A penniless but shrewd young Gascon, d’Artagnan “went up” to Paris, determined to enter the service of King Louis XIII’s musketeers. Barely arrived, here he is who must thwart the vile designs of Cardinal Richelieu and his lieutenant, Milady de Winter. At stake: the honor of the queen, Anne of Austria, and the peace of the kingdom. Whether or not you have read Alexandre Dumas’s novel, these few lines will certainly bring back memories: the history of three musketeers is well known for having been filmed. The beauty of Martin Bourboulon’s new two-part adaptation is that it innovates, and therefore surprises, while remaining faithful to the spirit of the original plot.
Entitled The three Musketeers. D’Artagnan, the first part is high quality entertainment, both robust and elegant. The diptych’s budget is 72 million euros, or approximately 105 million Canadian dollars: this is enormous for a French production, but these means have been used wisely: as they say, the money is the screen.
Between opulence and filth, depending on whether the action takes place in a palace or in a muddy street, the film, while making sure to impress, displays a constant concern for authenticity. This is one of the aspects that most distinguishes this adaptation from the previous ones, very clean, visually speaking. We think among others of those of George Sidney, in 1948, with Gene Kelly and Lana Turner, of Richard Lester (also in two parts), in 1973-1974, with Michael York, Faye Dunaway and Raquel Welch, or of Stephen Herek, for Disney, in 1993, with Chris O’Donnell, Kiefer Sutherland and Rebecca DeMornay.
Between panache and harshness, the aesthetic approach of Martin Bourboulon and Quebec director of photography Nicolas Bolduc actually evokes more There Queen Margot, by Patrice Chéreau (1994). Unlike the traditional popular historical film, The three Musketeers. D’Artagnan not afraid to show sweat, grime and blood, if any.
Result ? The time depicted seems more real, and therefore the action too.
Stunning Cast
In interview at Duty, Martin Bourboulon confided that he wanted his staging to be “immersive”. It succeeded. This will is manifest from the first great battle, when, after having managed to provoke successive duels Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, d’Artagnan fights at their sides the guards of the cardinal. A frenzied sequence shot, filled with dives into the action, moments of stupor and bold bounces, sets the tone for the subsequent hectic passages.
Obviously, who says classic story says emblematic characters: in The three Musketeers, there is only that. Among the wicked, the general administrator of the Comédie-Française, Éric Ruf, composes a judiciously erased Cardinal de Richelieu: it is to strike better when the time comes. Milady de Winter, the showiest and most fascinating score, fits Eva Green like a glove (which she wears in very becoming black leather).
On the side of the Gentiles, François Civil is solid as an idealist d’Artagnan. Given the role of Aramis, the “spirit” of the band, Romain Duris is correct, but not memorable. In the shoes of the tormented Athos, Vincent Cassel opts for a restraint that offers a perfect counterpoint to the exuberance of Pio Marmaï: an inspired choice for the bon vivant Porthos.
Porthos who, more than ever, loves good food on his plate and bare flesh in his bed, whether feminine or masculine…
Nice differences
This detail, namely Porthos’s bisexuality, which basically fits well with the character’s all-out gluttony, is representative of the way Bourboulon and the screenwriters Alexandre de La Patellière and Matthieu Delaporte went about renewing without betraying. Although the film sometimes manages to be different without changing anything. One thinks of the queen: this character, even interpreted by an actress of the caliber of Géraldine Chaplin, has always had a little potiche value. Not this time.
She who has just wowed in Elisabeth “Sissi” the Empress of Austria in Bodice, Vicky Krieps breathes new soul into Anne of Austria. In Louis XIII, Louis Garrel is not to be outdone, bringing delicious clumsy humor to this often beige role.
In short, this is an excellent adaptation: a large-scale show of the kind that we like to revisit. What we will surely do, since we will have to wait many months before the release of the second part, The three Musketeers. Milady.