The Three Musketeers: Milady

Building on the success of the first film, The Three Musketeers Part 1 D'Artagnan, comes to our screens the second part of the adaptation of the book by Alexandre Dumas, centered on Milady, but also on other subplots carried out briskly. The director Martin Bourboulon continues to breathe modernity into this adaptation. Free from the need of exposition scenes, this film has a more intense drama than the first. This review is spoiler-free.

François Civil, Vincent Cassel, Pio Marmaï and Romain Duris reprise their roles as musketeers. While the first two take on dramatic roles, the other two form a comic tandem which works and brings lightness. Eva Green steals the show by playing a wonderfull Milady, femme fatale, mysterious, captivating. A new character appears: Hannibal, played by Ralph Amoussou, inspired by the true story of Louis Anniaba, prince of Assinia and first black musketeer of France. The talented cast contributes to the success of this movie.

The two films were shot jointly over 150 days, in natural settings, castles, the citadel of Saint-Malo, Hospices de Beaune, the city center of Troyes... The costumes are weathered, the faces of the musketeers weathered. Everything contributes to the authenticity, realism of this adaptation. The fight scenes are well choreographed. Director of photography Nicolas Boluc films with a hand-held camera, in sequence shots. He immerses us into the fights and follows the characters as closely as possible. Its dark photography in brown tones fits with the theme of the film. Guillaume Roussel composes music with dark and serious themes, carried by brass and strings, and slower and expressive themes, sometimes light and poetic, which reinforce the epic character of the film.

This  film is particularly successful, more intense than the first. A great epic movie that has nothing to envy of American blockbusters.

The Three Musketeers Part Two Milday
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 : Nicolas Boluc
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 : December 13  2023 (France)
Running time : 115 minutes

Seen on November 20, 2023 at Publicis Cinéma

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