Slideshow
LES MISÉRABLES
France, 1995
Written and directed by Claude Lelouch
Based on the novel by Victor Hugo
With Jean-Paul Belmondo, Michel Boujenah, Annie Girardot, Alessandra Martines
Approx. 167 min. DCP.
“Follows the exploits of Henri Fortin (Jean-Paul Belmondo), a boxer-turned-mover whose big heart and brawny build earn him the nickname Jean Valjean. After Lelouch traces the character's early history and that of his unjustly imprisoned father (also played by Belmondo) in flashback, the writer-director gets to the heart of his story. In this two-hour section, Fortin comes to the aid of the Zimans, a Jewish family trying to escape the Nazis by fleeing to Normandy. When they are turned in by collaborators, Fortin hides their daughter, Salome (played by Lelouch's daughter Salome), in a convent and later helps them make it to the Swiss border.” – Rita Kempley, The Washington Post
Presented with support from the Ada Katz Fund for Literature in Film and the Joan S. Constantiner Fund for Jewish and Holocaust Films, donated by Leon Constantiner and Family
Reviews
“Hugely ambitious in both theme and scope and brimming with sheer delight in the medium.”
– Variety
“An epic saga of an Everyman whose life parallels that of the hapless Jean Valjean as it embodies the history of France in the turbulent first half of the 20th Century. Like most Lelouch films, LES MISÉRABLES is energetic, emotion-charged, flashy and drenched in thundering Liberace-like piano crescendos...”
– Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times