The Three Musketeers,Alexandre Dumas ' most famous novel, is coming to the big screen for the umpteenth time. Along with Asterix and Obelix: The Middle Kingdom, it's further proof that Pathé is now willing to invest in big-screen, big-budget projects. Les Trois Mousquetaires - D'Artagnan, the first part of this blockbuster diptych, arrives in cinemas on April 5, 2023. The second part, Les Trois Mousquetaires - Milady, is scheduled for December 13, 2023.
The screenplay for both films is by Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de La Patellière, authors of the plays Le Prénom and Par le bout du nez. The writing duo have already collaborated with Bourboulon, having co-written the screenplays for the comedies Papa ou Maman and Papa ou Maman 2.
This new reading of The Three Musketeers features a (very) large cast. François Civil is D'Artagnan, Vincent Cassel is Athos, Romain Duris is Aramis and Pio Marmaï is Porthos. Eva Green plays Milady.
Louis Garrel and Lyna Khoudri, among others, complete the cast.
As Dimitri Rassam, one of the producers, points out, both films were shot entirely in France, for a total budget of 60 million euros. A colossal sum rarely granted to French productions, the diptych is eagerly awaited by the producers, who expect it to be a resounding success.
Our verdict
Here's a film that will change the public's opinion of the French blockbuster! This first installment in the adventures of the Three Musketeers succeeds in its aim: to offer high-quality action entertainment. Martin Bourboulon's feature film is impressive. You can feel the size of the budget, and it shows everywhere: the sets, the costumes, and the density of the story being told.
It's the story of D'Artagnan, a young provincial who arrives in Paris to become a musketeer. His impertinence soon gets him noticed, and as he attracts the wrath of Athos, Porthos and Aramis, the three most feared musketeers in town, the little team finds itself at the heart of a huge plot against the King of France.
But there's more! There are so many sub-plots that we sometimes think a TV series might be better suited to such a story, as the twists and turns come thick and fast. Still, the whole thing holds together quite well, thanks above all to its performers. François Civil in the title role, but especially Pio Marmai as Porthos, and Lyna Khoudri, who once again confirms her talent. Only Louis Garrel is a little lacking in the role of King Louis XIII, for whom he adopts a strange diction and phrasing, which takes us out of the film.
Fortunately, the flaws are few and far between, and above all, the staging of the action scenes - the film's main interest - is a success. Filmed at man's height, slightly low-angle and often in (false) sequence shots, the blows landed are strikingly authentic, and the fighting style is in stark contrast to what we're used to seeing in blockbusters across the Atlantic. The Three Musketeers isn't perfect, of course, but we can't deny it its desire to make a different kind of action film, nor its immense generosity, and even less its quest for authenticity in its staging, which makes for thrilling confrontation scenes.
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