Les Miserables

Empty Chairs at Empty Tables

the thing about it was how different each version was. there were like maybe 15 versions, and each was just slightly different from one another. there were once where enjolras hugged grantaire, and once where he put a hand on his shoulder, and once where grantaire was the one to walk up to him and offer him a drink, and once where enjolras accepted the drink but once where he just looked on him and drank his own drink like he doesn’t even give a damn. once where he helped grantaire up and once where he sat him down, kneeling in front of him. once where he cupped his head and once where he wanted to reach to him but didn’t and once where he just walked to the other side of the stage without sparing him a glance.

but what’s interesting is, in all of these versions, all these realities, all these retelling of the story - grantaire directed his words, his actions, his thoughts, his entire being directly to enjolras. like, this scene is grantaire voicing out his real concerns, his real struggle: what if this is all meaningless? what if we cannot make a dent on this world and all our actions are for nothing? what if you die and the world doesn’t remember you and you will die in vain? he asks this question directly to enjolras, and to him alone. what if you die for nothing, enjolras? he looks him straight in the eyes, his pessimism a direct result of his cleverness, his intelligence making it impossible for him to ignore how dire their situation is, leaving him with no real way to cope and desperate for comforting of any kind, of something to convince him that hope is possible.

enjolras, in that scene, in all versions that i saw, cannot convince him of such thing.  but he can, and he does (in some versions) comfort him. and in almost all versions grantiare clings to that comfort like a shaking leaf in the wind. he buries his head in enjolras’ chest, or he walks up to him, desperate to get his attention, always is. 

and this is such a small scene, so quick and taking place while a song is being performed, a lot of people might not even catch it, it’s less than a minute long. such a small scene, but the versions that took it and used it to give those two characters a chance to embrace, to give em the opportunity to make a meaningful connection, even if it changes nothing and save no one… this is hope, to me. this is what grantaire was looking for. that feeling when even in the dark. when you know nothing for certain and can’t rely on seeing tomorrow morning, and you know that it might all be in vain and you might fail and not even save anyone or make any real impact on the world, make your sacrifice mean something; even then, if you manage to make real connection with other people, to love them and be in their lives and make room for them in yours, to have a relationship that means something; then it’s not for nothing. then it has worth. then even if you died by morning you leave something behind. because a real bond is something that is bigger than both parties, love is something that is bigger than ourselves, and it is worth fighting for, and worth believing in. and if absolutely nothing else, it’s less scary to be afraid together, ey?

reaching through the hopeless, heavy dusk. their hands meet.

@themiserablesmonth​ 2022 | red