LES TROIS MOUSQUETAIRES: D’ARTAGNAN (The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan)

(France/Germany/Spain/Belgium 2023) ***½

Directed by Martin Bourboulon

After NAPOLEON and FERRARI, it is a welcome change to watch a European epic not spoken in English with foreign accents.  Napoleon had the actors speak English with French accents and FERRARI with Italian accents.  True to form, the French epic, Alexandre Dumas’

LES TROIS MOUSQUETAIRES: D’ARTAGNAN (The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan) is a lavish action adventure film where the French speak French.  It is the first of a two-part epic saga.

D’Artagnan (Francois Civil), a young man from Gascony, is almost killed trying to stop a young woman from being kidnapped, by a mysterious older woman (who turns out later to be Milady played by Eva Green) and her henchmen. He then travels to Paris to join the Musketeers of the Guard. D'Artagnan visits Capitaine de Tréville, commander of the musketeers at its headquarters. Tréville, who knew D'Artagnan's late father, says he will write him a letter of introduction. D'Artagnan sees one of the men who tried to kill him in the street below, and rushes out of the building to confront him, but, in so doing, unintentionally offends three musketeers, Athos, Porthos and Aramis, who each demand satisfaction; D'Artagnan decides to fight a duel with each of them that afternoon.

The first action sequence occurs when the four join forces to battle Cardinal Richelieu’s (Eric Ruf) guards who want to arrest the four for illegal dueling.

Director Bourboulon balances good old-fashioned action and comedy tied together in a period piece that comes complete with grand costumes and lavish sets.  When the beautiful Constance (Lyna Khoudri) is sewing up the bullet wound of D’Artagnan, she says that the bullet has just missed his heart, to which he replies that his heart has already been hit, flirting with her.  The action sequences particularly, the sword-fighting, and swashbuckling scenes are well executed, just like the films of old.

The film is fortunate to have three French heavyweight stars playing the three musketeers.  Athos is played by Vincent Cassel (MESRINE, BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLf and countless other films), Aramis by Romain Duris(a staple of director Francois Ozon’s many films) and the relative newcomer, voted by the Cesars as the Most Promising Actor, Pio Marmai as Porthos, the bi-sexual musketeer.

The film was released theatrically in France by Pathé on 5 April 2023. The second part, The Three Musketeers: Milady, will be released on 13 December 2023. while the first opening in Toronto at the Scotiabank theatre on December the 8th.

The two films have a combined production budget of €72 million (US$78.2 million), around €36 million for each film, the second most expensive French production of 2023, and were filmed back to back for 150 days from 16 August 2021 to 3 June 2022.  The film is the third highest-grossing French film of 2023 with over 3.3 million tickets sold in the country and over 1.5 million tickets sold outside France.  It is time for Alexandre Dumas’ THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO to have a new French product.

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