What a waste of my time!!!

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

I loved the book, read it "to pieces". Yes the adaptation is slow-paced and a number of stories have been left out, but in all reality, the selection made is excellent. The atmosphere is great, it is truly romantic and the chosen stories are excellent. Unfortunately there are a lot of deviations from the book, which results in a (in my taste) "cheesy" ending. Overall however, there is a lot to enjoy. The soundtrack is excellent and full of subtle details. Spoiler Alert: When Heloise enters Valentines room for the second time, to check whether she had been successful, she hums a melody (not in the book). This melody is very well chosen: The theme is the slow movement of Schubert's String Quartet No 14 "Der Tod und das Mädchen" (Death and the Maiden).

This movie is very long (almost 8 hours!). I recommend watching it in 2 hour blocks. It is set up this way as it was a mini series on the Bravo channel. Yes, it is in French. There are subtitles. (I enjoyed seeing how much of my high school French I actually could remember.) You can't beat it, however, for staying so true to the book. If you haven't read the book, you should before you see the movie. That will allow you to follow the story the first time at your own pace. It will also help to put some events into place in your mind.The movie will help you understand the book because the story can get confusing with some of the French names and titles. Having a face to put to those names helps. The book is incredible because of the plotting of the main character and the plot twists. Kept in in this version, those two things make it a great story and movie.

This miniseries rendering of pulp novelist Dumas' 18th century "The Count of Monte Cristo" runs about 6.6 hours in length, all of it subtitled for non-French speakers. That's a whole lot of reading. However, the length allows this version of the oft filmed story to bring the characters to life in truer fashion and with greater depth than the many abbreviated knock-offs. The result is an expansive, in-depth telling the young French sailor, Edmond Dantès, who is wrongfully imprisoned for 14 years, discovers a treasure which makes him filthy rich, then uses the wealth to sustain his own cunning schemes as he seeks vengeance under an assumed identity as The Count of Monte Cristo. This film offers a fine cast with Depardieu providing a commanding presence as the charismatic Count and no one does French period films better than the French. Deficits are small, easily overlooked non sequiturs such as having to swallow the robust form of Depardieu as a man who lived for years on the meager sustenance of the dungeons of D'If...etc. An excellent but long presentation which trades the usual swashbuckling and action of the more abbreviated knock-offs for a more faithful presentation of the sagacious Count who seeks to understand who he's become and reconcile that with the man who lusts for vengeance. (B+)

This movie conforms to the book and manages to capture the true story. Revenge ... Girard Depardieu is wonderful and I have watched it twice (subtitles, no less!!) It is well worth the effort. Reading the book first was definitely helpful.