In case it hasn’t become clear yet, which I doubt, I’m a fan of Alexandre Dumas. If I can, I’ll rewatch The Three Musketeers as often as they want to remake it, just like The Count of Monte Cristo. So, in this recent wave of remakes of French literary classics into big productions, I love them all. The latest version of the tale of betrayal and revenge, which is the basis for 9 out of 10 novels, is finally available for rent on streaming platforms. If you haven’t seen it in the cinema, it’s worth renting.

One of the great advantages of the French version of The Count of Monte Cristo is how faithful it is to the work. Before it, the American production starring Jim Caviezel and Guy Pearce, from 2002, significantly changed the story at the end, so it is a delight to see Dumas’ unique ability to mix drama, adventure, history, and fiction with such autonomy and intelligence.

With a young cast, the film is aimed at younger generations, with spectacular sets and costumes and high-quality special effects. If with The Three Musketeers the story was divided into two films, D’Artagnan and Milady, now, in The Count of Monte Cristo it is one long, uninterrupted film.

The timelessness of the story – inspired by a real event – ​​brings together envy, ambition, anger, justice, revenge, pity, redemption, resentment, love, and (in)fidelity that justify sword fights, plots, arrests, escapes, investigations, hidden treasures, romances, and intrigues. Here, Edmond Dantès (Pierre Niney), an upright and romantic hero, inadvertently finds himself drawn into a political plot to restore Napoleon to power. Three men, for different reasons, want him out of the way, and they join forces to accuse Edmond of being involved in a political plot that he has no idea is underway. Despite being innocent, he is imprisoned in the terrible prison of the Château d’If.

In total isolation, Edmond spends years until he meets Abbé Faria (Pierfrancesco Favino), a wise prisoner who not only becomes his mentor and teaches him philosophy, languages, and science, but also reveals the location of an immense treasure hidden on the island of Monte Cristo. After Faria’s death, Edmond manages to escape by pretending to be dead and recovering the fortune, which will be used for his revenge. Assuming the identity of the Count of Monte Cristo, he devises a meticulous plan to destroy his tormentors, but in the process, he ends up harming innocent people as well.

Dumas was extremely creative in his stories and we have to let ourselves be carried away by them. The film by Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de La Patellière is detailed, luxurious, and keeps the pace, always keeping us alert and rooting for him. The super production is now the most expensive film in the country, surpassing Queen Margot, and was nominated for no less than 14 Césars (the French Oscar). They, who directed The Three Musketeers, have a more secure hand in the plot, full of names that people who do not know the story can get confused.

Pierre Niney, who was nominated for Best Actor and had already stood out a few years earlier in the film Yves Saint Laurent, deserves to be highlighted. Edmond Dantès is complex because he has to convey innocence and heroism at times, but at others, he is a calculating and ruthless man, yet human. Without his convincing performance, the film would easily lose its way.

As a great example of a popular story finding its way into the cinema, The Count of Monte Cristo is as close as you could hope for to a definitive version. A great success.

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