Mainstream French cinema is celebrating on Wednesday on the Croisette: Pierre Niney is in revenge mode with The Count of Monte Cristo, a new adaptation of Dumas’ masterpiece, and Artus will be climbing the steps with the disabled actors of his hit film A Little Something Extra.
The new adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ novel is screened, out of competition, on Wednesday at the 77th Cannes Film Festival. In The Count of Monte Cristo, Pierre Niney reprises the role of Edmond Dantès, unjustly imprisoned in the Château d’If. His revenge, mulled over for decades during which he became the Count of Monte Cristo, will be relentless.
To condense the nearly 2,000 pages of the original work, the 2h58 film takes some liberties in terms of the storyline, multiplying the ellipses. But it retains the epic breath and the pleasure of adventure, with even a few Indiana Jones-style scenes. Alexandre de La Patellière and Matthieu Delaporte, the screenwriters of the two parts of The Three Musketeers, released last year, are at the helm, directing this time, with one of the biggest budgets of the year in French cinema.
In the rest of the cast: Anaïs Demoustier, in the role of Mercédès, Anamaria Vartolomei (revealed in L’Évènement and also present in Cannes in Maria) or the Italian actor Pierfrancesco Favino, member of the Cannes jury in the role of the Abbot Faria. Also added are Laurent Lafitte and Vassili Schneider, Niels’ little brother.
The Count of Monte Cristo is one of those works adapted dozens of times on the small and big screen. In the cinema, the character was played by Jean Marais in the 1950s, and more recently on television by Gérard Depardieu. The film by Alexandre de La Patellière and Matthieu Delaporte will be released in theaters on June 28. Will the film be as successful as that of the comedian and actor Artus, A little thing in addition, which has just exceeded three million admissions since May 1?
It’s the success of the spring and also a great story, since it was filmed with a troupe of actors with mental disabilities. Father and son on screen, Clovis Cornillac and Artus play two little thugs who hide in the middle of a summer camp for young people with mental disabilities, in order to escape the police. Artus poses as a boarder and Clovis Cornillac as his educator.
To celebrate this success, the Cannes Film Festival invited the entire team of this comedy, which aims to laugh with disabled people and not at their expense, to climb the steps. Artus had publicly regretted that no luxury brand had lent them an outfit, as is traditionally the case. They will ultimately be dressed by the brands of the luxury group Kering.
In competition this Wednesday, the Portuguese language will resonate at Cannes, with the film by Miguel Gomes, Grand Tour, and Motel Destino by Brazilian Karim Aïnouz, presented as an erotic thriller in the Nordeste (Northeast region of Brazil editor’s note).