The Lowdown

It's a French TV version made in 1998 and stars Gerard Depardieu as the Count (but not as young Edmond).

Some Observations

• This is a pretty faithful adaptation which follows most of the major plot points. At six hours long it has time to fit most of them in (although there are some omissions - Eugenie, Lucien Debray) and adds some new characters. In a slightly unexpected move, they've added an additional love interest in the form of a virtuous widow, Mme Richardais. Even more unexpectedly there's a whole plotline about how gluttonous she is, which I think is intended to be light relief but doesn't fit well with the rest of the story. Bertuccio is here (as is often the case being something of an amalgamation with Jacopo / Baptistin) but in this version also functions as the Count's conscience. Franz is in there but, as usual, doesn't get much of a look in.
• Thankfully in this adaptation they take the decision to use a different actor to play the young Dantes. Not sure we would have bought Gerard as a slim 19 year old. This is a common trap in Monte Cristo adaptations.
• A great element of this one is how they bring out his relationship with god. The Count sees himself as dealing out justice in place of a god who allowed terrible things to happen, and talks often about replacing him. This brings a darkness to the character we only see in a few adaptations (notably Gankutsuo). Excellent bit where he busts into a church to berate god for the injustices in the world.
• One of the things that is sorely missed from many adaptations, which is thankfully present here, is the count's range of disguises. Amusingly, much of this involves just putting an even bigger nose on Gerard Depardieu who, let's face it, didn't exactly have a petite schnozz to begin with.
• Despite the general high quality in this one, some of the revenges are a little unsatisfying. Villefort's is changed to exclude Benedetto and Eduoard, and the final confontation with Fernand seems rushed (for a really great rendering of this, see the 1964 Alan Badel version). Also Edmond and Mercedes get together at the end. Of course, this does sometimes happen and it's not a wholly illegitimate change, but they did spend most of the time trying to make out what a bitch she was, so it seems a little tacked on.

The Verdict

This is one of the best adaptations - they get in most of the good storylines; Gerard is amusingly beefy and walks a nice line between making you sympathise with the count and making you wonder at his harshness. As is often a strength of the TV adaptations, it's long enough to do the story justice (something the films often struggle with).

Characters and Plot Elements