Les Misérables

Le titre est assez trompeur, même si le célèbre romancier romantique et son roman probablement le plus culte sont évoqués dans le film. Il y a aussi une citation pertinente de lui tout à la fin. Quoi qu'il en soit, je n'aimerais pas être à la place d'un policier français de service dans une banlieue parisienne ! Ça doit être un quotidien frustrant, déprimant et stressant comme nulle part ailleurs. Comment alors s'étonner, voire condamner, un tel policier quand il commet une erreur, fait quelque chose sous le coup d'une forte émotion qui l'affecte – quand il « pète un câble », en l'occurrence ? Ladj Ly a également co-écrit Athena, un film de genre et de contenu similaire. J'ai l'impression qu'Athena commence là où Les Misérables se terminent. Cela dit, Les Misérables est bien mieux maîtrisé sur le plan cinématographique. Et suis-je le seul à trouver que Chris ressemble à Sheldon Cooper ? Ça a quelque peu gâché mon expérience, parce qu'un physicien autiste n'est clairement pas pertinent pour un tel environnement ! (10/01/2024)

A powerful modern-day parallel to Victor Hugo's classic novel. It paints a bleak picture of contemporary France, a culture in decline. Watching this, it’s hard to imagine how things could turn around. The outskirts of Paris are depicted as places where even the most destitute wouldn't want to live — chaotic, lawless, and lost. The film leaves you questioning how, or if, there’s a way out of this mess. It’s a largely impersonal, almost emotionless film, but the ending hits hard and leaves a lasting impact. (16/06/2021)

Based on a single film, I can't estimate whether a francophone Spike Lee was born, but as a feature-length debut, Les Misérables is an extraordinary film full of energy, uncompromisingness, and rebellion against the system. After its release in France, it rightfully dominated the movie theaters and won every award it could. Thematically related to the Danish film Shorta, it is certainly above average and impressive, but fundamentally, it's no more than an action film with a certain social subtext. Les Misérables has a broader scope and showcases the notorious Parisian housing estates inhabited by unemployed (and often unemployable) immigrants and outsiders. Ladj Ly shows the ghettos as a complex ecosystem controlled by local hustlers, criminals, and Islamists. The police can only futilely try to keep up and create the impression that the state is in control of the situation. During two intense shifts of a three-member police patrol, the director shows what goes on there and who or what one can encounter. It's not a routine crime story but a genre film that significantly transcends into social drama. The carousel of boredom, poverty, and cultural and national unanchoredness creates a highly explosive Molotov cocktail that burns anyone who gets in its way. Overall impression: 90%. (14/02/2021)

A 90% great contribution to the category of crime thrillers from the French banlieues that distinguishes itself from the competition by its effort to portray a broad spectrum of relationships between different factions and generations, which are connected by a disparate trio of police officers. But where other films ended, Les Misérables prepares the ground for a climax that will push the whole story to much stronger, more serious and more sophisticated heights. This feature-length debut, expanding the director’s short film of the same name into a more complex fresco of contemporary France, thus brings forth provocative contemplation on more general themes connected with education, patterns of behaviour and pride and rage. The themes that Mathieu Kassovitz addressed years ago in the ground-breaking Le Haine are now back with a vengeance in Les Misérables. (19/05/2019)

France at its peak and one of the best films of the year! Inspired by the events of 2005 and set in present-day Montfermeil, where Victor Hugo's “Les Misérables” was set in 1862. The film has no story and no positive characters, taking place over the course of one tense day. It will make you anxious, uncomfortable, your hair stand on end, your mouth wide open!!! Here, the world's greatest scum has gathered and after watching the film, you will avoid France with the greatest of arcs. There are swine cops, gypsies, blacks, Muslims, child gangs, in short, I have not been as uncomfortable watching a movie as I was here for a long time. The film has a very fast pace, nerve wracking suspense, an oppressive atmosphere, chilling scenes and the final child revenge is razor sharp! I recommend this one to the French. Story****, Action****, Humor>No, Violence****, Entertainment*****, Music***, Visuals****, Atmosphere******, Suspense****.9/10. (22/04/2020)