After escaping from an island prison where he spent 14 years for being wrongly accused of state treason, Edmond Dantès returns as the Count of Monte Cristo to exact revenge on the men who betrayed him.
Chuck says:
While there have been many film versions of “The Count of Monte-Cristo,” none have been as lush and ornate as Alexandre de La Patelliere and Matthieu Delaporte’s take on Alexandre Dumas’ classic tale of revenge and redemption. Reminiscent of the sort of big budget epics from Hollywood’s Golden Age, the film is an old-school adventure tale that embraces the story’s fantastic twists and turns, the serious tone grounding the story and providing a sense of drama that holds it in good stead.
Pierre Niney is Edmond Dantes, the unjustly accused sea captain who is sent to the infamous Chateau d’If after three rivals conspire to send him into exile. Imprisoned for 14 years, Dantes escapes and sets out to find a massive treasure hidden on the island of Monte Cristo. His fellow prisoner, Abbe Faria (Pierfrancesco Favino), told him about this largess, in the hopes Dantes will put these riches to good use and not for vengeance.
Dantes’ moral struggle drives the narrative, his elaborate scheme to take down Gerard de Villefort (Laurent Lafitte), Dnaglars (Patrick Mille) and Fernand de Morcef (Bastien Bouillon) an all-consuming passion that ultimately consumes the lives of innocents.
While this is a condensed version of the novel, La Patelliere and Delacorte, who penned the adaptation, streamline the story. While its running time is nearly three hours, it never feels long, one compelling moment tripping on the heels of the next, as Dantes’ elaborate trap unfolds.
Lafitte, Miller and Bouillon never overplay their villainous roles, which makes their ultimate comeuppance all the more satisfying, while Anais Demoustier as Dantes’ lost love Mercedes, takes an equally grounded approach. Niney is marvelous, holding the center of the film with a complex performance, poignantly conveying his character’s initial optimism as well as his simmering anger and coiled calculating nature. His cool, charisma is on full display and its easy see why he’s become one of France’s most in-demand stars.
Compelling from start to finish and unabashedly romantic, this is an exceptional film that revels in its ridiculous plotting and swashbuckling escapades. A wonderful throwback, “The Count of Monte Cristo” is the sort of character driven, epic that has been absent from the big screen for far too long.
