Thanks to OG adventure auteur Alexandre Dumas’ recent newfound fascination with French cinema, the brazen, bloodthirsty howl of Gladiator II won’t be the only thing dominating period spectacles this season.
Following last year’s hearty two-parter The Three Musketeers (D’Artagnan and Milady) comes an even more epic and no less entertaining import. A work by Matthieu Delaporte, screenwriter of “The Musketeers” and Dumas aficionado, and Alexandre de la Pateliere. Movie buffs will want to enhance their starchy, muscular Roman revenge dishes with this fragrant Gallic mother sauce from Monte Cristo. After all, “Gladiator” tips its hat to “Ben-Hur,” which draws direct inspiration from Dumas’ revenge classic. .
And just as French Kaiseki cuisine is worth the splurge, this one also starts in three hours. But the time passes quickly, and it’s like spending a cozy evening bingeing on episodes. This glowing condensation of an 18-volume, 1300-page epic is a model of streamlining, even if the story’s many fascinating threads, emotions, and complexities could be fleshed out further. But that’s the irony of being obsessively invested in a story that carries the weight of decades. Nuances are acquired, and how well they are applied can be the difference between simply tearing apart the threads and a satisfying finished product.
But this lack of subtlety is hardly a criticism. For what is on display here, whether on land or sea, is a gorgeous and enchanting delight, marked by bloom or ruin. First, there’s the great casting of the brooding, almond-eyed Pierre Ninny (“Franz”), whose sparse verbal intensity suggests he’s the offspring of an adventurer and a troubled art-house romantic. Suggests. The alchemy is a young captain who is framed for treason by his jealous friend Fernand (Bastien Bouillon) and resentful crew member Danglars (Patrick Mille), and sentenced to life imprisonment by corrupt prosecutor Villefort (Laurent Lafitte). Edmund is the victim of a mysterious masked long-term plotter.
It begins with a thrilling story of a wise and instructive Italian cellmate (Pierfrancesco Favino) and his escape from an island prison after 14 years (for us, it’s only a moment). Reappearing in the disguise of a wealthy, worldly, black-clad earl (but harboring an elaborate plan of retribution), Edmund slips into the wealthy lives of the men who betrayed him. He also discovers the son (Vassili Schneider) that Fernand, who has become a war hero, picked up Edmond’s estranged fiancée Mercedes (Anaïs Demoustier) and gave birth to. At the Count’s side are an embittered orphaned young man (Julien de Saint-Jean) and a woman (Annamaria Bartholomei), each with their own reasons for being adopted into their benefactor’s plans.
Delaporte and de la Patellière understand that Dumas’ type of novelistic revenge is best brought to screen in the most beautiful European locations, whether in Freud or Chaud. Cinematographer Nicolas Bolduc’s camera is calibrated to swoop and soar as needed, darting along without ever wandering. . Again, I wish the movie had more lingering moments when it gets into certain intimate moments, especially the big statement of resolve where Niney is alone in church, cursing God, ready to settle the score. It might have been better if I had. That moment calls for a long, fiery monologue, not the rushed one on offer.
But the filmmakers know when to stretch the tension elsewhere, including a deliciously wicked dinner scene in which the Count, unwittingly toying with his targets’ secret sins, plays with them. His performance also hints at the danger of his cruelty. Of course, as “Monte Cristo” unfolds, we’re supposed to question everything delivered by the idea of ruthless justice, and certainly those lessons become a bit of a moral buzzkill. But only after reveling in the exploits of one of literature’s archetypal disciplinarians who welcome nightmares, he explains, because “nightmares keep my wounds fresh.” Joyeux Noel, Mess Ami!
“The Count of Monte Cristo”
French with English subtitles
Rating: PG-13, for some adventure violence/swordplay and some sensuality.
Running time: 2 hours 58 minutes
Performances: Opening Friday, Dec. 20 at Brand 18’s Laemmle Royale and AMC The Americana