“The Three Musketeers” strike a blow
Let’s refresh our memories, and remember that the “reconquest” of cinema that Pathé canonized not long ago got off to a very bad start. A missed ad for an awkward French Film cover, followed by disaster Asterix and Obelix: The Middle Kingdom. But act 2 of this reconquest which constitutes The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan can be summarized in a simple formula, and give us the expression: cabbage is good !
Or rather, to pay homage to the language of Alexandre Dumas: “Sacrebleu, what a party!” Or again: “May God and our King be witnesses, we have here a great, epic and joyful adventure”. Why yes, faced with this new film adaptation by Martin Bourboulon of one of the most appreciated and celebrated romantic works in history, with worldwide popularity, we are witnessing an almost perfect alignment of the planets.
A real cast
Casting was required to embody the illustrious writer’s formidable musketeers and their devious enemies. And whoever constitutes it imposes itself with a disarming naturalness. Pio Marmai for the hedonistic and vain Porthos, Romain Duris for the casual and witty Aramis, Vincent Cassel for the tragic and melancholy Athos, and the other, the famous, the fourth, the charming and arrogant D’Artagnan embodied by François Civil.
They have their allies, mainly the intelligent and discreet laundry Constance Bonacieux, the flawless Lyna Khoudri. Above all they have their enemies, the Machiavellian and lethal Milady, endowed by Eva Green with the poison that she alone knows how to instill in the image. There is the devious and scheming Cardinal Richelieu (Éric Ruf) and the king, perfect Louis Garrel.
All of these incarnations are fair, applied, and most of all, fun. Indeed, we take a shared pleasure in telling these stories, in laughing at the comedy of their characters, in being scared and thrilled during sword fights. After a gritty introduction by D’Artagnan, we quickly get to the design of his duels with the three musketeers, and the exposure of these characters takes place in long shots, centered on perfectly declaimed dialogues to understand who is who and who has what at stake. The sequence is brilliant and opens François Civil his masterful comic vein with jubilant ease.
Epic and fun
D’Artagnan’s story is one of a friendship forged in combat and a touching chivalrous optimism. Thus, the ingenuity and powerful will of D’Artagnan, ensured by the overwhelming smile of Civil, respond to acts of courage and merry blows of the sword.
Martin Bourboulon succeeds there what he had done well eiffel : account for the construction, the dynamism, the action. In an ideal reconstruction of 17th century France, however sometimes overpainted in a brown colour more neutral than really realistic, the four musketeers enjoy fencing. For them the director folds successfully but without really originality to a few action sequence shots applied.
At the risk that certain passages end up in a messy scrum in which we no longer know who is sabering who? Yes, but it’s a non-prohibitive detail, because the director’s commitment and that of his cast make it possible to never lose the lucidity and constant joy of the story.
Generous and dramatic
Ambitious, The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan it is also very generous. There is a light and amusing undercurrent that comes from François Civil’s D’Artagnan. But there is also a serious and dramatic course, whose source is the narrative arc of Athos, combined with the story of the queen’s studs, these famous diamond necklaces that endanger the royal couple, formed by Louis XIII and Anne d ‘Austria (Vicky Krieps) .
If the story of Athos is touching, that of safeguarding the queen is less successful, though largely honourable. In this film as funny as it is captivating, comedy, epic and drama then compete for the lead in a race for pleasure. Not everyone can end up victorious but, otherwiseeiffel where the grand historical narrative of the erection of the Eiffel Tower and the love story of Gustave and Adrienne never lived up to it, here gender mixing worksmaintaining a high level of purity for each ingredient.
Intoxicated by this joyful adventure whose action takes place on epic compositions by Guillaume Roussel, close to those of Hans Zimmer, we systematically succumb to the apparitions of Milady, all fatal. Eva Green offers an ideal interpretation of it, which she reminds if necessary that she is unbeatable in the game of portraiture the femme fatale. Venomous, his Milady de Winter has the seductive whistles heard in Vesper Green and Ava Lord…
A perfect introduction before his takeover of the narrative in the next installment The Three Musketeers: Milady.
Alexandre de La Patellière and Mathieu Delaporte demonstrating
In its almost short duration of 2 hours, The Three Musketeers of course he can’t tell everything, and since then this first chapter is called D’Artagnan, some characters mechanically fall into advanced figuration, such as Richelieu or the Captain de Tréville (Marc Barbé), which is more central to the novel. Likewise, we can thus regret not having seen a little more Porthos and Aramis, both ideally encamped, special mention to the Musketeer by Romain Duris who has not much to envy to Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow.
Pleasure, then. Emotion and also desire to see more. Finally, admiration, which for expert fit the screenwriters Alexandre de La Patellière and Matthieu Delaporte, who cut a certain passage from the novel here, joined two others, skimmed over a certain point and insisted on this, to synthesize Dumas’ chivalrous and lively gesture in all that can have very cinematic. The liberties taken are therefore considered, respectful and above all very effective.
We also note that in writing as in directing, the careful handling of originality and, ultimately, the limited risk-taking does not bring mildness, but on the contrary seduces with its intention to a great family adventure filmwho knows how to federate different ages and sensitivities.
Long live the cinematic universe of Alexandre Dumas
Come on, let’s push a regret for the form. That of noticing a set at times programmatic, with great craftsmanship that does not allow itself more staging courage, then it could. But pushing this regret too far would be capricious. In fact, the second part is coming soon The Three Musketeers: Miladythen in 2024 The Count of Monte Cristo. And what Martin Bourboulon just did, much better, has something of theIron man of 2008.
Indeed, who, in French-language fiction, are they Super heroes, if not these three musketeers? Who, in the collective imagination, has such power of fiction and entertainment? If the narration as the staging may seem to follow a disciplined “program”, this objectively is very well established and led.
It was no small feat to declare, as producer Dimitri Rassam did, that the project The Three Musketeers would be a response to major Hollywood franchises. His teams and collaborators took him at his word and did it. We look like this D’Artagnan with pure pleasure, moving smoothly from one sensation to another, eager to see more. And also with a little pride in my heart. How beautiful are these heroes!
The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan by Martin Bourboulon, in theaters on April 5, 2023. Above the trailer. Find all our trailers here.
Source: Cine Serie
Ray Ortiz is a journalist at Gossipify, known for his coverage of trending news and current events. He is committed to providing readers with accurate and unbiased reporting, and is respected for his ability to keep readers informed on the latest news and issues.
