| In the Book |
In the Movie |
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A lengthy account of the Bishop Myriel's life is told, telling of how he gained his post via a chance meeting with Napoleon, once ventured into a path where a bandit was said to roam only to find that said bandit left a gift for him, had his last harrowing experience in the form of meeting a moribund member of the French Convention, among other things. |
The Bishop's backstory is left out of the musical. |
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After being rejected by the people he tried to lodge with, Valjean takes refuge in a doghouse, where he is chased out by the dog itself, before a local woman points him out to the Bishop's home. |
The Bishop encounters Valjean while he is wandering about in the streets.
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After leaving Digne with the Bishop's silver, Valjean semi-consciously steals a forty-sou piece from a young Savoyard named Little Gervais, before snapping into an episode of regret, fruitlessly trying to find the boy again, asking a wandering cure if he had seen him, before finally deciding to fully redeem himself. |
Valjean's decision to become a better man is purely inspired by the Bishop's kindness. |
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A section of the book is devoted to young Fantine's life with her lover, Felix Tholomyes, and three other couples, before the men abandon them, as well as a shorter section of her leaving Cosette with the Thénardiers before going to Montreuil and looking for work. |
Fantine first appears already working at the factory in Montreuil. Tholomyes never appears, and Cosette is not introduced until later.
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After a factory worker named Madame Victurnien spreads the rumour of Fantine having a child, the superintendent comes up to her one day and tells her that the Mayor has fired her. |
A factory worker snatches a request for money sent to Fantine by the Thénardiers, leading the others to insist that Fantine will bring trouble, convincing the foreman to throw her out. |