Les Misérables

Les Misérables

Claude Lelouch, France, 1995, 175′, ap

This epic, nuanced, and—for many—the finest film adaptation of Hugo’s classic transposes the novel’s events to the 20th century, delivering a film-within-a-film while preserving the essence of the original work.

This epic, nuanced, and—for many—the finest film adaptation of Hugo’s classic transposes the novel’s events to the 20th century, delivering a film-within-a-film while preserving the essence of the original work.

Henri Fortin is a mover and a former boxer who was orphaned when his father died in prison and his mother, overcome with grief, committed suicide. When World War Two breaks out, Henri helps the Ziman family escape Nazi persecution. During the journey, he hears the story of Jean Valjean, so he begins reading Hugo’s Les Misérables, where he finds echoes of his own life. He also meets other Javerts, Thénardiers and other Mariuses and Cosettes…

“What I liked about Les Miserables was the expansive freedom and energy of its storytelling. Lelouch, like Hugo, Dickens, Balzac and the other great 19th century novelists, is not riveted to a central story line, but proceeds in the general direction of his conclusion while freely allowing himself side excursions to characters and incidents that catch his eye along the way. Trying to reconstruct the story, you recall so many different faces (there are said to be 100 speaking roles in the movie) and locations that you realize a world has been created.” – Roger Ebert

Claude Lelouch is a French director and screenwriter who was noted chiefly for his lush visual style. He achieved prominence in 1966 with his film Un Homme et une femme, which shared the Grand Prize at the Cannes film festival and won two Academy Awards. Lelouch’s later notable movies included the musical Les Uns et les autres (1981) and Les Misérables (1995). His latest film, Finalement, premiered at the 2024 Venice Film Festival.

Followed by Masterclass: Designing the set – shaping the view

Laurent Tesseyre will discuss his work as a set designer and art director in French cinema and on Les Misérables.

In collaboration with the Slovenian Association of Set Designers, Costume Designers, and Make-up Artists, with support from The Slovenian Federation of Filmmakers’ Guilds.