24/13
Included in La grande semaine: Episode #113 (2024)
Chronology
After escaping from an island prison where he served 14 years on false charges of treason, Edmond Dantès returns as the Count of Monte Cristo to seek 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. Watching Albert Hydee sing and play the guitar, it’s very obvious that she’s not even touching the strings half the time. It’s hard not to notice that modern adaptations of classical works often tend to sacrifice depth and complexity in favor of a fast pace and entertainment.
Deep emotions, character nuances, dramatic internal conflicts – all this was clearly not enough
As a result, the special atmosphere and emotional depth of the original texts are often lost. “The Count of Monte Cristo” by Alexandre Dumas is not just a twisted revenge story with many cheerful twists, it is a reflection on life and how a person is changed by circumstances and his own decisions. Unfortunately, and this is natural in my opinion, the new film adaptation coped with the task of conveying this transformation – satisfactorily, but no more, leaving the characters at a simple and understandable level of archetypes.The expectations were not accidental, because many people read this fascinating revenge tragedy hoping to see a development and deepening of the characters on a par with the original source. At the same time, the audience was offered a series of events that unfolded too quickly, as if on a high-speed cinema highway.
But I expected more and am a little disappointed
But it is these details that make the work vivid and truly unforgettable. Yes, undoubtedly, a thousand pages of a novel cannot be transferred to a film, but this is the power of creativity – the ability to revive images and instill empathy in the viewer. In the film, all this is present, but dosed, within the framework of the standard form of monosyllabic presentation. The film is not bad, but to spoil Dumas means to be completely incompetent, and to my delight, I can’t blame anyone for this.
Are you going to spend your life, for revenge or for good?”
The entire film was shot with a 24mm wide-angle lens, and this was unnecessary: there are clearly not enough close-ups, especially when the actors play well. Despite the decent acting, the characters look unspoken and aimless, reduced to simplified and stripped-down images. During the screening, I hoped to see some philosophical reassessment or depth of thought in the scene with “Abbé Faria”, but, unfortunately, only the Soviet painting by Georgi Jungwald-Khilkevich with Alexei Petrenko in the role of the abbot could prepare the viewer, lay the foundation for the climax, make him aware of the suffering of the prisoners and catch the main question: “What are you going to do? After this episode, it became clear that the story would quickly flow through the pages of the fireproof manuscript, and so it happened.
Perhaps this is a sign of the times
The connection with the era and with the literary echoes of the past, which give the original its special flavor and indescribable integrity, has disappeared. Modern technologies allow for impressive visual effects, but no technique can replace the power of a story, the ability to convey a mood and invite the viewer to a deep understanding of life. One thing is certain: trying to adapt classics is always a challenge that requires incredible skills and understanding of the text. This is a difficult task and unfortunately not everyone can manage this path, but the task was managed well, although a residual disappointment remained.