“He who seeks revenge digs two graves.”
– Confucius
In December 2023, director Martin Bourboulon’s The Three Musketeers – Part I: D’Artagnan released into U.S. theaters, kicking off a brand-new adaptation of author Alexandre Dumas’s classic novel. It currently remains uncertain if Bourboulon’s The Three Musketeers – Part II: Milady, released in U.S. theaters April 2024, will be the end of the story or if a Part III will occur (the ending of II certainly suggests that there’s more to come), but it certainly has left an excitement for Dumas’s brand of action, adventure, and thrills. These two Musketeers films were scripted by Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre De La Patellière and, now, they return to the director’s chair for a different Dumas adaptation, The Count of Monte Cristo, bringing with them that same exuberant energy via a mostly brand-new cast capable of convincing audiences that revenge can be delicious if served with a heaping dose of irony but is nevertheless destructive to all involved.
L-R: Bastien Bouillon as Fernand de Morcerf, Anaïs Demoustier as Mercédès Herrera, and Pierre Niney as Edmond Dantès in THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO. Photo Credit: Jerome Prebois. Photo courtesy of Samuel Goldwyn Films.
While enroute to port, a storm throws a woman off a shipping vessel and into the choppy seas. Defying orders, Edmond Dantès (Pierre Niney) dives in and rescues her, an act that his captain, Danglars (Patrick Mille), takes as defiance and uses to get the young man fired. Instead, fortune shines upon Edmond as he is promoted to Danglars’s position, the former captain let go in disgrace, and uses this new-found status change to request the hand of his beloved Mercédès Herrera (Anaïs Demoustier). However, on the day of their wedding, Edmond is arrested as a traitor to France and thrown in prison where he will stay for 14 long years. Upon his freedom, Edmond begins to learn the truth of what happened to him and sets a course for justice that will upend the world that forgot him but will never forget the Count of Monte Cristo.
Pierre Niney as Edmond Dantès/The Count of Monte Cristo in THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO. Photo courtesy of Samuel Goldwyn Films.
Clocking in at 178 minutes, The Count of Monte Cristo is set to battle other less-so-but-still-lengthy films this holiday season, such as Nosferatu (133 minutes), Queer (137 minutes), and The Brutalist (215 minutes), but length is an indicator of neither taste nor success. If the audiences feels the length, no satisfaction comes in the payoff because the audience is too disengaged to embrace it. Thankfully, Delaporte and De La Patellière understand the importance of momentum and how to maintain it, even in the quiet moments, so that there’s barely a dull second within their adaptation. After a quick bit of text sets up the historical period and the significance of failed-Emperor Napoleon within it, the audience is thrust into a stormy sea at night, watching as a man and a woman struggle within it. We only know that their lives hang in the balance and that the man, later realized to be Edmond, possesses a determination to save her regardless of the danger. This opening sequence tells us everything we need to know about Edmond — what he values, what he’s willing to risk, and what others will underestimate — so that when the betrayal comes that puts him in prison, we not only weep for him in the tragedy of it, our hearts break further when his spirit is shattered during his time there. From the first scene to the moment when Edmond receives a glimmer of hope while imprisoned, Delaporte and De La Patellière maintain such a steady pace that we can barely believe all that’s transpired in merely the first hour of the adventure. What should feel choking in terms of processing details like who is whom, what are their motivations, etc., is laid out slowly enough for the audience to grasp and for the weight of what occurs to set in before the remainder of the film turns into a glorious recompense through subterfuge and righteous villainy. The only downside to the structure applied (and this is said without having ever read the book) is that when the plot for revenge is underway, by utilizing a well-worn con/heist/thriller trope to introduce a character without explanation and then breadcrumb details through a mix of quick dialogue cut with flashbacks, the momentum slows as the audience must play catch-up where, up to that point, they were right alongside Edmond. It makes a certain sense that Edmond would pick up more than one partner to assist in his plan and it’s a good thing that Anamaria Vartolomeï (Happening) as Haydée is so damn captivating that we can forgive the somewhat clumsy utilization of the character outside of the con in the early stages of Edmond’s dragnet (within it, all three of the central characters are brought to life masterfully by actors Niney, Vartolomeï, and Julien De Saint Jean (The Lost Boys)). But it speaks to the understanding of story, how it moves, the necessary ebbs and flows, that the audience rarely ever feels the length; rather, the execution makes one want to revisit the whole after an appropriate rest.
