---
title: "France Takes On 'Les Miserables' Again, This Time Without the Songs"
description: "Studiocanal has released a teaser for a new, big-budget film of Victor Hugo's 'Les Misérables' — and it is not the musical. Directed by Fred Cavayé and starring Vincent Lindon as Jean Valjean and Tahar Rahim as his relentless pursuer, Javert, it aims to return the story to its roots as a sweeping historical drama."
category: "Entertainment"
category_url: https://herald.la/category/entertainment
author: "Mei-Lin Tang"
published: 2026-07-02T14:43:55.000Z
updated: 2026-07-02T14:43:55.000Z
canonical: https://herald.la/article/france-takes-on-les-miserables-again-this-time-without-the-songs
tags: ["Les Misérables", "Studiocanal", "Vincent Lindon", "Tahar Rahim", "French cinema"]
---
# France Takes On 'Les Miserables' Again, This Time Without the Songs

Studiocanal has released a teaser for a new, big-budget film of Victor Hugo's 'Les Misérables' — and it is not the musical. Directed by Fred Cavayé and starring Vincent Lindon as Jean Valjean and Tahar Rahim as his relentless pursuer, Javert, it aims to return the story to its roots as a sweeping historical drama.

For most people, "Les Misérables" now means the musical — the soaring anthems, the barricade, the crowds singing "Do You Hear the People Sing?" A new French film wants to remind audiences that, before all that, it was one of the great novels.

## Not the musical

Studiocanal has unveiled a teaser for a fresh adaptation of Victor Hugo's 1862 masterpiece, directed by the French filmmaker Fred Cavayé, [Variety reported](https://variety.com/2026/film/global/studiocanal-teaser-les-miserables-fred-cavaye-victor-hugo-1236800839/). It is a straight dramatic film — no songs — leaning into the book's scale: 19th-century Paris, political upheaval, and the long cat-and-mouse chase at the story's heart. Cavayé, known for taut thrillers, has said he approached the material like a pursuit story, with Hugo's fugitive hero and the lawman who hunts him locked together across the years.

## The cast

Vincent Lindon, the Cannes-honored actor, plays Jean Valjean, the ex-convict seeking redemption; Tahar Rahim, who broke through in "A Prophet," plays Inspector Javert, the officer who will not let him go, [Deadline reported](https://deadline.com/2025/12/lindon-tahar-rahim-fred-cavaye-miserables-first-look-1236635636/). The ensemble around them includes Noémie Merlant as the doomed Fantine and Camille Cottin and Benjamin Lavernhe as the scheming Thénardiers, with Vassili Schneider as the young revolutionary Marius.

It is a large production by French standards — one of the most ambitious French-language films in recent memory, according to the trade reporting — shot in and around Bordeaux and Paris in 2025, [ScreenDaily reported](https://www.screendaily.com/news/studiocanal-sets-big-screen-adaptation-of-historical-epic-les-miserables/5190234.article). Studiocanal has it set for a theatrical release in late 2026.

## A story told and retold

Hugo's novel has been adapted for the screen many times over more than a century, long before the Boublil-and-Schönberg stage musical and its 2012 film version came to dominate the popular imagination. A quick word of clarification for the easily confused: this is not connected to Ladj Ly's acclaimed 2019 film "Les Misérables," a modern police drama set in the Paris suburbs that borrows only Hugo's title.

## Why do it again

The obvious question is why the world needs another "Les Misérables." The bet here is that there is room for a version that trades show-stoppers for historical sweep — that treats Hugo's tale of poverty, justice and mercy as an epic thriller rather than a sing-along. Whether audiences agree will not be clear until the film reaches theaters, but the teaser makes the pitch plainly: same story, different key.

## Sources

- [Studiocanal unveils teaser for 'Les Misérables,' Fred Cavayé's sweeping take on Victor Hugo's classic](https://variety.com/2026/film/global/studiocanal-teaser-les-miserables-fred-cavaye-victor-hugo-1236800839/)
- [Vincent Lindon & Tahar Rahim revealed in Fred Cavayé's 'Les Misérables' as Studiocanal unveils first look](https://deadline.com/2025/12/lindon-tahar-rahim-fred-cavaye-miserables-first-look-1236635636/)
- [Studiocanal sets big-screen adaptation of historical epic 'Les Misérables'](https://www.screendaily.com/news/studiocanal-sets-big-screen-adaptation-of-historical-epic-les-miserables/5190234.article)