24/23
With an estimated budget of €429 million, The Count of Monte Cristo is the most expensive French film of 2024
After escaping from an island prison where he spent 14 years for being wrongly accused of treason, Edmond Dantès returns as the Count of Monte Cristo to exact revenge on the men who betrayed him. When Albert watches Hydee sing and play guitar, it is very obvious that she is not even touching the strings half the time.
Featured in The Big Week: Episode #113 (2024)
So I read the book, the real book(s), not the watered down version you find in bookstores. This story is compelling, character-driven, complex, and the details tell how everything comes together.
This movie, while perfectly fine, has none of that other than the broad strokes of the main plots
There is no good alongside the bad, there is no ambivalent ending and there is no basis for it all, the relationship between the abbot and Edmond who basically becomes a son. It also lacks the backstory from the escape to Edmond’s arrival in Paris that makes the whole revenge plot believable in the first place.
I can’t help but miss old Mr
Villefort whose story, though peripheral, is so central to Edmond’s true personality. So if you want to see a 19th century French drama that is pretty good with good actors, go for it.
Want to immerse yourself in the true story of the Count of Monte Cristo?
Find an Antiquarian because that is the only place you will find this masterpiece.