The Count of Monte Cristo | The First Superhero

Written in 1844 by Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo tells the story of a man who, years after having his freedom stolen, takes revenge on those who took it from him. Interview with co-director Matthieu Delaporte, who does not hesitate to compare the hero of his film to Batman.

“The Count of Monte Cristo is a very modern character. He is a man who recognizes neither law nor religion and who fights for his own fight. He only uses his money for personal revenge,” explains Matthieu Delaporte, who wrote and shot the film with Alexandre de La Patellière, in a virtual interview. He inspired Batman and Iron Man. [Le philosophe] Umberto Eco described him as the first superhero.

Avant de devenir le mystérieux comte, il est Edmond Dantès, jeune marin qui, à la suite d’une manœuvre héroïque, est promu capitaine. Alors qu’il ne pourrait être plus heureux, il est arrêté le jour de son mariage pour un crime qu’il n’a pas commis. Il croupit en prison pendant 14 ans avant de s’échapper grâce au tunnel creusé avec l’abbé Faria, son voisin de cellule. En plus de lui transmettre ses vastes connaissances, ce dernier lui révèle l’emplacement d’un trésor enfoui dans l’île de Montecristo. Maintenant instruit et fortuné, Edmond retourne en France sous le masque du comte de Monte-Cristo pour déployer avec patience et précision sa vengeance sur les trois hommes responsables de son sort.

« Les thématiques traitées par Dumas [et Auguste Maquet, collaborateur souvent oublié] are universal, argues Matthieu Delaporte. The fall, revenge, love, violence are at the heart of questions that we can ask ourselves today. What would I do if my life were stolen from me? Would I take revenge? Would I prefer love to the desire for revenge? These questions and the characters have almost escaped from the novel. Many people know Monte-Cristo without having read it, because he has become a cult character, almost mythological.

Read our review of the film

Chameleon Actor

To embody him, the two filmmakers had only one choice: Pierre Niney. They wanted the same actor to play Edmond before his incarceration and Monte-Cristo upon his return. “There was only one actor who seemed likely to be such a chameleon,” emphasizes Matthieu Delaporte. “It turns out that it was Pierre’s favorite novel, his bedside book, that made him want to be an actor. It was a dream for him, so he joined the adventure right from the beginning. We started writing the film knowing that Pierre would play the role.”

According to the co-director, the actor seen in Yves Saint Laurent, Black box And The Book of Solutions happily took on all the challenges that the role required.

Rock [Niney] is a greedy person. He liked to be told that he had to learn to ride a horse, to handle a sword, to swim deep, to speak Romanian, Italian and English. The more “homework” he was given, the happier he was.

Co-director Matthieu Delaporte

Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de La Patellière, who previously wrote the script for the diptych The Three Musketeersreleased last year, had to make choices when they decided to adapt The Count of Monte Cristo in a single film. Among other things, they left out the omniscient narrator in order to keep only the point of view of Edmond Dantès, who remains present under the mask of Monte Cristo. “We wanted to bring to life the duality of the character, his schizophrenia, and show to what extent Dantès seeks to be another man, but, deep down, there is a struggle within himself over who he should become or not,” explains Matthieu Delaporte.

The richest man in the world

Another crucial aspect of the character for the filmmaking duo is his status. “Monte Cristo is the richest man in the world and he has traveled all over the world. You don’t want to be too chic. We don’t care about historical reconstruction,” emphasizes Matthieu Delaporte. “He wants to get revenge on men who are very rich, so he has to be bigger than life. If the living room of one of the rich men is 500 m², his must be 3000 m². He is not a traditional French bourgeois, he is cosmopolitan. We put a lot of references to the Orient and India, because at the time, there was not so much travel.

“We are proposing a XIX^e [siècle] fantasized, much more baroque, he continues. Besides, the book itself is baroque. It crosses several genres. It is at the same time an adventure novel, a love novel, a revenge novel, a thriller. We tried to find that stylistically as well.

The Count of Monte Cristowhich won the Cheval Noir for best film at the Fantasia International Film Festival, is showing. It will close the Percé International Film and Art Festival Les Percéides on August 25.