At the beginning of Les Misérables, Jean Valjean, played by Hugh Jackman, is released from prison after nineteen years. He decides to break his parole to start a new life, and Javert (Russel Crowe) vows to find Valjean and have him put back in prison. A few years later Valjean is living under a different name and now owns a factory. When the foreman finds out that one of the employees, Fantine (Anne Hathaway), has an illegitimate child, he fires her to preserve the factory’s reputation. Fantine becomes a prostitute and Javert tries to arrest her after she attacks a customer in self-defense, but Valjean takes her to a hospital and promises to provide for her daughter, Cosette (Isabelle Allen/Amanda Seyfried), who is living with the Thénardiers (Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen) and their daughter Éponine (Natalya Angel Wallace/Samantha Barks). Before he goes to find Cosette, Valjean discovers that a man believed to be him has been arrested, and goes to the court to tell them who he is.

One day a few years later when Cosette, is basically an adult, she sees Marius Pontmercy (Eddie Redmayne), who along with Enjolras (Aaron Tveit) and some others is planning a revolutione. Éponine, who is friends with Marius, recognizes Cosette, and brings Marius to where she’s living with Valjean so they can meet each other, even though Éponine is in love with Marius. Someone attempts to rob Valjean and Cosette and Valjean insists that they leave because he thinks Jalvert has finally found him again. Cosette leaves a letter for Marius, which Éponine steals. The day after that the revolutionaries interrupt the funeral procession of Jean Maximilien Lamarque. When the military starts fighting them, they create a barricade out of furniture. During the fight Éponine takes a bullet to save Marius’ life, and before she dies she gives him Cosette’s letter. Valjean saves Enjolras’ life, so he is allowed to execute Jalvert, who has been taken prisoner. But instead of shooting him, Valjean sets Jalvert free. The revolutionaries had expected the Parisians to join them, but they don’t and the soldiers kill everyone who had opposed them except for Valjean and Marius, who Valjean saves by sneaking him out through the sewers. Javert is waiting at the exit, but instead of shooting Valjean, as he said he would when he got the chance, he kills himself. Valjean tells Marius about his past, making him promise not to tell Cosette, and leaves so that if he is ever discovered Cosette won’t have to deal with the consequences. Cosette and Marius find out at their wedding where Valjean is and go to see him. They arrive at the convent where Valjean is staying right before he dies, and he gives Cosette a letter about his life, which he’d always kept secret from her.

I’d never seen the musical before whenI saw this movie. It was sort of depressing because a lot of the characters die, but I really liked it.