Ah, those musketeers!

Despite the harsh scores played for us by experts in the pedantry of the seventh art and some of the film's undeniable flaws, the return of the Three Musketeers on the big screen is also the sign of great popular French cinema. And much more besides.

If the author of this article has taken the liberty of indulging in an exceptional film review, an exercise abandoned several months ago for lack of time, it's because the subject was worth the effort. Viewing such a work on a grey Sunday, when the party's over, proved ideal for discovering its resounding potential. These unifying feature films that uplift while entertaining, and that marry diverse talents, have been lacking of late. Perhaps the current period of crisis after crisis was just what was needed.

Real sets highlighting the beauty of France's heritage, magnificent costumes and choreography, plots interwoven like a thriller, heart-stopping choruses, well-judged humor on the border between the absurd and the familiar, and a delicate use of Alexandre Dumas' text, The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan, with a sequel scheduled for June, focusing on the character of Milady, is a pure cape-and-sword film, but magnified. You'll come away not only having had a good time, but having been thrilled by 17th-century France.^th, with its politico-religious stakes, its musketeers, its historical characters embodied by excellent actors.

A collective adventure

François Civil, Vincent Cassel, Romain Duris and Pio Marmaï, who play the Four Musketeers, spent five months training to ride horses and handle their weapons, as producer Dimitri Rassam explains. on Léa Salamé's set. The film was shot over 145 days on location - more than 90% of the feature was filmed in France. You can feel what an emotional and collective adventure this must have been for both the crew and the audience. Certain sequences, such as the trial and the wedding, are breathtaking in their dramatic force.

So yes, this umpteenth adaptation of the world-famous novel is bound to disappoint viewers who are already familiar with its content. But it's a fact of life: anyone who is already familiar with certain characteristics of a work is bound to be less surprised when they discover them than someone who is not. What's more, Martin Bourboulon's direction doesn't just take up the bulk of the story that many people have in their heads, he also mixes in some welcome subplots - and a few lightnesses, or even errors (such as the rosary bequeathed by a Protestant), which we're happy to forgive him for. For it's the spirit that emanates from this great journey that makes it so delightful. Run, you've still got a few days left.

Write to the author: jonas.follonier@leregardlibre.com

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