Or whatever her name is. I have seen the movie but haven't read the book or seen the musical. I am waiting on a copy of the book to come in at the library but I just want to know who Eponie is and who her character is. Why is everyone making such a big deal out of her? What was her background?
"To love another person is to see the face of God" - Les Miserables.
Eponine is the daughter of Madame and Monsieur Thenardier.
shareIn this film she's little mentioned, but she's an important character in the book. In fact I think she's the real 'Miserable', not Cosette, as she went from being a pampered child to any ordinary person.
shareI think in the film you catch a brief glimpse of her as a child, and that's about it.
share[deleted]
It's been a decade or more since I read the book, so I'm going to have to base this on the musical and what posters have said in other threads. And while there was a time when I could sing every song from memory, it's been a while since I've listened to the soundtrack as well, so other people may feel free to correct/add to this.
Eponine was the daughter of the Thenardier's. Her father used her in some of his crimes. She fell in love with Marius. Marius just thinks of her as a friend. When she saw that he was in love with Cosette, she found out where she lived and took him to her. Her father shows up while they are meeting to rob Valjean. She warns Marius by screaming, so her father and his gang flee, and Marius escapes. Valjean hears her screams and sees the men running off, and thinks they know of his past and are there to make trouble for him. He resolves to leave France. Eponine joins the students at the barricades, and Marius asks her to take a letter from him to Cosette. She attempts to return so she can be with Marius longer, but is shot and killed. Marius realizes her feelings for him, but it's too late to do anything except hold her while she dies.
Ten, nine, eight, and all that!
Right... and in the book, Eponine tells Marius his friends are at the barricade with the intention that he will be killed. She intended to follow along and be killed too. She intends for this to happen right up until she sees a musket aimed at him and she steps in front of it, but only because she wanted to die first. She only gave him Cosette's letter (Marius earlier sent her back to Valjean's home with a farewell letter to Cosette and instructions to not return because it would be too dangerous) because she did not want him to be angry with her in the afterlife. She was a rather warped, unstable character.
shareRight... and in the book, Eponine tells Marius his friends are at the barricade with the intention that he will be killed. She intended to follow along and be killed too. She intends for this to happen right up until she sees a musket aimed at him and she steps in front of it, but only because she wanted to die first. She only gave him Cosette's letter (Marius earlier sent her back to Valjean's home with a farewell letter to Cosette and instructions to not return because it would be too dangerous) because she did not want him to be angry with her in the afterlife. She was a rather warped, unstable character.
In the book, Eponine and Marius aren't really friends like in the musical. Marius moves into a tenement, and the Thenardiers are living next door. Marius shows a kind of detached pity for Eponine but that is more or less the extent of his feelings towards her.
In the book, Eponine finds out Cosette's address and gives it to Marius, and like in the musical, she stops her father and his gang from robbing the house. Then she writes a note for Valjean saying "Move out!", which leads him to decide to take Cosette to England. Cosette writes a letter to Marius, telling him the address they will be temporarily staying at before leaving for England. She gives the letter to Eponine, who is now dressed as a man and lurking outside Cosette's house, and asks "him" to take it to Marius. Rather than give Marius the letter, Eponine hides in the shadows and tells him his friends are waiting for him at the barricade. Marius goes to the barricade, and a guardsman aims to shoot him, but Eponine puts her hand in front of the musket and is shot through the hand and the back. Dying, Eponine says she was the one who led him to the barricade, she wanted to die before Marius and she is happy that they are all going to die. But she doesn't want him to hold anything against her when they meet again soon, and gives him Cosette's letter. Then she says she was a little in love with him and dies. Marius kisses Eponine chastely on the forehead when she is dead, and sends Gavroche, Eponine's brother, with a letter to Cosette which Valjean intercepts.
To the OP (if they even care anymore), the reason many people are commenting on her absence in the movie is, in the musical she is one of the female leads with a dramatic and interesting part, and sings one of the most famous songs from the musical. If you are only familiar with the musical, cutting Eponine out of a movie would seem like a major problem. In the book, Eponine's role is more a supporting part; if you are making an adaptation of the 1000+ page novel to fit into 2 hours, a lot of characters have to be cut. If you read the novel it is easier to understand why they would cut Eponine, especially if your movie adaptation is supposed to focus on Jean Valjean.
Eponine is probably the best character in the book. She is the daughter of the Thenardier and as a grown up, is Marius' friend. She is in love with him, so much in love in fact that she helps him in his pursuit of Cosette because she wants to see him happy that bad. She follows him onto the barricades and gets killed there. She is one of the main characters and one of the most tragic ones along with Fantine. Scrapping her from this movie is by far the most unforgivable decision ever made in adapting this great story. I am the kind of audience who doesn't compare book and film and I do fully understand changes need to be made. Plenty of unnecessary changes were made into this film, but sure why not? But getting rid of Eponine was an unforgivable and incomprehensible choice. She's the heart of the second part of the story.
I don't agree that she's not all that important in the book. She gets a lot less time because Victor Hugo wrote one very freakishly long book, but she's still extremely important dramatically. There is a reason why no other movie that I have seen had dared cut her before and most of them have enlarged her role significantly.
Eibhlinn Savage
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