here’s the third gif from the set that i posted last night, of george singing the last line of “drink with me.”
i didn’t make it then, but i wanted to post it now, because you can really see — even in this shitty quality — how great george’s acting is. like, even from this angle, it’s absolutely clear that his grantaire is singing that line to enjolras: watch the way his eyes stick to a single point beyond the frame, even as his body begins to turn. then, as he finally looks away from enjolras, he puts the bottle to his mouth, as if to say, “fuck it.” when aaron talks about this scene, he describes enjolras as being unique in realizing that they’re all about to die, but i think it’s crystal clear here that grantaire knows it too.
and what makes it so fucking brutal — and different from the stage versions i’ve seen — is that grantaire walks away. we see it, right here; he takes one last, longing look at enjolras, and then makes the decision to leave the barricade. not because he’s afraid, or because he’s abandoning them, but because he cannot bear to watch enjolras — or any of them, but especially enjolras — die. so he takes that long look that you see in the previous frames:
and goes into the café.
i guess some people might call this cowardice, or abandonment (and maybe that’s how enjolras sees it), but i think it’s intensely human. grantaire wants his last image of enjolras to be as the valiant leader; he wants that to be the memory that he carries of him. not what will inevitably follow. so he drinks his fill of enjolras, so that he’ll always remember him that way, and then he literally drinks, so that he won’t remember anything that comes after. if everyone else is doomed, enjolras deserves to have even one person carry the memory of him as a hero.
this whole moment makes their last interaction so much more poignant, too. because now we know that enjolras saw grantaire leave the barricade; he knew grantaire had gone, that grantaire hadn’t fallen when the barricade did and that he was somewhere alive. how did he feel about that? was he glad to see him go? did he feel betrayed, like i said above?
also, note the sway in grantaire’s steps as he walks away. to me, that’s very reminiscent of the way he drunkenly walks to stand beside enjolras in front of the national guard. there’s a common physicality, an almost balletic movement. it’s nice foreshadowing, for me.
speaking of foreshadowing, as much as i’d love to see this full song (please please please let me get what i want), i’d also love to see the full “one day more,” because there’s a third moment to add to this mix, a third place where grantaire is called upon to stand with enjolras:
think about how that might play out onscreen. it’s the same staircase that grantaire is in front of when he comes to stand with enjolras at the very end. when grantaire wakes up, and sees enjolras about to die alone, that becomes his last image of him. and rather than let it happen, he joins him — this time, without even being asked. he willingly takes his place beside enjolras, completing the character arc we’ve seen develop (or, i guess, we haven’t seen, thanks to edits).
¯_( ಠ_ಠ)_/¯ 