LES MISERABLES

        In Tom Hopper’s 2012 adaption of Les Miserables, mise en scene establishes a hierarchy involving every character in the film to demonstrate their personal positions. Knowledge of this is created through colour relating to the French flag, seen in the opening scene when protagonist Jean Valjean pulls one through muddy waters. 

"Look Down" -Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe and The Convicts

The colours of blue, white and red are the most distinguishable here as well as the green of the water and the hues themselves as well as their position on the flag represent the hierarchy: those who embody the law at the top, the innocent in the middle and the criminals at the very bottom. The scum of the street-the green water-drag the hierarchy through the mud. 
            This works with costume to place characters on the hierarchy. 

Enjolras portrayed by Aaron Tveit, in
costume (1)

The street urchin Eponine, for example, represents the lowest form of existence, but she tries to show grace by wearing a corseted dress that she attempts to put together. However, the green colours used in the fabrics demonstrate that she will always be nothing. 
Eponine Thernadier "Little He Knows, Little He Sees

The student Enjolras’s costume by contrast puts him in the bottom tier of the hierarchy as a criminal. Although richer than Eponine and dressed in black pants, a red jacket and  waistcoast, the red reveals that he will go to anything lengths to support the revolution

Cosette, portrayed by Amanda Seyfried (2)

         Cosette’s costume reflects the ignorant position on the hierarchy. Her modest gowns are white, except when Valjean conceals her true identity in which case she wears grand blue dresses and they are embroidered with gold flowers to show gentle kindness.  Inspector Javert, on the other hand, constantly dresses in military like blue attire as a way of establishing a sense of coldness and frigidity of the law, which is placed on the top tier of the hierarchy, looking down on the other classes. 
Javert

          Set relates to the hierarchy by working with colour and actor performance. In the scene Valjean’s Soliloquy, it is an altar within a convent. This is ironic, considering Valjean is a criminal, but the colour used on the set gives depth and life to his thought process. Blue, yellow, green and white are present in the decoration of the alter, the ceiling painted blue and, the windows to the left being gold and framed with blue and the arches he wanders through are a dull shade of red. The tiles of the floor are also yellow and green also and the way that the actor who plays Valjean paces through the many clashes of colour and delivers the song number allows us to see a conflict in the inability to choose. Many beliefs and expectations work against him and his pacing through the many arches of the set allows the audience to see these aspects of mise en scene clearly to feel as if we too are lost in the colours.
Valjean's Soliloquy 

Citations: Les Miserables. Dir. Tom Hopper. Perf. Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, Russell Crowe. Universal, 2012. DVD. 
1) MyTinyObsessions. Les Miserables and The Barricade Boys: Enjolras. Digital image. My Tiny Obsessions ~ Dedicated to Small Everyday Obsessions … Tv Shows … Movies … Books …. N.p., 8 Mar. 2013. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.
2) EXPERIENCE THE INTERNATIONAL TRAILER FOR ‘LES MISÉRABLES’. Les Miserables Cossette. Digital image. Turn The Right Corner. N.p., 24 Nov. 2012. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.