49/37
After escaping from an island prison where he spent 14 years after being wrongly accused of treason, Edmond Dantès returns as the Count of Monte Cristo to exact revenge on the men who betrayed him. With an estimated budget of €42.9 million, The Count of Monte Cristo is the most expensive French film of 2024. When Albert watches Hydee sing and play the guitar, it’s pretty obvious that she doesn’t even touch the strings half the time. Featured in La grande semaine: Episode #1.13 (2024). The first question I’d love to ask directors who adapt novels for film is: if the book inspired you so much that you wanted to make a movie out of it, why change the story? The Count of Monte Cristo is another one of those cases: anyone who reads the book will be surprised by how completely the ending is distorted; and for no obvious reason I would submit, since the ending of the book was dramatic enough. Then again, if you didn’t like it, why make a movie about it? If you want to follow your own ideas, do it, use your imagination and in that case, the sky is the limit. OK, end of the runt… If I had to disconnect my literary memory and judge the film by its cinematic merits, The Count of Montecristo is an honest swashbuckler film, with good performances from all the main actors, good photography and decent pacing. But then again, my literary memory kicks in again and a bittersweet taste remains in my mouth…