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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

‘Les Miserables’ Successfully Uses Melodrama

At times, there is only a fine line between drama and melodrama. All too often, however, the line seems as wide as Marlon Brando’s waist.

It takes a skillful filmmaker to use the elements of melodrama - exaggerated conflicts and emotions, stereotypical characters - and still come up with a movie that is both entertaining and artful.

After seeing “Les Miserables,” you may agree that Claude Lelouch is such a artist.

Of course, anyone familiar with Lelouch’s best-known creation, the 1966 romance “A Man and a Woman,” may already know that. But while that spirited bit of ‘60s confection is not much more complex than its title - and is probably as well known for its flighty musical score as anything else - Lelouch’s newest film is the cinematic equivalent of Victor Hugo’s lengthy novel.

And then some. While there have been several adaptations of the classic French tale of reformed criminal Jean Valjean, this is the only one I know of that adapts Hugo’s sweeping story to the 20th century.

In fact, Lelouche’s “Les Miserables” is at once a rediscovery and deconstruction of Hugo’s masterpiece. Like the popular musical version of recent years, this film adaptation retains the sweeping storyline and the roller-coaster moments of emotion that Hugo traded on. But - and this is to Lelouche’s credit - it also lets us know from time to time that the whole production is intentionally a bit over the top.

As the film’s protagonist, Henri Fortin (Jean-Paul Belmondo), says during another of many fortuitious occurrences, “What’s one more coincidence?”

What indeed. Hugo’s novel, you’ll recall, involves a Valjean convicted of stealing a loaf of bread. After serving 19 years at hard labor for such a petty crime, he emerges a hardened man who only gradually regains his humanity. There is much more, what with the Battle of Waterloo, Valjean’s pursuit by the vigilant police inspector Jarvet, the love affair between Valjean’s adopted daughter Cosette and Marius, etc., before the eventual semi-happy ending.

By contrast, Lelouche’s film begins with a defining moment for Valjean (played in a fantasy flashback by Belmondo). It’s a moment when he rediscovers his dormant conscience and, from then on, lives a life dedicated only to good. But this scene, which intersperses credits with a moving closeup of Belmondo’s weeping face, merely sets the scene for Lelouch.

For then he switches us to a New Year’s Eve party celebrating the birth of the 20th century. Just as we begin to wonder how things tie together, Lelouche presents us the first retelling of Valjean’s sad tale: Henri’s father (Belmondo in his third persona), wrongfully accused of murder, is sentenced to prison.

From the pain of that experience, the boy Henri emerges as a man without moral compass. A championship boxer, he retires from the ring just as the storm clouds that will become World War II begin to gather. When the Germans occupy France, Henri tends to his own furniture-moving business.

Henri’s story then blends with that of the Ziman family, upper-class Jews fleeing from the Nazi authorities. When Henri agrees to move the Zimans, he asks them to read Hugo’s novel aloud for him. An illiterate, he has become fascinated with the book because, after he has lifted a piano off an injured man, people have been calling him Valjean.

At this point, Lelouche has already brought us through four decades. Even so, he is just beginning. For now, time is compressed, and as we follow the struggle of the Zimans just to survive the Holocaust, we follow Henri as he attempts to find, and then live up to the dictates of, his conscience.

Questions arise: Will Henri follow in his father’s sad footsteps or those of Hugo’s hero? And how will his fate tie into that of three Zimans?

Considering this is a near-three-hour film, much more is going on as well. As subtext, Lelouch is re-examining the long-held myth of the French Resistance. This is no “The Great Escape,” where courageous Frenchmen gun down the nasty Boche and harbor downed American flyers.

In Lelouche’s revisionist view, paid guides to the Swiss border are duplicitous murderers, thugs are released from prison by the Nazis so they can victimize French citizens for profit, and seemingly friendly farmers ultimately cave in to their inherent jealousy, greediness and simmering anti-Semitism.

Meanwhile, hypocrisy abounds as officials of the Vichy government survive by lying about their complicity while young women have their heads shaved for mere fraternization.

In technical terms, Lelouch’s use of imagery is every bit as across the board as his plot, whether it involves shots of young Henri transfixed by a makeshift movie screen, a row of young women playing “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary,” snow falling on a caged man, or American paratroopers landing in a convent courtyard.

These beautiful shots more than make up for Lelouch’s penchant for spinning hand-held shots that become dizzyingly annoying.

As for acting, Belmondo is superb - capable of being both vulnerable and still the tough guy of French cinema that he was 36 years ago when he starred in Jean-Luc Goddard’s “Breathless.”

And he is joined by the superb Michel Boujenah and Alessandra Martines (as the Zimans), his daughter Salome (the Zimans’ daughter), Annie Giradot (as a needy farm wife) and several others.

If there is a flaw to the film, it involves music.

But as over-orchestrated as many moments are, the timely use of the American tune “I’m in Heaven” during a crucial scene should wring tears from even the hardest of hearts.

In the end, “Les Miserables” is shamelessly manipulative, the epitome of melodrama.

Much like Hugo, Lelouch hasn’t discovered a chance meeting or timely occurrence that he won’t exploit.

What saves him is the joyful way in which he does it.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: “Les Miserables” Location: Magic Lantern Cinemas Credits: Written and directed by Claude Lelouch, starring Jean-Paul Belmondo, Michel Boujenah, Allesandra Martines, Annie Giradot and Salome. In French with English subtitles. Running time: 2:58 Rated: Rated R.

This sidebar appeared with the story: “Les Miserables” Location: Magic Lantern Cinemas Credits: Written and directed by Claude Lelouch, starring Jean-Paul Belmondo, Michel Boujenah, Allesandra Martines, Annie Giradot and Salome. In French with English subtitles. Running time: 2:58 Rated: Rated R.