The Count of Monte Cristo

Le Comte de Monte-Cristo

The Count of Monte Cristo
© Pathé Films

VERDICT: A French classic gets new, ambitious life on screen with the ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’, from the same team as 2023’s ‘The Three Musketeers’.

Having conquered the French box office in 2023 with their two-part adaptation of The Three Musketeers (with a third film currently in the works), Dimitri Rassam and his company Chapter 2 (partnering once again with Pathé Films) are ready to wow audiences with another Alexandre Dumas-inspired epic: The Count of Monte Cristo, set to open in cinemas domestically about a month after its lavish Cannes premiere. Its success is likely, both at home and internationally, although the three-hour runtime might be a deterrent for some.

The story begins in Marseille, in 1815: Edmond Dantès (Pierre Niney), the young first mate of the merchant ship Pharaon, has just learned he is to take over as the new captain, which angers his former superior Danglars (Patrick Mille). Just as he’s about to marry his beloved Mercedes (Anaïs Demoustier), Edmond is arrested and charged with being a Napoleon loyalist, based on an anonymous accusation. He is innocent, but knows just about enough to persuade the prosecutor, Gérard de Villefort (Laurent Lafitte), to sentence him to lifetime imprisonment, without trial, on the island of Château d’If.

There, with the help of fellow prisoner Abbé Faria, Dantès becomes a learned man and pieces together the identities of the three men who wronged him and conspired to keep him locked away: Danglars, Villefort and Fernand de Morcerf (Bastien Bouillon), Mercedes’ cousin, who is now free to marry her himself. When Faria dies, Edmond poses as his corpse to escape from the island, and uses his late friend’s information to get his hands on vast amounts of wealth. Officially dead to the world, Dantès returns to the French mainland with a new identity, the Count of Monte Cristo, and sets out to get revenge.

Much like The Three Musketeers, this adaptation, which brings American blockbuster-like ambition to France (and borrows at least one plot element from Disney’s swashbuckling take on the novel, released in 2002), is faithful to the spirit, but not always the letter, of Dumas’ text. Character relationships, in particular, have been amended and streamlined for the sake of narrative flow, and book purists will probably raise their eyebrows at some deviations in the third act, which tries to be more in line with contemporary mainstream entertainment and to critically address Dantès’ own moral shortcomings (the debate between justice and revenge, paired with some choice visuals in mansions and caves, is reminiscent of Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins).

Unlike the 2023 double bill, though, The Count of Monte Cristo does feel a bit baggy at times. Even taking into account the book’s massive size (close to 2,000 pages), the runtime makes itself felt especially in the middle stretch as Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de la Patellière, whose previous directorial efforts were much smaller in scale, get used to playing in a significantly larger sandbox. They receive the skillful aid of a crew that already worked on the other two films, ensuring some visual continuity (whether this will actually become a Dumas Cinematic Universe further down the line remains to be seen).

Whereas the role of D’Artagnan helped elevate François Civil’s profile, Dantès confirms Niney’s status as one of the more interesting and entertaining French actors working today, his penchant for impersonation and multiple onscreen identities coming in handy as the Count adopts various aliases to fulfill his schemes. He’s surrounded by a solid supporting cast (Anamaria Vartolomei, the breakout star of Audrey Diwan’s Happening, is mesmerizing as the Count’s protégée Haydée), although Patrick Mille and Bastien Bouillon, ostensibly the main villains, do suffer a bit from having to share the screen with the naturally scene-stealing Laurent Lafitte, who almost walks away with the movie whenever he appears and is more than deserving of the “and” credit he receives in the cast list.

Directors, screenplay: Matthieu Delaporte, Alexandre de la Patellière
Cast: Pierre Niney, Anaïs Demoustier, Bastien Bouillon, Patrick Mille, Vassili Schneider, Anamaria Vartolomei, Julien de Saint-Jean, Laurent Lafitte, Pierfrancesco Favino
Producers: Dimitri Rassam, Robin Welch, Laurent Hanon
Cinematography: Nicolas Bolduc
Production design: Stéphane Taillasson
Costume design: Thierry Delettre
Music: Jérôme Rebotier
Sound: David Rit
Production companies: Chapter 2, Pathé Films, M6 Films, Logical Pictures, Umedia
World sales: Pathé Films
Venue: Cannes Film Festival (Out of Competition)
In French
178 minutes