THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 17, 1996 TAG: 9603190446
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
AT THE OUTSET, it is important to emphasize what Claude Lelouch's epic film ``Les Miserables'' is not.
It is not a linear dramatization of the classic Victor Hugo novel. The credits claim it was ``inspired'' by the novel, but as the rather cumbersome film moves slowly forward, some lovers of the novel could even question that.
Secondly, this is not the eagerly awaited film version of the Broadway musical; a film version of the musical is still in the talking stage after several false starts.
Probably the less you know about Hugo's novel, the easier it will be to float along with this rambling journey. This one transports the action to World War II and, fitfully, claims that ``the miseries'' are universal to all times and all places.
Lelouch's film fares better when it stands on its own as a visually impressive epic of World War II and the Holocaust. There are hundreds of extras milling about in visually impressive settings like a lavish ballroom scene, a boxing match, and even a restaging of the Normandy invasion.
The hero, a furniture mover and illiterate French boxer, is named Fortin but he constantly compares himself to Jean Valjean, the hero of Hugo's novel. There are some parallels, but the audience is kept guessing in an effort to spot them.
Jean-Paul Belmondo, the legendary French actor, plays not only the World War II Fortin but his father (who is jailed, a la Valjean). Belmondo has a third role playing Valjean himself in several scenes taken directly from the novel. Since he looks basically his same weathered self in all three roles, the audience is likely to be confused. Paul Belmondo, the son of the star, plays the young Fortin in a boxing scene.
Annie Girardot, another famous French legend, has a fine scene as a farm woman who helps hide a Jewish family. The mother of the family is played by the lovely Balanchine dancer Alessandra Martines, who should have had more dance scenes.
Salome, the director's real-life daughter, plays a character named Salome, who is often compared to the character Cosette from the novel.
Lelouch would have escaped all such comparisons if he had used another title for his film. As it is, his characters, as well as his film, seem obsessed with comparing themselves to the classic novel rather than becoming a new film.
One character sums up the film when she asks, ``Why do you compare everything to `Les Miserables?' It's weird.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
MOVIE REVIEW
``Les Miserables''
Cast: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Annie Girardot, Paul Belmondo, Salome,
Alessandra Martines
Director and Writer: Claude Lelouch
Music: Francis Lai, Michel Legrand, Philippe Servain, Erik
Berchot
MPAA rating: R (some violence and language)
Mal's rating: Two 1/2 stars
Locations: Naro in Norfolk
by CNB