Pierre Niney shines as the vengeful Edmond Dantes in a visually dazzling French adaptation of Dumas’ timeless tale.
By James Verniere/Boston Movie News
Every generation gets its version of Alexandre Dumas’ thrilling Napoleonic-era adventure, “The Count of Count of Monte Cristo.” Roland V. Lee directed English stage actor Robert Donat a year before the actor made Hitchcock’s “The 39 Steps” as Edmond Dantes in a 1934 box-office hit from United Artists, spawning a bevy of screen swashbucklers. Australian stage actor O.P. Heggie, who would go on to be the blind hermit in “The Bride of Frankenstein” (1935), plays Edmond’s wise benefactor, teacher, and fellow prisoner, Abbe Faria.
In 1975, Richard Chamberlain starred as Edmond in a more-than-respectable TV version, featuring Louis Jourdan, who had played Edmond in a 1961 French film, as the villainous Villefort and Trevor Howard as the venerable Faria. More recently, we got Jim Caviezel, who would go on to play Jesus in Mel Gibson’s “The Passion” (2004), in a 2002 version directed by Kevin Reynolds of “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves” (1991) fame with big screen King Arthur and Dumbledore Richard Harris as Faria.
In this new, lavish French film version directed and adapted by Alexandre de La Patelliere and Matthieu Delaporte, rising French star Pierre Niney (“Yves Saint Laurent,” “Frantz”) takes on the mantle of Edmond Dantes. The plot of Dumas’ novel, which was published in serial form between 1844 and 1846, is notoriously complicated and full of twists once Edmond escapes from the real-life fortress-prison Chateau d’If off the coast of Marseille and seeks his treasure-funded and minutely plotted revenge upon those who had him incarcerated and figuratively buried alive. What is this story if not a tale encouraging us to take imaginary revenge on the people we believe have mistreated us? It is a revenge fantasy first and a romance and semi-historical adventure second.
Co-starring as Edmond’s beloved Mercedes Herrera is a touching Anais Demoustier (“November”). Mercedes marries Fernand de Morcerf (Bastien Bouillon), the friend who betrays Edmond when given the opportunity to get rid of him and win over Mercedes for himself. Pierfrancesco Favino of Pablo Larrain’s “Maria” ably takes the role of the paternal Faria in this version.
Once Edmond gets back to the mainland, he realizes his plans, first winning over Fernand in Rome during Carnival by rescuing his and Mercedes’s son Albert (Vassili Schneider) from attackers hired by Edmond. In this adaptation, Edmond uses disguises to hide his true identity, a ploy that is harder to swallow than the simple enough idea that people just don’t recognize Edmond after years of imprisonment, hunger, and exile. Niney gives Edmond a devilish, if not diabolical, spin as he enacts his vengeance by ruining those who condemned him to the living hell of the Chateau.
Shot by period specialist Nicolas Bolduc, who already filmed the Dumas adaptations “The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan” (2023) and “The Three Musketeers: Milady” (2023) when he started work on “The Count of Monte Cristo,” this new adaptation is often dazzling to behold, making up for the film’s shortcomings, including the phony, unnecessarily violent, faked abduction of Albert. Bolduc’s photography lavishly summons the spirit of Dumas’ text, which continues to loom large in the public’s consciousness. Dumas’ tales of adventure and derring-do are set in a real-historical France. They are a large part of the country’s cultural legacy and romantic self-image, and this homegrown version of the immortal Dumas story is for the most a great, rousing pleasure. Long live the Count.
‘The Count of Monte Cristo’
Rating: Not rated (In French with English subtitles)
Cast: Pierre Niney, Anais Demoustier, Bastien Bouillon
Directors: Alexandre de La Patelliere, Matthieu Delaporte
Writers: Alexandre Dumas, Alexandre de La Patelliere, Matthieu Delaporte
Running Time: 2 hours, 58 minutes
Where to Watch: AMC Boston Common and Arlington Capitol Theater
Grade: B+
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