 14, 2001, p. 45.
  2. ↑ Jochen Leibel: In the name of the nose. Actor Gérard Depardieu became a grandfather - and is more popular than ever . In: Berliner Morgenpost , Vol. 103, No. 12, January 13, 2001, p. 8.
  3. ↑ “Les Miserables” is being filmed for Sat.1 with many world stars . In: Mitteldeutsche Zeitung , October 26, 1999.
  4. ↑ Eckard Prsler: The fight of the ham. SAT-1 starts its three-part series “Les Misérables” with Gérard Depardieu on Sunday . In: Lausitzer Rundschau , January 12, 2001.
  5. ↑ quote: Miserable. Victor Hugo's novel and the consequences . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , May 9, 2001, p. 68.
  6. ↑ a b Kirch Media relies on large-scale productions . In: Handelsblatt , No. 69, April 6, 2001, p. 25.
  7. ↑ dream odds . In: Hamburger Abendblatt , Vol. 53, No. 228, September 29, 2000, p. 11.
  8. ↑ Les Misérables . In: Trierischer Volksfreund , January 16, 2001.
  9. ↑ Alexandra Kamp . In: BZ , Vol. 124, No. 13, January 16, 2001, p. 25.
  10. ↑ Television: Les Misérables . In: BZ , Vol. 124, No. 15, January 18, 2001, p. 34.
  11. ↑ Price comparison . In: Thüringer Allgemeine , January 17, 2001.
  12. ↑ Broadcast dates for Les Misérables - Prisoners of Fate , fernsehserien.de.
  13. ↑ Joachim Huber, Tilmann P. Gangloff: This emperor is not naked. Sometimes heartbreaker, sometimes battle-wanderer: “Napoleon” relies on full entertainment . In: Der Tagesspiegel , No. 17994, January 6, 2003, p. 31.
  14. ↑ Les Misérables - Prisoners of Fate. In: synchronkartei.de. German dubbing file , accessed on March 2, 2017 .
  15. ↑ Holger Gumprecht: men's double . In: Sächsische Zeitung , January 18, 2001, p. 17.
  16. ^ WAL: TV review: The Hunter's Film - "Les Misérables" . In: Südkurier , January 17, 2001.
  17. ↑ Stefan Rammer: Rousing life force . In: Passauer Neue Presse , January 16, 2001.
  18. ^ Tilman Krause: Seductive misery . In: Die Welt Vol. 51, No. 11, TV-Magazin, January 13, 2001, p. TV 1.
  19. ↑ Kerstin Decker: Large narrative television. In: Der Tagesspiegel , No. 17293, January 17, 2001, p. 35.
  20. ↑ Les Misérables - Prisoners of Fate at prisma.de , prisma.de.
  21. ↑ Harald Keller: Costume ham . In: Frankfurter Rundschau , January 18, 2001, p. 23.
  22. ↑ Preview: Les Misérables - Prisoners of Fate . In: Der Spiegel , No. 3, 2001, p. 97 ( online ).
  23. ↑ Joachim Seidel, Norbert Wehrstedt: flashback picture book . In: Leipziger Volkszeitung , January 15, 2001, p. 11.