The Story
Jean Valjean, a former convict, finds asylum with Monseigneur Myriel, bishop of Digne. He lets himself be tempted by stealing silver candlesticks and flees at dawn. The gendarmes take him back: the bishop testifies in his favor and saves him. This generosity upsets Jean Valjean: he decides to become an honest man. But the accidental theft of a coin from a young boy endangers his new freedom…
Having become Mayor of Montreuil-sur-Mer under the name of Monsieur Madeleine, Jean Valjean saves Champmathieu, trapped under his cart. Witness to the scene, Javert, police inspector, believes he recognizes him as a former convict.
Thus begins the duel between the two men…
Fantine was seduced, then abandoned with her granddaughter Cosette. In desperation, she entrusts the latter to the sinister Thénardier, an innkeeper who makes his fortune by robbing the dead of Waterloo. Back in her hometown of Montreuil-sur-Mer, Fantine is arrested following an argument, and fiercely questioned by the police officer Javert; but the Mayor of the town, Monsieur Madeleine, had her released.
This clemency, disconcerting on the part of a magistrate, confirms Javert’s suspicion: Monsieur Madeleine and Jean Valjean are one and the same person.
Some time later, an unfortunate man is mistaken for the former convict, who is wanted again. After a painful internal debate, the real Jean Valjean denounces himself in court. Temporarily left free, he witnesses Fantine’s agony, and swears to watch over her daughter Cosette: then he escapes and reaches Paris.
Finally recaptured by Javert and reinstated in the penal colony, Jean Valjean escapes once again, but everyone believes he is drowned. He returns, snatches Cosette from the Thénardiers, hides with her in a hovel, then in a convent, rue de Picpus.
The years go by. Jean Valjean moved to rue Plumet under the name of Fauchelevent. He becomes acquainted with a young republican, Marius, who loves Cosette, who has become a beautiful young woman. Once again arrested by Javert, Valjean manages to escape.
In 1832, the riot raged on rue St-Denis. On the barricade, Jean Valjean observes Marius and the kid from Paris Gavroche. While she tries to protect Marius, Eponine dies. The police officer Javert, unmasked, is entrusted to the former convict: the latter sets him free.
Jean Valjean saves the injured Marius and transports him to Gillenormand through the sewers of Paris. Recovered, Marius marries Cosette. When Jean Valjean dies, the bishop’s candlesticks are lit at his bedside…