The film adaptation of “The Count of Monte Cristo” has “multiplied by five or six times what we could sell of Dumas”, rejoices a bookseller

When a cinema success boosts sales of a classic of French literature. the count of Monte Cristocurrently in theaters, with Pierre Niney in the lead role, is also experiencing a resurgence of interest among booksellers. Alexandre Dumas’ masterpiece has already been reprinted three times in two months and is selling much more than usual.

In the window of the Ici bookstore, on the Grands Boulevards in Paris, you can’t miss it, reissued with the film poster on the cover. “When we know that there is a film adaptation of Dumas, we don’t think about it, we display it in front of the bookstore and offer it to people because there is exponential demand, says Élodie Murzi, the bookstore manager. This increased by five or six times what we could sell of Dumas.”

Yet not all new readers have yet been to the cinema. “We often ask whether reading is prompted before or after watching the film, and often it is before!” And for those who have seen it? “It’s a very family-friendly film, so it’s an opportunity to tell your children or teenagers: this is really good, read the book, you’ll see, there’s even more action and intrigue! You’re going to love it.”

“We can have some preconceptions about a novel that is still more than 1 000 pagesobserves Blanche Cerquiglini, in charge of the Folio classique collections at Gallimard.It’s not literature for me, I’m not going to get there, it’s going to be too difficult, too old’… It’s a novel that dates from 1844. So I believe that the film, with its qualities, and with Pierre Niney, to embody Edmond Dantès, allows the spectator and the reader to allow themselves to return to classical literature.” And both the publisher and the bookseller confirm that summer is the perfect time to read or reread the classics.