Pomu-pomu-torment us in our lifetime – Newspaper Kommersant No. 58 (7503) dated 04/05/2023

Martin Bourboulon’s film “The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan” is released – the first part of the new film adaptation of the famous novel. Julia Shagelman once again surprised by the scriptwriters’ belief that they are better storytellers than Dumas père.

The novel about the adventures of a young Gascon nobleman named d’Artagnan, who went to Paris in 1625 for exploits and fame, as well as his friends, enemies, lovers and historical figures sticking their noses everywhere, is one of the most screened literary works in the world. The first British film based on it was released back in 1898, but the French also quickly realized the cinematic potential of their national treasure. In 1903, the great Georges Méliès filmed The Queen’s Musketeers, and since then new versions have been released with enviable regularity. The last time, however, an adaptation with French participation was filmed more than a decade ago, and in Paul W. S. Anderson’s film The Musketeers (2011), only the money invested remained from France. In general, the time has come to once again restore historical justice.

The feature that unites almost all productions of The Musketeers, in whatever country they are filmed, is the liberties that the authors allow themselves when deviating from the plot, and most often not forcedly (it is clear that it is impossible to film such a voluminous text verbatim), but intentionally. As soon as the Musketeers are not modernized and modified – for example, a British film with a black d’Artagnan was released two weeks ago in Russian cinemas – they are immersed in whatever new circumstances, although it would seem that the book was written in ready-made mise-en-scenes – take it and shoot it. At this stage, it seems that the most revolutionary version would be as close to the text as possible.

However, the film by Martin Bourboulon, who had previously directed a couple of comedies of modest artistic merit and an elegant but empty costume melodrama Eiffel (2021), is again not the case. Take at least the age of the characters: Francois Civil, who plays the “young” Gascon d’Artagnan, is 33 years old, and the rest of the characters have also matured significantly.

Looking at the 56-year-old gray-haired Athos (Vincent Cassel) and the 48-year-old Aramis (Romain Duris), you begin to sympathize more than ever with these adult uncles, whom fate-villain keeps on the lower rungs of the army career ladder.

No wonder, you know, that Athos drinks so much, and Aramis even fights duels with an air of extreme weariness from this accursed life. Porthos (Pio Marmai), at 38 years old, is relatively young compared to them, although under the lush vegetation on his face you still can’t make out this.

The plot, of course, has also undergone significant changes. To begin with, in the first five minutes of screen time, even before the credits, d’Artagnan is buried alive: this is how his clash with a whole detachment of armed unknowns in black cloaks on the square in Menge ends unexpectedly, and none of them even commented on the article. his horses. The gallant Gascon, of course, gets out of the grave and continues on his way to Paris. There, for a while, everything goes along a familiar path: he accidentally encounters three musketeers and receives three challenges to a duel, which become the beginning of a beautiful friendship. But she never has time to really mature, as the scriptwriters again discard the book and plunge into the abyss of political intrigues and religious conflicts, during which, for example, Athos suddenly turns out to be a Huguenot (and at the same time he has a younger brother, no less than a member of the Protestant conspiracy ).

These “Musketeers” were filmed in accordance with modern standards of image on the screen of the “suffering Middle Ages” and the antiquity close to it: there is dusk, dirt and sewage all around, the costumes are carefully shabby in the workshops to a state of complete deterioration, the heroes almost never wash. An exception is made for women, King Louis XIII (Louis Garrel for some reason with a huge false nose) and Cardinal Richelieu (Eric Ruf) – they sparkle with cleanliness and grooming. Accordingly, duels are not exquisite choreographic sketches, but a bunch of small things, in which participants beat each other with everything that comes to hand, roll on the ground, almost bite, and use firearms much more often than swords.

Apparently, the same desire for a “sharp and modern” interpretation explains the fact that the Musketeers, and in the book, despite their positivity, which were morally ambiguous, here indulge in all serious. Athos wakes up in bed with a stabbed woman (no, he did not kill her, but he himself is not sure of this) and ends up in prison, Aramis tortures witnesses in order to beat out of them the information necessary for Athos’ release. And only d’Artagnan, blushing like a schoolboy, at each meeting with Constance (Lina Curly), looks like an innocent flower against their background. As for Milady (Eva Green), the final revision of her story will probably take place in the second part, which will be released in December. This, perhaps, will even be interesting, but it’s still a pity that in all this muddy water, what, in fact, makes The Three Musketeers a favorite story for all time has been lost: chivalrous romance, a noble spirit of adventure, “one for all, and all for one.”