Exquisite.
That’s the best word to describe this very creative take on Dumas’ revenge classic. It would actually have been enough of a spin to tell the story through the eyes of the Count’s long lost son (who I assume this Albert is mean to be,) leaving the larger part of his revenge saga to backstory and to revelations gradually revealed throughout the course of the tale. It does change the audience’s sense of the character significantly if we’re introduced to him as the mysterious Count instead of seeing him the naïve and wronged Edmund Dantes who conspires to concoct that persona. Even if we discounted the lush, texture heavy visual style (making me think of TATAMI GALAXY and a more sophisticated vision of CHOWDER) and the transplanting of the plot to a futuristic setting (which is cool, but keeping the French names and titles is a little jarring,) that’s a strong enough of an angle to make even something as minimalistic as a black box theater production worthwhile.
The lightly homosexual curve that’s been added is a little intriguing. Maybe there’ll be nothing more to it beyond this first episode, but young Albert’s excited interest in the Count - - going as far as to chase after him after a glance at the opera - - would seem the same as what he’d have for one of the beguiling Parisian ingénues who catches his eye. The embrace they share in the promo image above doesn’t seem like the sort of pose two platonic dudes would find themselves in; let alone a father and his grown-up son. Such an angle might actually be pretty intriguing, though I'd question what the intention would be then of reinterpreting their relationship as even vaguely incestuous.
Enough musing, though. Either way, the last time I was this impressed by such lavish, baroque fantasy was when MOULIN ROUGE came to theaters a good ten years back. And it's certainly the most interesting adaptation of the novel I've seen since the Kevin Reynolds version.
Watch this episode, "At Journey’s End, We Meet” below and decide for yourself.
Tom Pinchuk’s the writer of HYBRID BASTARDS! & UNIMAGINABLE. Order them on Amazon here & here. Follow him on Twitter: @tompinchuk
