MovieChat Forums > Les Misérables (1998) Discussion > Differences between the book, movie, and...

Differences between the book, movie, and musical?

posted 15 years ago by kenzer72
8 replies | jump to latest

What's closest to the book? I watched the movie today and it seemed a lot different from the musical.
What are the differences between the musical and movie? Movie and book? Musical and book?

[–] flerlgirl 15 years ago

The movie is closest to the book. A lot of difference just include extra details that the play adds; for instance, in the book, the Thernardiers aren't the comic relief. They're just bad people. Stuff like that. I highly recommend the book!

"I called you in."
"Why, because your spidey-sense tells you she was a rape victim?"

[–] losty815 13 years ago

Schönberg and Boublil deciding to use the Thenardiers as comic relief (for the musical) was a stroke of genius.

"Guys, where are we?"
LOST = Best. Show. Ever.

[–] cib3 15 years ago

I would say the musical is very close to the book. All the major events in the book were included in the musical. To me, the big difference was the reasons why the events happened.For example, in the book eponine tried to scare Valjean off to separate Marius and Corsette.

It seems that the musical watered down all the negative aspects of the characters. For example, Marius in the book was not a very nice person (a little fall of rain and empty chairs in empty tables never happened) and the Thernardiers were pure evil.

The movie is very good until Valjean arrives in Paris. As the Thernardiers were cut out and the ABC society were given a small role, there are too many holes in the storyline.

[–] MllePontmercy 15 years ago

Not to mention Marius is such a pathetic love-sick puppy in the novel. Don't get me wrong, I love Marius but the honestly, the only thing he was capable of in the book is to moon over Cosette. The only reason why he even bothered to fight in the barricade is because he thought Cosette didn't love him anymore, and was therefore feeling suicidal.

c'est ne rien

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] ttrek-1 14 years ago

The musical runs almost three hours if it's done right.

As far as transcribing a book that extensive into three hours of powerful music... they did remarkably well. Much, much better than NOTRE DAME DE PARIS at any rate.

Flynn 24

[–] daytona_peanut 13 years ago

The musical. It doesn't always follow the book exactly, but it keeps the spirit of it and that's most important. The movie is barely recognizable to the book and pretty much chucks everything that made it what it is out the window.

"To love another person is to see the face of God"

[–] mtevens 11 years ago

I love the musical because it hits the important points of the story, and the songs fill in some background.

However, this book is so long, even reading an abridged version (the first 37 pages of the unabridged novel are all about the bishop, his background and what a good man he is. Abridged version, a page and a half, for example).

To get all of the details, you need a mini-series.