A One Mann’s Movies review of “The Count of Monte Cristo” (2024).
(Original French Title: “Le comte de Monte-Cristo”).
I must admit that I have never read the famous Alexander Dumas novel “The Count of Monte Cristo”, nor (to my memory) have I watched any of the previous adaptations of the work (of which there are many!). This new version is written and directed by Alexandre de La Patellière and Matthieu Delaporte, the writers behind last year’s epic reimagining of the Three Musketeers story (filmed in two parts as “D’Artagnan” and “Milady“). And it’s a very impressive piece of work.
Bob the Movie Man Rating:
Plot Summary:
Napoleon is exiled on Elba and enemies of the King are everywhere, plotting an overthrow. Edmond Dantès (Pierre Niney) is the son of the lead servant to the wealthy de Morcef family. He is in love – above his station – with the beautiful Mercédès (Anaïs Demoustier). But the de Morcef son and heir -Fernand de Morcef (Bastien Bouillon) also loves Mercédès, his cousin. When Edmond achieves a captaincy in the fleet of a shipping magnate, he achieves sufficient rank to ask for Mercédès’ hand in marriage. But the wedding doesn’t go as planned.
Certification:
UK: 12A; US: NR. (From the BBFC web site: “Violence, bloody images, threat, references to drugs and sexual violence”.)
Talent:
Starring: Pierre Niney, Anaïs Demoustier, Bastien Bouillon, Anamaria Vartolomei, Laurent Lafitte, Pierfrancesco Favino, Patrick Mille, Vassili Schneider.
Directed by: Alexandre de La Patellière & Matthieu Delaporte.
Written by: Alexandre de La Patellière & Matthieu Delaporte. (From the novel by Alexander Dumas).
Running Time: 2h 58m.
“The Count of Monte Cristo” Summary:
Positives:
- A magnificent, handsome production: production design, cinematography, hair and make-up – all top-notch.
- A gripping, complex and engrossing story.
Negatives:
- At 3 hours and with French sub-titles, this is a bit of a slog!
- With “Mission Impossible”-style masks, you have to suspend your disbelief at times!
Review of “The Count of Monte Cristo”:
Looks like (several) million dollars.
When I was watching “D’Artagnan” and “Milady” last year, I kept wondering how much these films cost to make. Because they were utterly sumptuous to look at. (“I said, Bernie I said, they’ll never make their money back” – Monty Python’s Life of Brian.) I thought the same watching this. Wiki reports that “With a budget estimated in €42.9 million, The Count of Monte Cristo is the most expensive French film of 2024.”. And I can believe that. Is there really a big enough European audience to get the money back in for this? (It’s actually not doing badly, having gone down a storm in France. IMDB at the time of writing reports WW revenues of €56 million. So it still has some way to go to get to 2x budget to be declared a financial success. But it shows an appetite for this type of well-made historical drama.).
All of that money is up on the screen. It’s beautiful, with some epic cinematography by Nicolas Bolduc, including some great drone footage. The production design is also terrific, particularly in its set design with the chateau interiors of The Count’s gaff. Scenes set in the port of Marseilles are brimming with activity and hundreds of extras (it reminded me of “Cabrini” in that regard). The costuming, hair and make-up are all excellent.
The orchestral score by Jérôme Rebotier is also very catchy.
Mission Impossible: Mission of Vengeance.
For a 3 hour film, the story is really gripping. I was never less than intrigued as to where it was going. There was more than a hint of the “Mission: Impossible”s about it, with a ‘crew’ staging a mission of vengeance (“Not vengeance… justice”). This extended right down to the donning of masks and disguises (some of which you had to think “come on now… it’s obviously still you”!) There is a daring escape from the Château d’If (actually a coastal castle in Malta, where about 80% of the movie was filmed). (Again, some suspension of disbelief is required… all of that digging with a little fork and on a spoonful of gruel per day?!) There is also an extremely tense ‘unboxing’ ceremony. If there had been Tiktok in post-Napoleonic France it would have certainly got lots of views!
The film is quite complex to follow at times. There are lots of characters, portrayed over a number of decades, and trying to keep up with who they all are and who they are related to was hard work! I saw this with the Illustrious Mrs Movie Man and the Saintly Sarah Shaw and afterwards we had three different interpretations of a scene featuring newspaper owner “Lord Hamilton”.
It’s a long slog.
I was never bored, which frankly I have been in 90 minute long films! But at 178 minutes, it still feels a hell of a slog, particularly as you are having to read subtitles throughout. Given the picture was not absolutely A1 (Cineworld Whiteley… you really need to sort your Screen 7 projector out!), I ended up with my eyes red and weepy by the end of it.
There were also some elements of the story that felt quite rushed. The whole origin story of Haydée – the beautiful young temptress, key to the story, and played by the gorgeous Anamaria Vartolomei, feels like it could have had a whole extra 20 minutes of flashback. Overall, I would have welcomed this to have been split into two films, each two hours long, a la “The Three Musketeers”.
Summary Thoughts on “The Count of Monte Cristo”
A really solid and entertaining yarn, beautifully shot and well paced. Bits of it you have to take with a large grain of salt, including the finale! But this is definitely a recommended watch.
It’s a criminal shame that this seems to be being shown on so few screens and with so little publicity. But seek it out if you can.
Where to Watch it (Powered by Justwatch)
Trailer for “The Count of Monte Cristo”:
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q6y1waxlTY.
Subscribe
Don’t forget, you can subscribe to One Mann’s Movies to receive future reviews by email right here. No salesman will call!
What! You haven’t seen 2002 CoMC with Jim Caviezel, 16-yr-old Henry Cavill, and Guy Pearce? Well worth a watch. I’ll watch this one too – tho it will never show in 40-mile-away Regal or Cinemark theaters. I’ll wait for it on some esoteric and hard to find streaming channel.
Haha – nope. Need to catch it. Even more shocking… until yesterday I’d never seen Beetlejuice…. Had to catch up before B2!