Our local public broadcasting channel, the Australian Broadcasting Commission, has replaced its usual Friday night English copper and forensic science shows with this grand, expensive, respectful (more or less) French mini-series. It's like immersing yourself in the novel - long and winding story, lots of minor characters, plenty of changes of scene, plenty of period detail (last night we went to the Paris opera with King Louis-Phillipe). An airport novel written before there were airports, this is a great yarn, improbable but imaginable, at least if you believe that time sharpens the desire for revenge rather than dulls it.
As Edmond Dantes, Depardieu has the authoritative certainty of the best class of con-men, though his disguises seem paper-thin. Even though he is a former seaman who has spent 20 years inside, somehow you can't imagine anyone else saying to him, "Now look here old chap, you're not really a Count are you?" We have seen him earlier in extremis in prison, which makes the Monte Cristo performance even more impressive. Ornella Muni as Mercedes is devastatingly beautiful, if too young looking (perhaps we are seeing her as Dantes does, his 20 year old fiance, not the middle aged wife of a Paris banker - Ms Muti at 43 was in fact the right age for the part). The other major characters are a delight also. Everyone has an angle, everyone has their suspicions, but all are swept along by the Count's audacious design.
Although "Monte Cristo" seems rather an old-fashioned saga of crime and revenge, there are some modern touches such as the use of the telegraph (then in its infancy) to manipulate stock prices. At the Danglers bank the Board are discussing putting money into the new-fangled railways. The story also reflects some of the political turbulence at the time (France had at least three coups between 1815 and 1848). ,Still, the story is basically entertainment, and to that end is a refreshing change from all that worthy English plod - Dalgliesh, Morse, Wexford, McCallum, Mrs Bradley and Dr Ryan's silent witnesses - on Friday night.
