How film elements affect viewers perspective on a character- Javert from Les Misérables

Last Edited, 2022

(Source: online media)

Wrote in 2022, essay from Introduction to Film Studies Lecture

Les Misérables, a movie released in 2012, adopted the story from the same name novel and was directed by Tom Hooper. It is a story about a prisoner, Jean Valjean, who runs away from parole and started his journey of redemption. As touching and as heartbreaking as Jean and Fatine's stories are, the character that left me the most impressed, is Javert, the man who swore to put Jean behind bars. In this story, some see him as a villain, and for me, I went from hatred to empathy for him. Because of that, I believe it would use this chance to examine some of the movie scenes with the structure of the story, mise-en-scene and Cinematography, and Binary opposite, to explain how they work together and how they make the audience questions the stance of this character. To start with, a binary opposite relationship is illustrated clearly between Javert and Jean from the beginning. Regarding Tzvetan Todorov (O’Shaughnessy, Michael, & Jane Stadler, 2002) from the equilibrium of the film, a spectacular scene is shown with prisoners pulling a giant boat. Followed by a close-up shot of the protagonist- Jean Valjean, one of the prisoners, who was gaunt and struggling to pull the boat. We then followed the gazes, looked upward, and see Javert, dressing in a rope-length royal blue police uniform as the heavy gale blowing, his straight posture stays still, standing alone at the top of the dam. Here, there are a few things to spot whenever the camera is looking at Javert, it is usually taken from the gaze of the prisoners. Most of his shots during the opening song are low-angle shots, with static camera movement. In comparison the prisoners, when we see from the view of Javert, are at a high angle and use random camera movement when it is a close-up shot of them, to show the struggle they are having. Not only that but he is also positioned to stand against the blinding sun with a small part of the cloudy blue sky like in one of those holy and solemn paintings, while the prisoner is lining up and the number is countless, with deemed lighting. Presenting the binary opposite with the camera angles, movement, and even the position and lighting, presenting with one at ease (Javert) and one struggling (Jean, with the others prisoner) and exaggerating the imbalance of power between them, lay in the foundation of the view of both characters.

Later, in Jean’s line, we knew the reason why he is in prison because he stole bread due to hunger, giving him a tragic background story and a justified reason for his illegal move, giving rise to the audience’s empathy toward him. (O’Shaughnessy, Michael, & Jane Stadler, 2002) In this case, Javert believes law above all, which is against what the audience now “likes”.

However, as the story goes by, there could be scenes that show a new side of a character and might affect the audience’s stance. The first one is during the song “Star”, where we first see that Javert is alone, and the first time we see him doubting himself, as he stands on the rooftop and explains his belief duties to the audience. From the beginning of the song, a Dutch angle is used, which is usually used to imply unusually or intensified scenes. The camera then slowly brings us to an eye-level shot, which makes the audience now have the same view as he does, eliminating the imbalance of power that was created before. Instead of the static camera movement used before, this time, random camera movement appeared a lot in the first half part of the song, especially when in the scene where he was stepping on the edge of the roof. Not only that, but there is also a high angle in the scene, and first time showing us there is something more powerful than he is - his faith/law. Even when there was a scene where it is a low angle, his position is in line with the Engle, which is often a sign of justice and dignity, further presenting an image of overlooking and protecting what’s below his feet-the city and people who live in it. All this digs into the deeper meaning behind his action and shows us his valuable side, what he cares about, making the character “human”. From this on, even though he still is the binary opposite of Jean become in his identity and faith, he is a step closer to Jean’s character, both justified their action, legal and illegal. Making the audience more contact with him.

Later in a scene, after the battle, Javert wore a black uniform with metal on his chest, with random camera movement again, showing us the lifeless bodies on the floor. Even though it is a high angle, the distance between him and the object (the people on the floor which he is looking at) is curtailed. As he passed the metal to the boy lying on the floor, the music began to raise as it is sounds like heroic music, with warm and natural sunlight shining on his face, to praise his action and the boy. Not only that, in this shot, even though a high angle is used when he looked at the kid who is now dead, the camera quickly switched between them, and back to an eye-level shot. The distance between him and another person, now the boy, who he once thought was a criminal, is even shortened. This brings the audience and him closer, as now he found something that worth “look down”. Besides from this in this movie, the warm lighting is often seen on Jean, whenever the scene is related to God, especially in a scene where Jean decides to live on as a new person. Because of that, this warming light is referring to God, someone who is on the right path, or even reborn. The music, the lighting, and the camera movement make us believe that he started to doubt his faith, changing his actions. Yet, when he discovered Jean is in the pipe, the light is deemed, as a sign to show he turns back around and does what he believed was right in the first place, pulling us back from the thought of “he changed”, and reinforcing his action is wrong.

As for the final scene, there is a lot of scenes echo with the beginning scene, and Javert does not create a balance of new equilibrium. Soon after we see Jean come out from the underground water artery, Javert appeared in the point of view of Jean, with a belowground level shot and a strong and shot blast of music, the black suit that he is wearing, blending him into the darkness. As to bring out his threatening nature and wiped off the ‘kind’ side audience saw in the last scene. Yet, this soon is replaced again when he started talking with Jean. From a static camera movement to show Javert determination in catching Jean and a random camera movement on Jean to indicate his struggle, both became a random camera movement when Jean asks him to spare his life for one more hour. Here, the random movement of Javert is indicating the vacillation of his faith, as Jean is struggling to get out alive and save the man’s life. Soon after Jean crawl out from the underground water artery and walked past Javert he not only took up 80% of the screen but also, he looked at Javert from a high angle. Yet, with the dirt all over him, the extreme close-up shot of his almost unrecognized face, and the intense music in the background, he looked at ease. His face is still can be seen as a whole, facing directly at the lighting. Instead of showing a powerful image, his costume and camera angle shows us the same image of him as before. On the other hand, Javert is standing against the lighting source again, yet, with the shadow on his face and the high camera angle, he no longer holds the power from the beginning scene, even if he is pointing a gun at Jean. When he steps on the stair, the rhythm of Jean’s “who am I” appeared. As this song is first sung when Jean question God and his paths, his future. While Javert questioned his faith and his actions, his past. A low angle shot appeared again and keep tracking Javert’s face. The sky is no longer bright in comparison to the song “stars’, it is a lot darker. His body and face never faced the light source until he started to doubt his action against Jean. Instead of a warm lighting tone, it used a cold tone, blue, as the lighting in here. With the random camera movement again, back and forth with the fountain below him and his feet, stepping on the edge of the dam, with his anxious voice, shaking camera movement and deemed light, making him look emotionally unstable. When he jumped, heroic classic music was raised, as if to celebrate his death. All of this was used on Jean, is now used on Javert, to show a full circle ending with their position switched. All of this reinforced the dark side of his and again, present the binary opposite of him and Jean, as one reborn after being “sinned”, and one chose to end his life. As a result, the audience did not feel sorry or resentful that he died, but instead as a villain dies in the movie.

All in all, a deeper examine in film element could let us know how different element in a film work together and affecting the perspective of the viewers. Further understand and spotted details in a film.

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