Directed by:
Safy NebbouCinematography:
Stéphane FontaineComposer:
Hugues Tabar-NouvalCast:
Gérard Depardieu, Benoît Poelvoorde, Mélanie Thierry, Dominique Blanc, Michel Aumont, Catherine Mouchet, Jean-Christophe Bouvet, Florence Pernel (more)VOD (1)
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Alexandre Dumas père, was an astonishingly prolific and successful writer. In just three years, between 1843 and 1846, he published what were to
become his most successful novels: "Les trios mousquetaires" ("The Three Musketeers"), "La reine Margot" ("Queen Margot") and "Le comte de Monte-Cristo" ("The Count of Monte Cristo"). Dumas' novels are not merely exciting to read, they are also meticulously researched and well-written. This extraordinary output can only be managed with the aid of a reliable assistant; such a person not only needs to be able to find the right source material in libraries and archives, he also needs to have a talent for writing and the ability to invent characters and ideas for a plot. August Maquet is one such partner. He is the complete antithesis of the extrovert bon vivant that Dumas presents to Parisian society. An incisive analyst and well-read author who knows his way around libraries and archives, Maquet is not desirous of a life in the limelight. However, when Maquet tries to impress a fervent Dumas admirer named Charlotte Desrives by claiming to be the true author of these phenomenally successful books, the mood turns sour between the two men. A bitter fight ensues which, in 1858, leads to a court battle over the copyright ownership of these works, at the end of which Maquet is assigned a twenty percent share – albeit without the right to be mentioned as a contributing author. Alexandre Dumas' remains were later interred in the Panthéon of Paris; however, when he died, Maquet was buried in an anonymous grave in the cemetery at Père-Lachaise.
(Berlinale)
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Gérard Depardieu is extremely unlikable here, but only because he’s playing a character you’d today consider someone who’s relying only on his family name. I believe that Dumas put a lot of himself into his work. But at the same time I think that if it hadn’t been for August, Dumas wouldn’t have amounted to a half of what he became. This story explained it to me in no uncertain terms and I’m now in the picture. The movie, however, seemed too much like a documentary. Too factual and not entertaining enough, which is a problem in a movie.
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