Yeah, I think the appeal for me was to keep the core of the characters the way I see them without feeling like I had to conform to their outward canonical roles, if that makes sense? Valjean being a convict and then a mayor isn't what's important in this respect; what's important is that he ran from a dehumanising institution and ended up in a position of power over his erstwhile jailer. So the laundry/convent was an attempt to obtain that, and perhaps also highlight their differing attitudes to religion, as you say -- Javert adhering to the letter and Valjean to the spirit, as it were.