French Film Festival Aotearoa 2024: ‘Les Trois Mousquetaires : D’Artagnan’ – Review
This year’s French Film Festival Aotearoa 2024 has been a fantastic event for long-time cinephiles, and audiences have been delivered an incredible array of elegant and opulent cinema from a diverse range of genres that celebrate the artistic merits of French artisans who work and play within the medium of cinema. One of the standout showings from this year’s event was a monumental and epic new take on Alexandre Dumas’ classic swashbuckling adventure, Les Trois Mousquetaires: D’Artagnan, and this is a picture that sweeps you up in every dynamic moment.
Young D’Artagnan arrives in Paris, trying to find the attackers who left him for dead. He instead finds a real war brewing and joins the king’s three musketeers – Athos, Porthos and Aramis – as they work to ensure the future of France.
All of us are familiar with Dumas’ classic adventure story, The Three Musketeers, and now, under the direction of Martin Bourboulon, who directed the sensational historical romance, Eiffel, this renowned adventure story finds a new edge, action and rhythm that will sweep you up in its adventure. Les Trois Mousquetaires: D’Artagnan or The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan is the first chapter in a two-part epic adventure that brings together a tale of action, romance, duty and honour, and through the lens of Bourboulon, we are given an experience of the Three Musketeers that is thoroughly modern and new, but which gets directly to the essence of this grand narrative. Taking inspiration from the likes of Batman Begins, Gladiator and The Revenant, Les Trois Mousquetaires: D’Artagnan is a cinema experience that keeps you on the edge the whole time as our gallant heroes battle a dangerous force and its malevolent agent, and your heart will be thumping by the time it reaches its conclusion.
Bourboulon has assembled an incredible cast for his adaptation of Les Trois Mousquetaires: D’Artagnan. Stepping into the role of the youthful D’Artagnan is French heartthrob François Civil, and he’s incredibly dashing in his portrayal of a young man who desires to become a hero as a member of the Musketeers of the Guard. Celebrated French actor Vincent Cassel brings a dark edge to the legendary Athos, a noble count whose past actions have left him battling the demons of his choices, and who serves as mentor to the young D’Artagnan. Pio Marmaï is an equal measure of tough and bombastic as the loud and loutish Porthos, and who when it comes to combat is a brutal tank of a fighter who crashes into everything in sight. While Romain Duris is a charming rogue as Aramis, a devout priest, turned womaniser, and who moves with a catlike elegance. Our Four Musketeers make for a worthy comradeship and each brings their all to this monumental cinematic event.
But this is not alone a picture of handsome dashing men, and director Martin Bourboulon brings together an incredible cast of female talent to the film. As the young ingenue and the subject of D’Artagnan’s affection, Lyna Khoudri makes a big impression on audiences as Constance Bonacieux, a seamstress to the Queen of France, and who is a key part of his mission to help restore the honour of France. Strikingly beautiful and poised with dramatic range, Khoudri is perfect in the part, and audiences will easily fall for her chemistry with Civil. As the Queen of France, Anne of Austria, Vicky Krieps is a key supporting player, and her actions set the Musketeers to task as they fight to retain her standing; then there’s Milady de Winter, the original femme fatale. She is brought to life with a ravishing eroticism and considerable power by renowned actress Eva Green, who is a perfect casting and steals every scene that she appears in.
Les Trois Mousquetaires: D’Artagnan is an example in both style and substance, and Bourboulon’s incredible team of artists are a force for creative expression that brings you fully into the world of the 1600s. There’s a dashing rock n’roll quality to the picture, made so by an incredibly rich level of detail in costuming, hair and make-up and set design, and the triumphant score of Guillaume Roussel brings everything together and fully invests you in this devil-may-care experience. The action scenes literally leap off the screen, and the impressive camera work of Nicolas Bolduc moves at pace and captures the dynamic slashes and parry of rapiers, and will have you in the ‘en guard’ spirit.
Les Trois Mousquetaires: D’Artagnan is a beautifully rendered piece of French cinema. Its power of narrative, luxury of design, and speed of action will have you wrapped up in a brazen and exciting swashbuckling adventure of epic proportions. It is an utter triumph in every sense of the word, and it holds to the spirit of ‘all for one, and one for all.’
Image: Pathe
