The Three Musketeers

The great difficulty of adapting a literary work that has become part of the subconscious of millions of people is to be able to recover all the power of the story but also to wipe out the previous adaptations in order to dust off the myth and simply propose a great film capable of bringing spectators back to the cinema with the pleasure of enjoying a great show that makes us want to applaud and see the film again. 

The director Martin Bourboulon has succeeded in making a name for himself with two rather successful family comedies Papa ou maman 1&2 (2015,2016) and ventured into historical drama with Eiffel (2021) which revisited Gustave Eiffel's insane bet to build what will become one of the most touristic places in Europe.  Certainly his new film The Three Musketeers finds the epic breath of the best adventure films and succeeds in carefully reconstructing the 17th century. Far from wanting to be too academic, the director was able to stage a film capable of standing up to the best current American blockbusters while making the audience wonder about our role in making this world a better place. We won't go back over the numerous adaptations to the cinema (31 to be exact) of the French historical adventure novel written in 1844 by Alexandre Dumas, but we can only acknowledge that this one stands out from the rest and will make us forget the latest versions by Paul W. S. Anderson and Stephen Herek.

The screenwriters Mathieu Delaporte, Alexandre de La Patellière have certainly approached the novel of Alexandre Dumas with care and by discovering this film even if the story is known we can only take pleasure in discovering this new adaptation which mixes adventure films, romance and action and transports the spectators in different tourist places of our beautiful country. What a pleasure to find on the big screen the city of Meaux which holds an important place in my heart for being born and raised there. The episcopal city and in particular the cathedral of Meaux are perfectly put forward to our greatest pleasure and shows the importance of such a cultural heritage in Seine et Marne. 

The Three Musketeers is based on a scenario capable of holding our attention throughout the story and places in its center very beautiful action scenes reflecting the soul of vigilantes with a true sense of morality and as comfortable in sword fights as on horseback to make the good triumph and save the King of France. The action of the film follows the plot of the novel by Alexandre Dumas and takes place in the seventeenth century (between 1625 and 1628 if we base it on the novel). The young D'Artagnan has left his home to go to Paris and wants to follow in his father's footsteps and become a Musketeer. His journey to Paris will not go as expected and he will face an assassination attempt and arrive in Paris to duel the three greatest and most famous musketeers Aramis (Romain Duris), Arthos (Vincent Cassel) and Portos (Pio Marmai) before joining their ranks and finding themselves all four in a powerful plot related to affairs of state and court.

The director Martin Bourboulon has perfectly understood that to give life to a great historical adventure film, it was necessary not only to have a scenario that would allow for many twists and turns, to take great care with the costumes and multiple settings, to place the action in different cities and countries, but above all to rely on an impeccable cast. Contrary to another big French production with an imposing cast but cruelly lacking in rhythm and a good script, The Three Musketeers hits its target every time and shows us that a cast must be at the service of the story and not be a parade of not always convincing supporting roles. It is impossible not to have in the four main roles simply some of the best French actors of today. François Civil, Vincent Cassel, Pio Marmaï and Romain Duris take a real pleasure to play together and bring each to their character a real psychological thickness. Once again François Civil is perfect and imposes himself as a perfect chameleon actor and the success of this film is due to these actors. In the same way the supporting roles are chosen with care and we find with pleasure the superb Lyna Khoudri and also Eva Green, Louis Garrel.

While the novel The Three Musketeers allowed its author to bring a criticism of his time by showing in some way the abuses of the regime, multiple injustices but also by addressing the politics of that time, the film The Three Musketeers also knows how to retain this protest by showing what is happening behind the scenes of power and that a war is brewing between France and England. However, despite the fact that this is a film that sets up a universe rich in details, the director gives his film a perfect rhythm and it is easy to understand that a sequel has been announced for December 13 (the two films, like Back to the Future 2 and 3, were shot in a row over 150 days from August 16, 2021 to June 3, 2022). The open ending of the film announces a highly anticipated sequel that we are already looking forward to discovering. Pathé Distribution has certainly got its best film of the year and we can only encourage you to go and see this film again and again in theaters.

The Three Musketeers
Directed by Martin Bourboulon
Produced by Dimitri Rassam
Written by Mathieu Delaporte, Alexandre de La Patellière
Starring François Civil, Vincent Cassel, Pio Marmaï, Romain Duris, Eva Green, Louis Garrel, Vicky Krieps, Lyna Khoudri, Jacob Fortune-Lloyd, Gabriel Almaer, Ralph Amoussou, Marc Barbé, Pascal Fonta, Ivan Franek, Julien Frison, Tony Martone, Alexis Michalik, Patrick Mille, Eric Ruf, Christophe Dimitri Réveille, Dominique Valadié, Nicolas Vaude, Thibault Vinçon
Music by Guillaume Roussel
Cinematography : Célia Lafitedupont (D'Artagnan), Stan Collet (Milady)
Edited by Célia Lafitedupont (on D'Artagnan), Stan Collet (on Milady)
Production companies : Chapter 2, Pathé, M6 Films, Constantin Film, ZDF, DeAPlaneta, Umedia
Distributed by Pathé Distribution (France)
Release date : April 6 2023 (France), December13, 2023 (France) (Milady)
Running time : 121 minutes

Seen on February 14, 2023 at Pathé Beaugrenelle Dolby theater
Reviewed on March 29, 2023 at the Forum des Halles room 500

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