What does this version bring to it?

Well, international audiences may know it best through the musical, but here the director approaches it as an adventure, but with the tension of a thriller, and he actually took inspiration from modern Westerns, including Kevin Costner's Open Range.

Just to refresh your memory, we follow Jean Valjean, a former convict who's trying to start again and to protect young Cosette while Inspector Javert is pursuing him.

What's interesting in this new version is the attention given to Javert's own past and his relationship with his mother, who abandoned him when he was a kid.

We discover that he also went to prison when he was young, so now he's determined to punish the very world that he comes from, and the film develops that contradiction during these three hours, making the pursuit of Valjean something deeply personal.

And there's quite a cast around them.

We have Noemie Merlant, uh, as Fantine.

What stayed with you afterwards?

But how are these films chosen, Manon, for the best international film list?

So just to clarify, France doesn't simply choose one Oscar nominee from five films.

The French Commission first selects five films and then they audition a lot of film professionals like producers, international sales agents.

Sometimes they even question U.S. distributors before choosing one film to represent France.

The last thing that's important is it has to be gender balanced.

At least 50% of its members must be artists or people involved in film creation.

And that can be pretty broad.

What's been driving French box office hits then over the last 12 months? What have been the biggest ones?