Review of ‘The Count of Monte-Cristo’ (Alexandre de La Patellière & Matthieu Delaporte, 2024)
There have been multiple attempts over the years to adapt Alexandre Dumas’ tale of revenge, but this French language version of ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’ is a rollicking ride. Considering its three hour length, this is quite an achievement, and this adaptation is full to the brim with psychological backstory and is an impressively choreographed visual feast. The backstabbing meted out to the young mariner Edmond Dantès (Pierre Niney) means that when, following a prison escape, he is the recipient of an inordinate amount of money Edmond sets out to reclaim what he has lost, by carefully wounding his former friends exactly where it hurts.
Though set during the French Revolution, its everyman tale is universal. We all know of people who have treated us badly and how we may not be able to let go of what happened without countenancing the possibility of revenge and restitution. Dumas’ source novel is adept at showing how there is a price to be paid for going down this path, and that vengeance alone, even if it sustains us for years, is not sufficient as an instrument for instructing and guiding us. Here, indeed, we see that Edmond has been harbouring revenge against people who had their reasons for their betrayal, and who are not without some element of sympathy. The message is plain that in attempting the downfall of those who betrayed him Edmond himself loses something of himself in the process.
The film zips along at such speed that we feel we are watching something much shorter, yet this is also a rendering which doesn’t last long in the memory. There aren’t too many memorable set pieces, despite its ornate and handsomely mounted production design, and it may be that a TV series would have been a better medium for this swashbuckling tale. Where it also doesn’t entirely work is in having us believe that no one recognizes the disguised Edmond after so many years. He is able to disguise himself a la Ethan Hunt in ‘Mission: Impossible’ and he brings together the three principal betrayers from the past, who who are happy to treat him as their confidante.
Yet, the mask element is also, not to mention the obvious superhero resonances (this could be seen as the prototype of the Batman myth), what is central to this story, that the person wearing the mask may simply no longer be the person they once were. Edmond gets to reunite with the love of his life, Mercedes (Anaïs Demoustier), who later claims to have seen through his disguise. But, they have both moved on to the point that neither could realistically fall in love now with the person their younger selves were about to marry, so that there is no realistic chance of this being a ‘happy ever after’ tale.