Anamaria Vartolomeï as Haydée in THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO. Photo Credit: Jerome Prebois. Photo courtesy of Samuel Goldwyn Films.
An additional success of the film comes in the cinematography from Nicolas Bolduc, who also did both Three Musketeers films. On the one hand, including Bolduc enables those who enjoyed those other two films to feel instantly at home within Monte Cristo. There’s a natural look to all of the shots, grounding everything that happens — the successes, the failures, the betrayals, and the reward of loyalty — so that we don’t get lost in the magic of Dumas’s source material. It certainly helps that the whole of the film was shot on-location, even at sea, thereby giving the whole of Monte Cristo a visual style grounded by reality. In fiction, there’s a good chance that the good guys win and the bad guys die; but, in reality, the good guy gets sent to prison for making someone else look bad, supported by the cowardice of those he thought he could trust. This adds extra weight to the narrative that might otherwise be missing. Especially in the prison when Edmond works to escape, Bolduc found a way to put us right into the cramped spaces with Edmond, inserting a sense of claustrophobia that would make even the most desperate individual think twice before slithering their way into the walls. Between the narrative, the pacing, and the cinematography, Delaporte and De La Patellière create a transportive atmosphere that threads the needle between mystified longing to join such a thrilling adventure and proper horror at the lengths people will go to destroy their enemies (real or perceived).
L-R: Patrick Mille as Danglers, Laurent Lafitte as Gérard de Villefort, and Bastien Bouillon as Fernand de Morcerf in THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO. Photo Credit: Remy Grandroques. Photo courtesy of Samuel Goldwyn Films.
Quick hat-tip to composer Jérôme Rebotier (The Basement; Until I Fly) for their work here. In a film like Musketeers, the music by Guillaume Roussel encapsulated the adventure as a whole with notes and themes to connect to individual characters. Here, Rebotier seems to craft the music around Edmond himself, conveying not merely the horror of the betrayal he faces early on, but using the music to channel the character’s emotions. This becomes all the more important and fearsome when Edmond becomes the Count and the music twists to convey the righteous anger and formidable intent, the occasional softness coming through when the mask, both literal and figurative, is removed. If Delaporte and De La Patellière provide the momentum and focus of the narrative and Bolduc creates the visual language that grounds us, Rebotier is the connection between Edmond and the audience directly as we, his secret confidants, journey with him. (Another reason why the shift post-escape where we’re no longer right next to Edmond matters so much in both the momentum and approach to the narrative and the way we experience/enjoy the film: we’re no longer trusted by Edmond to be by his side; another person he’s let go of.)
L-R: Pierre Niney as Edmond Dantès/The Count of Monte Cristo and Vassili Schneider as Albert de Morcerf in THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO. Photo Credit: Jerome Prebois. Photo courtesy of Samuel Goldwyn Films.
As mentioned, this reviewer has not read The Count of Monte Cristo so there were virtually no expectations before watching. It’s phrased this way because both of the Musketeers adaptations are among my favorite films for both 2023 and 2024 (as appropriate), meaning that seeing a new film adapted by Delaporte and De La Patellière brings an expectation of joy, but without familiarity of either their direction style or the narrative twists and turns. But as these two brought a unique freshness to king’s musketeers, so do Delaporte and De La Patellière infuse this story from the mid-1800s with a modern sensibility, evoking the lost art of swashbuckling adventure while they’re at it. If the worst thing about it is a few moments in which the film means to expect us to care without giving reason, then all is forgiven when everything that surrounds it is more than earned. Most impressive is how audiences who have grown up with films like The Sting (1973) and Confidence (2003) or even relatively recent programs like Leverage (2008-2012) can view the tricks of old that are the tropes of now executed with such flair and grace that we welcome the trickery with glee. Though there is no follow-up to this tale written by Dumas himself (just sequels written by others), as mentioned, that doesn’t mean there isn’t rewatchablity built in or that the execution of Monte Cristo doesn’t inspire one to do so quickly.
In select U.S. theaters December 20th, 2024.
Wider release January 3rd, 2025.
For more information, head to the official Samuel Goldwyn Films The Count of Monte Cristo webpage.
Final Score: 4.5 out of 5.
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Categories: Films To Watch, In Theaters, Recommendation, Reviews
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