29 Faces For February

Nine years have elapsed since Cosette escaped from the wicked people who were keeping her, and she has grown to the flower of young womanhood in the safety of the convent where Valjean has been working.  Recently, they have moved on to regular Parisian life, funded by money Valjean had hidden before their seclusion.  On a charitable excursion one day in early June of 1832, Valjean and Cosette are in the vicinity of a crowd of citizens listening to some young men talking of bringing down the monarchy.   The French Revolution had done that decades earlier, but a couple of years before this part of the story, the monarchy had returned. Many people were upset.  These young men, students, were agitating for support in their quest for a return of the Republic.  One of them notices Cosette and falls in love at first sight.  He catches her eye, and she feels the same.  
(Seriously, if I had been in the Parisian mob at that time, I would have killed her for the bonnet she was wearing.  I LOVED it... but since it's the 29 FACES challenge, not 29 Hats, I minimized the bonnet and concentrated on her pretty face.  Trust me, the bonnet was gorgeous.)

                                               
                                            Cosette, played by Amanda Seyfried.

                  Marius Pontmercy, seeing Cosette for the first time, played by Eddie Redmayne.


Marius has a friend who is sympathetic to the Republicans' cause, and she is none other than the child of the horrid Thenardiers.   Her name is Eponine,  and she has sunk pretty low under their tutelage.   But all she does in their con games is keep a watch out for the police.   She recognizes Cosette, who used to live with her, so when Marius asks Eponine to find out where the pretty girl lives, she agrees to do it for him.  He is clueless that Eponine is in love with him! 

      Here, Eponine realizes that Marius will never love her.  Played by Samantha Barks.


In Paris there is a street urchin named Gavroche.  He knows all the ins and outs of street life, hangs out with the young men plotting the rebellion, fervently sympathizes with their cause, and heads up a band of his own street urchins.  

The plucky Gavroche, who frequently proves "what little people can do."  
He sports the tricolor floret used as a badge by Republique supporters.  Portrayed by Daniel Huttlestone.