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Memories of past adaptations of the Alexandre Dumas novel inevitably hover over this four-part French miniseries, originally broadcast on American cable television in 1999. It's hard, for instance, to top the 1934 feature starring Robert Donat as Edmond Dantès, the sea captain who is framed and unjustifiably imprisoned in 1815 for nearly two decades. Similarly, anyone who saw Richard Chamberlain essay the same role in a memorable 1975 TV movie may remember just how exciting that program was. Yet this lengthy costume adventure starring Gérard Depardieu as the vengeful Dantès, despite a rocky beginning, is absolutely m
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Memories of past adaptations of the Alexandre Dumas novel inevitably hover over this four-part French miniseries, originally broadcast on American cable television in 1999. It's hard, for instance, to top the 1934 feature starring Robert Donat as Edmond Dantès, the sea captain who is framed and unjustifiably imprisoned in 1815 for nearly two decades. Similarly, anyone who saw Richard Chamberlain essay the same role in a memorable 1975 TV movie may remember just how exciting that program was. Yet this lengthy costume adventure starring Gérard Depardieu as the vengeful Dantès, despite a rocky beginning, is absolutely mesmerizing in its own way. Rich in detail and overlapping subplots, strikingly handsome in art direction without getting ostentatious, this particular Count comes to life after Dantès escapes his lengthy incarceration in solitary confinement. Fans of the story know what comes next: Dantès makes his way to an uninhabited island off Italy, where he locates a vast treasure he has heard about. His sudden, phenomenal wealth gives him the means to reward allies, punish enemies, and become an architect of events without anyone knowing who's behind them. While Dantès's mind is bent on destroying those who betrayed him, his deeper nature causes him to perform a vast amount of good as well. Depardieu's big, beefy, clean-shaven self is not exactly the right fit, initially, for a character supposedly subsisting on thin soup for 18 years. He quickly assumes the central role with one of his most knowing and subtle performances, ingeniously painting Dantès as a man who has exchanged one sort of prison for another, the latter his own hatred. The sharp, engaging screenplay is by Didier Decoin (The Chambermaid on the Titanic), and the production is directed with flashes of bold inventiveness by Josée Dayan, a prominent European television director. --Tom Keogh
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Manufacturer: Koch Lorber Films
Release date: 6 December 2005
Number of discs: 2
EAN: 9781417200924 UPC: 741952307693
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