Fantine and her impossible task of keeping her daughter and her job is brilliantly portrayed by Lily Collins. If the poor in general had a rough deal in that period, the working class women suffered it twofold.
The vicious behaviour of Javert, the policeman played by David Oyelowo is a personalisation of the cruelty of the law.
Those familiar with the musical version will remember the comic roles of Thernardier and his wife. The dark side of the characters is much more to the fore in this adaptation. However, the scene in episode three where Mrs Thernadier (Olivia Colman) is making a game out of beating Cosette to the great amusement of the clientele of their inn is brilliantly choreographed. It is a situation in which the laughter of the audience is crueller than the actions of the actor.
For all the darkness, the novel and this adaptation both offer a message of hope. Jean Valjean's personal struggle for redemption could be a metaphor for the redemption of French society which the revolutionaries of the day, like the Gilet Jaune of today, seek to bring about.
Socialists should be inspired by this story.
Derek McMillan
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