Don’t hate me, but for all that I am a raging Francophile, I find 19th-century French literature totally depressing. So I have never read Alexandre Dumas’s classic novel; I watched the 2002 adaptation, but all I remember is extreme boredom. So it may come as a surprise when I say that I watched the recent French feature film adaptation of The Count of Monte-Cristo (2024) and I was entertained! And on a transatlantic flight to boot! (But I can’t tell you thing one about how close it stays to the source material, so buyer beware).
Set in the 1810s and 1830s, the story is about a poor young man (Edmond) who is falsely accused and imprisoned for over a decade. While in prison, he befriends another prisoner who tells him where a hidden treasure is. Edmond escapes, finds the treasure, and then enters Parisian society as the fictional “Count of Monte-Cristo” where he seeks revenge on those who betrayed him, including the woman he was supposed to marry.
Overall, the performances are strong, the pacing is good, and the costumes — designed by Thierry Delettre (Flashback, The Three Musketeers: d’Artagnan) — supported the plot and characters and were mostly true to the period (with some inevitable quibbles).
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Find this frock flick at:
Maybe the film was not as “boring” as the book because many aspects were very much simplified. Now Edmond Dantes is a great swimmer and doesn’t need any help to cross the sea. He is the best sailor in the world, which helped him to sail alone (!) a ship with two masts although you would normaly need a crew. ;-) We thought that the movie was entertaining and somehow strange but not as much as their version of The Three Musketiers.
Of course 19th century French literature is depressing – France had a fairly nasty Nineteenth century (Blame the Bonapartes: after all, ‘Perfidious Albion’ comes pre-blamed).
I look forward to finding this. Hope it is better than the horrible Jim Cavizell version that so truncated and altered the story. I actually read both The Count of Monte Cristo and Les Miserable in my younger years (don’t we all have those?) and enjoyed both. I understand for some they are a slog but I found them compelling. So I look forward to better renditions of both. Good watching to all.
I’m hoping that the miniseries with Sam Claflin comes out in the US soon. I thought this version was fine – some choices in the adaptation I liked, some I didn’t. Can’t stand the Gerard Depardieu version, though.
You forgot to add the Patreon tag.