Il conte di Montecristo

Gérard Depardieu has lavished much care and attention to detail on this production of the famous Dumas story. He is most impressive as Edmund Dantes who is falsely imprisoned by his "friends" in the awful Château d'If for some 18 years, then escapes, finds a vast fortune, and as the mysterious Count takes revenge upon those who betrayed him in a very complex series of intrigues. Bearing in mind the great length of the original novel, simplification of the sub plots are inevitable in any screen version, although the extended running time of this TV series allows much of the text to be brought to the screen faithfully. Using some quite stunning set pieces and beautiful scenes to background the action, the cast perform exceedingly well, dominated by Depardieu's portrayal of Monti Cristo. Although a rather overweight Count, his strength as an actor overcomes this minor flaw, and certainly its unlikely we'll see a better performance of the role for years to come. If you have the patience to view the extended version here, it is a rewarding and finally well crafted adaption of a most difficult subject.

I like Gerard Depardieu, and I liked much of this movie. I am huge of the book, which provides amazing insight in human suffering, redemption, and revenge. The butchery of the script was benign relative to the recent Hollywood remake (a complete disaster - "It was a nice film about something, but it was not the Count of Monte Cristo."), but apparently the writer(s) could not resist temptation to alter the ending - which was particularly galling given the mostly faithful recreation of the book up to the point of the conclusion. I personally was bitter - you can't take a story of revenge and remake it into Harlequin romance novel. If you know the story, you know what they should have done, and you know what they probably did. Given the time investment in this movie to watch the whole thing, I literally could not believe it as it became apparent that the sell-out was going to happen. They were so close, and that just made the experience that much more sour.

I first saw this film on (analog!) satellite TV some 10 to 12 years ago. I distinctly recall at least one scene from that time that is missing in the commercial releases.

The one of which I am certain was a courtroom scene where Villefort confronts his son who publicly identifies himself as such. This seems to have been replaced by a brief scene in which Dantes tells V. about the son being in prison at the same time he reveals his true identity.

I also recollect a more lengthy scene with the young Dantes in Marseilles and another one containing conversations between Dantes and Faria in Château D'If, although I may be confusing these with other productions of this novel.

Has anyone else noticed this? I would very much like to have a copy of the complete production, if one is actually available.

Le Comte de Monte Cristo is well done. Actors are made for their roles. Gerard Depardieu is fabulous in the role of count and Sergio Rubini makes the servant Bertuccio alive. In the novel Bertuccio was in a much smaller role. In the TV-version other characters have got bigger roles. It's a good thing that not only the count of Monte-Cristo is showing. I really recommend this beautifully done TV-film for everyone. After seeing this I started to appreciate the French in the film world in a very different way.

One of the most powerful films of any venue ever made. This beautiful production in French with English subtitles faithfully follows the original Alexander Dumas novel with Gerard Depardieu absolutely sensational as the vengeful Count of Monte Cristo. All of the main and secondary roles are played to perfection. In addition, the beautiful photography and the exceptional acting is more than enhanced by the haunting, melodic musical scoring. This version is the best of any of the other more than 30 filmed adaptations of the famous Dumas novel. Furthermore, it is far better than the admittedly entertaining current 2002 production starring James Caviezel, which takes so many liberties with the story as to deserve to be titled, "inspired by" rather than "adapted from." This movie is truly riveting. Once you get into it, you will not be able to turn the television off. **** - Four