The dominant voices during and immediately after the pandemic seemed to be apocalyptic, but this did not deter one of the French distributors, Pathe, who seemed to cement their focus on large format cinemas on the grandest scale with their interpretation of Alexandre Dumas’ “The Three Musketeers”. The trailer of this film promised non-stop action with lots of single take combat scenes, a performance from Eva Green that one would crave for and many other great features packed within a two-part star studded narrative. Though not the most accurate interpretation of the book, it was entertaining to watch, proving that the French were capable of providing as much hype as the Americans when it came to telling a story.
Months later at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, Pathé returned with a ‘banger’ as they would say and this came in the form of an epic three hour retelling of one of the Dumas hit’s – ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’. While ‘Megalopolis’ and ‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’ seemed to take all the attention in Cannes, “Count” appeared out of the woodworks and ended performing excellently, it was successful in telling an engaging story thanks to a strong base. It is not as slow moving, or tedious as some of its predecessors such as the miniseries featuring Gérard Depardieu, with Pierre Niney captivating the audience as the main character.
As elegant as any golden-age Hollywood epic, the film appears to be updated in an era of internal struggles and political score settling, demonstrating that when the aggrieved take to seek vengeance the end gainer fails to emerge. Had co directors Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de La Patellière’s piece been in English and released two decades before, it would be standing tall and claiming the Oscar for the best picture. The vast majority of French schoolchildren can recount the tale, but lots of Americans will find shocking what could be called the ‘Shawshank Redemption’ of its time. Dumas however did not pitch the ball to the protagonist, allowing him to dally with tragedy at every possible course.
In the words of Orson Welles, “If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story.” Remembering this quote as he wrote “The Count of Monte Cristo,” Dumas turned the readers’ expectations on their head, saying that readers should be content with the happy beginning of a story instead. His hero, Edmond Dantès, is soon to be promoted to the post of captain which would enable him to marry his love Mercédès (Anaïs Demoustier). At the first 10 or 15 minutes, the young mariner makes the audience feel as if he was bathing in champagne bubbles: happy in love, reunited with his father and best friend, Fernand de Moncerf (Bastien Bouillon). But before the couple can pronounce “I do,” an unfortunate circumstance occurs: Dantès is captured due to a fraudulent charge of being in conspiracy with Napoleon and is imprisoned on a remote island.
And for the next 14 years, which is roughly about one hour-long exposure to the screen, the handsome former sailor remains neglected in the lowest depths of the Château d’If (apart from the direct close up of the skeletal frame of prisoner No 34, all other angles show the dilapidated conditions of cell 34 which is occupied by the well renowned face of Tim Roth albeit the sweeping shots featuring Roth as the younger well turned out designer featured in ‘Yves Saint Laurent’); had Dumas’ novel finished at the church, we would have thought all is well that ends well. But, to one’s surprise, this clear cut romance gets messier as the reader transforms from pages providing glee, to the enthralling pages of despair, somewhere after the thousandth page where the protagonist is embroiled in the strongest quest and pursuit for vengeance.
Consequently, Dantès may be seen as a precursor to comic book heroes like Batman or the Green Hornet, who are wealthy men who go on to turn their residences into training bases, which they do in order to wage war on various criminals. While imprisoned, Dantès encounters Abbé Faria, who gives him a language education and tells him about a treasure that is worthy of a sultan. Upon escaping, what Dantès does next is a no-brainer – he goes directly to where the treasure is hidden and voila, he is one of the richest men in the world. Again, if the narrative were to stop here, then this may not be a bad place to close.
Upon his return however, Dantès discovers that Mercédès is married to his ex friend Moncerf, his legitimate career is enjoying the rivalry of Danglars (Patrick Mille) and his father unreachable, and he *. He then reorients his goals. One of the story’s more imaginative conceits is that Dantès is a master of disguise – unrecognizable not only to his foes, but to Mercédès as well. He has had enough suffering and so can Dantès have his opponents, the treacherous Moncerf, Danglars and Villefort (Laurent Lafitte), the procureur du roi who had sent him away to seek their destruction. But to Dumas, resentment also has its corrosive edges and it is to this central idea that the movie is rightly devoted to.
It is this seething anger that leads Dantès to abandon his ideals about love and sacrifice everything, including his wards Haydée and Andrea, to hatred. Haydee, enchantingly played by Anamaria Vartolomei (“Happening”) could be a troublesome character by 21st century standards. She is an orphaned slave whom Dantès purchases to get back at Moncerf, the military man who killed her father. It’s a hitch that is easily fixed in this case – Haydee is made a willing participant in the scheme.
The same applies for the moody newcomer apprentice of the Count (Julien De Saint-Jean, who looks like a junior Alain Delon), who goes under the name Andrea Cavalcanti but is in reality, the bastard son of the corrupt state prosecutor who framed Dantès in his ruthless ambition of becoming a magistrate. Albert (Vassili Schneider), the son of Mercédès and Fernand who is about the same age, is a further appeal to the romance which was deprived to Dantès.
Almost poetic, the two young men appear to take opposite directions in the course of the Count’s life — each time, Albert (whom Haydée plans to seduce and throw aside) represents love, Andrea love’s opposite which is hate — a dichotomy that informs the thrilling modern adaptation of Delaporte and de La Patelliere’s. While they are able to enjoy both the spectacle and the stylization that is the tendency of Most Martin Bourboulon in The Three Musketeers, the co-directors have held the temptation of decorative excess that todo didi during Batara di Pantera di Panamera di Pan Wasitui. With a vengeance for the theme, the film covers a lot of space in just 3 hours of viewing time, leaving only a couple of loose ends underexplained like what happened to danglers’ fleet. For the rest, leaving focus in motion is the dynamic musical direction by Jérome Rebotier and putting Niney where the role is supposed to be.
Returning back to the chateau d’if, abbé faria informs dantès on the location of the treasure and explains, “the rest is your story, a man who has it all in his hand.” A quote such as this is meant for empowerment, yet is not a reward like Dantès believes; rather, it is a challenge that will only take him the remaining film to come to terms with. To vanquish the society that mistreated him is tantamount to losing oneself.
For more movies visit 123Movies.