The Count of Monte Cristo. France 2024. Pierre Niney, Bastian Bouillon, Anais Demoustier, Anamaria Vartolomei, Laurent Lafitte, Patrick Mille, Pierfrancesco Favino. Directors: Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre De La Patellière. 178 mins. Rating: M.
I really enjoyed this new visually dramatic telling of The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexander Dumas’ eponymous masterpiece. Yes, it was just under three hours long, but it was so engrossing that time flew as I watched this magnetic tale of love and vengeance and the dark machinations of the human heart set in the Napoleonic era. The original story was written in 1844 by Dumas, a revenge tale to honour his father who was the first Black general in Napoleon’s army, but who was betrayed by both the Little Corporal and the King of Naples.
The opening sequence had me hooked as Edmond Dantès (Niney), at some risk to his own life, saves a young woman from drowning. This woman is a Bonapartist spy. The film begins in 1815 as Napoleon is freed from imprisonment on the island of Elba.
Dantès is heroic, but not in the usual vein. He is slight of frame, but determined, a man of integrity, born the son of a steward. He falls in love with Mercédès (Demoustier) the daughter of a wealthy local landowner and they prepare to marry. However, fate intervenes and he is dragged from the altar before the exchange of vows. Three men, the ship’s captain, the magistrate and his romantic rival have conspired to frame his as a traitor. Dantès is sentenced to imprisonment on the Château D’if, an island prison in the bay of Marseilles. Mercédès, later believing him to be dead, marries the rival for her hand.
While imprisoned Dantès comes under the influence of the priest, Abbé Faria (Favino) who teaches him all manner of things, from languages to philosophy and history, and reveals to him the place of the famed Knights Templar treasure. The dehumanising torment of imprisonment was well conveyed and the digging scenes helped to ward off madness as the two men tunnelled through rock. I enjoyed the scene where Dantès escapes the island with an almost Houdinesque unravelling of a bodybag as it sinks to the sea floor.
Years later, having found the treasure, the mysterious and vastly wealthy Count of Monte Cristo arrives in Paris and begins to inveigle himself into high society. His plan is to revenge himself on those who prevented his marriage and changed the course of his life. But this is no mere revenge. Simply killing them is too easy, he wants to rip their hearts out. He plans meticulously to upset relationships, expose and humiliate the three men, reducing their now rich and public status and punishing them for his lost love and lost years. Dantès obsession with his foes, ship owner Danglars (Mille), army hero Morcef (Bouillon) and prosecutor Villefort (Lafitte) reveals his dark heart as he manipulates others to be part of his long game of revenge. Dantès assumes characters, for example, Lord Halifax, and plays on others’ greed and their secrets to exact punishment. The scene where the Count regales the ghost story at dinner and toys with the feelings and fears of the guests is excellent. He sees what he is doing not as revenge, but justice.
The settings were superb, especially the interiors which were lavishly decorated. It really was a visual feast for the eyes. The hunt scene was brutal and I could not look at the stabbing of the stag by the Count’s protégé, Andrea, (Julien de Saint Jean) who has been rehearsing the role of young Count Cavalcanti as part of the ensnaring of innocents into the intrigues that set in train later revelations and humiliations.
Towards the end of the film, there is some redemption, after the duel at dawn where Albert(Vassili Schneider) and the Count of Monte Cristo face off. The Count cannot bring himself to kill the young man and he finds out that young Haydée (Anamaria Vartolomei) rather than simply seducing Morcef’s son as part of an evil plan, has really fallen in love with him. The plea from Mercédès, who had recognised Dantès as soon as she saw him, makes him realise that these two young people need the happy story that he and Mercédès were denied.
This film had a lot going on and was not strictly true to the original Dumas’ story, but it was great entertainment. The score resonantly echoed the ebbs and flows of the movie. The costumes were great.
For this reviewer, there is something eminently romantic and Gothic about a swirling great coat in a dark lane. I was also intrigued by the hooded statue that guards the treasure and is later seen in the Count’s front garden, rather spooky and interesting, and made me wonder about its historical provenance or not. Was it simply CGI? There were also couple of lines that raised a laugh by recognising the French/ English cultural antipathy.
Overall, this swashbuckling epic crossed genres and reprised many themes. It deserves to be viewed closely. It is a story beloved by the French and there will be few who will be disappointed by this iteration.
As the Count of Monte Cristo sails towards the horizon, he has finally let his demons go and restored his heart to goodness.