Les Misérables (1998 film)

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Les Miśerables
Les Miśerables DVD cover
Directed by	Bille August
Produced by	Sarah Radclyffe
Written by	Rafael Yglesias, (novel by Victor Hugo)
Starring	Liam Neeson, Uma Thurman, Geoffrey Rush, Hans Matheson, Claire Danes
Distributed by	Columbia/Tristar
Release date(s)	May 1, 1998
Running time	131 min.
Language	English
Budget	. . .
IMDb profile

Ratings
United States:	PG-13

Les Misérables is a 1998 film version of Victor Hugo's classic novel of the same name, directed by Bille August. It stars Liam Neeson, Geoffrey Rush, Claire Danes and Uma Thurman.

As in the original novel, the story line follows the adult life of Jean Valjean (Liam Neeson), an ex-convict (paroled following 19 years of hard labor, for stealing bread) pursued by police Inspector Javert (Geoffrey Rush). The movie is relatively true to Hugo's original novel, but shortens and simplifies the story considerably, and leaving out several important characters and scenes from the book.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Through the kindness of a bishop that Valjean was robbing, Valjean starts his life anew, becoming a wealthy industrialist, and a mayor, eventually befriending Fantine, a single mother turned prostitute, played by Uma Thurman. At Fantine's death, the Mayor agrees to raise her very young daughter, Cosette, while he goes into hiding from Javert. Many years later, the adolescent Cosette, played by Claire Danes, falls in love with an anarchist Marius (Hans Matheson). By this time, the trail of Valjean is cold, and Javert is an undercover insurrectionist trying to undermine the organization to which Marius belongs. Soon, however, Javert and Valjean face each other again. When the insurrectionists discover the true identity of Javert, Valjean uses his influence with Marius to have Javert turned over to him, whereupon, Valjean frees Javert. The movie ends with Javert, unable to deal with the goodness shown him by Valjean, committing suicide.