I see we're about to visit the Chateau d'If again....
I see there will be a new Count of Monte Christo. Now I've never seen the Jim Cavaziel version, not least because I was horrified to learn Albert is his son in that one (way to miss the point, Hollywood!), so my previous Counts on film and tv were:
1) Jean Marais - he was good, but it's very early 1950s, with much of the moral ambiguity removed and of course the different ending many another version would also go for.
2) Richard Chamberlain (1975) : may favourite version of the book in another medium, I think. Good cast, good cinematography, and it actually commits to Dumas' ending.
3) Gilliaume and Gerard Depardieu (1998): (the son playing Edmond when young)): no, it's not Depardieu's everything these days that makes me rate this one lowly. Paradoxically, it being a four part miniseries, it incorporates a lot more of the book than a movie can. And Depardieu used to be a good actor once upon a time. But even were he not a vile human being but a saint as a person: somehow this tv version manages to come across not suspenseful but more like an illustration with good costumes, you don't really believe the characters, and one of the key scenes - the Count when confronted with how his Villefort plot turned out realising he's gone too far - falls flat. There are a few important scenes every Edmond/Count must rise to in order to capture the character, and this is one of them.
With this new one, my questions are:
- Cadderouse or no Cadderouse? (he's not as instrumental to the revenge plot as Fernand, Villefort and Danglars are, but not only is he a first illustration of the Count's favourite revenge method - i.e. giving his enemies the rope to hang themselves with - but he's the only one who did show some scruples at the original misdeed, and moral ambiguity is always my favored choice in my Dumas film versions over black and white)
- how much Haydee? I don't need her to romantically end up with Edmond and I get there are reasons to object beyond Edmond/Mercedes shipping, but her bringing Mondego down is such a great element in the book, I need this to be in the film/tv
- will we get the full poison plot? Because, see above. What happens to Danglars is blackly hilarious, and Haydee getting her own revenge on Fernand for benig made a slave and sold is great, and of course Villefort being brought down via his own attempt at infanticide years earlier is another case of "had it coming". But I don't think any readers or audience can feel that way over the Count having deliberately inspired Heloise de Villefort to poison people so her son could inherit and having pointed her towards the means, and the moment when he's confronted with a dead child and realises he's partly to blame for this and this is way beyond any revenge is really important and needs to be there.
- also the scenes where Grandpa Noitier saves his granddaughter first from an unwanted marriage and later from being poisoned despite being unable to speak or move due to a stroke are among my favourites
- while the two canon lesbians Eugenie Danglars and her girlfriend Louise aren't essential to the plot, it would be neat to include them
- oh, and can we have the scene in Rome where the Count does drugs with Albert and Franz d'Epiney?
I once joked with cahn that in a Les Miserables/Count of Monte Christo crossover (the timeline sort of works?) where for some reason Jean Valjean and Edmond/the Count were able to talk freely with each other, Valjean might start with sympathizing but would probably end up horrified, while the Count wouldn't understand why Valjean didn't get rid of Javert ages ago. (Not by killing him, via a complicated plot that involves using Javert's enemies in the Force against him.) Anyway: as long as this new version makes me believeboth that the character starts out as so naive that he doesn't clue into people being envious of him and that accepting mail from Napoleon on Elba is maybe a job risk, that he's determined enough to see that escape plan through (one of the all time great prison escapes), ruthless enough to bring down his enemies the way he does, and yet with enough of a conscience and emotion left to a) not kill Albert in a duel (this is why it's so important Albert isn't his son but absolutely the son of his enemy), b) take care of the family of his dead patron, and c) realize he's gone too far in the Madame Villefort case- then I'll be on board.
1) Jean Marais - he was good, but it's very early 1950s, with much of the moral ambiguity removed and of course the different ending many another version would also go for.
2) Richard Chamberlain (1975) : may favourite version of the book in another medium, I think. Good cast, good cinematography, and it actually commits to Dumas' ending.
3) Gilliaume and Gerard Depardieu (1998): (the son playing Edmond when young)): no, it's not Depardieu's everything these days that makes me rate this one lowly. Paradoxically, it being a four part miniseries, it incorporates a lot more of the book than a movie can. And Depardieu used to be a good actor once upon a time. But even were he not a vile human being but a saint as a person: somehow this tv version manages to come across not suspenseful but more like an illustration with good costumes, you don't really believe the characters, and one of the key scenes - the Count when confronted with how his Villefort plot turned out realising he's gone too far - falls flat. There are a few important scenes every Edmond/Count must rise to in order to capture the character, and this is one of them.
With this new one, my questions are:
- Cadderouse or no Cadderouse? (he's not as instrumental to the revenge plot as Fernand, Villefort and Danglars are, but not only is he a first illustration of the Count's favourite revenge method - i.e. giving his enemies the rope to hang themselves with - but he's the only one who did show some scruples at the original misdeed, and moral ambiguity is always my favored choice in my Dumas film versions over black and white)
- how much Haydee? I don't need her to romantically end up with Edmond and I get there are reasons to object beyond Edmond/Mercedes shipping, but her bringing Mondego down is such a great element in the book, I need this to be in the film/tv
- will we get the full poison plot? Because, see above. What happens to Danglars is blackly hilarious, and Haydee getting her own revenge on Fernand for benig made a slave and sold is great, and of course Villefort being brought down via his own attempt at infanticide years earlier is another case of "had it coming". But I don't think any readers or audience can feel that way over the Count having deliberately inspired Heloise de Villefort to poison people so her son could inherit and having pointed her towards the means, and the moment when he's confronted with a dead child and realises he's partly to blame for this and this is way beyond any revenge is really important and needs to be there.
- also the scenes where Grandpa Noitier saves his granddaughter first from an unwanted marriage and later from being poisoned despite being unable to speak or move due to a stroke are among my favourites
- while the two canon lesbians Eugenie Danglars and her girlfriend Louise aren't essential to the plot, it would be neat to include them
- oh, and can we have the scene in Rome where the Count does drugs with Albert and Franz d'Epiney?
I once joked with cahn that in a Les Miserables/Count of Monte Christo crossover (the timeline sort of works?) where for some reason Jean Valjean and Edmond/the Count were able to talk freely with each other, Valjean might start with sympathizing but would probably end up horrified, while the Count wouldn't understand why Valjean didn't get rid of Javert ages ago. (Not by killing him, via a complicated plot that involves using Javert's enemies in the Force against him.) Anyway: as long as this new version makes me believeboth that the character starts out as so naive that he doesn't clue into people being envious of him and that accepting mail from Napoleon on Elba is maybe a job risk, that he's determined enough to see that escape plan through (one of the all time great prison escapes), ruthless enough to bring down his enemies the way he does, and yet with enough of a conscience and emotion left to a) not kill Albert in a duel (this is why it's so important Albert isn't his son but absolutely the son of his enemy), b) take care of the family of his dead patron, and c) realize he's gone too far in the Madame Villefort case- then I'll be on board.
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