Director: Safy Nebbou
Year:
2010
Country:
France
Rating:
5.5
Aka - L'Autre Dumas
Poor Auguste Maquet. He gets no respect.
As usual, his name is not to be seen on the title of this film. He was used
to that. Auguste Maquet, you ask? He was a large contributor to many of Dumas's
most famous novels. From the early 1840s to their break-up in 1851, he worked
closely with Dumas as a writer, idea's man, secretary, confidant and invisible
man. Academics argue about what is his and what is from Dumas - but most
give him great credit for the Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo,
the Musketeer sequels and Queen Margot. And yet his name never appeared on
any of their collaborations and when he sued Dumas later on for recognition,
he lost the case. As one said, "Without Maquet, Dumas would still be Dumas,
but what would Maquet be without Dumas".
When they met up, Dumas was already famous
for a series of popular plays - and already had a group of writers helping
him out. No wonder as he was incredibly prolific - some 100,000 pages published
by him. Dumas was a bigger than life personality - involved in politics all
over Europe, a man of great appetites whether food or women but he never
stopped writing. He passed away a few chapters short of his last novel in
1870. All of this though he faced racial discrimination for much of his life.
His grandmother had been a black slave on the island of what is now Haiti
and the concubine of Dumas's grandfather. When the grandfather returned to
France, he sold her to another man. This was the family Dumas was born into.
But I am going off into territory that doesn't
really impact this film. Because for all intents, this is not as much about
Dumas as it is about Maquet. And only a small slice of his life that I expect
was totally fictional. Dumas is portrayed by Gérard Depardieu with
his usual lustful uncouth swagger - he seems to be little but equal measure
of bluster and pity. With a raging sexual need. Maquet on the other hand
as played by Benoît Poelvoorde is a quiet humble man happy to be in
Dumas's circle. Over the film, this begins to change. This French production
is nicely budgeted with lavish period costume, carriages, detailed art and
a chalet that I would kill for with pheasants, swans and storks running about.
Depardieu is of course not black which caused some anger - but if you see
photos of Dumas, the actor resembles him to a large degree. Depardieu is
not a handsome man at this point in his life and neither was Dumas.
The working relationship between the two
men is fascinating to watch as Dumas is constantly spilling over with ideas
and dialogue while Maquet has to organize it, piece it together and write
it up. The Revolution of 1848 that overthrew the King is also brought into
the film. But the main story mysteriously gets mired into a romantic farce
when Maquet is mistakenly thought to be Dumas by the beautiful Charlotte
(Mélanie Thierry) who wants Dumas's help in freeing her ill father
from prison. The always faithful Maquet is bedazzled and uses this error
to continue the charade in hopes of seducing her. It all goes badly as expected
when she turns out to be a revolutionary being watched by the secret police.
There just seems little point to it. Much more of interest is when Dumas
and Maquet are together, when they are talking with their respective wives,
the small details. I had been hoping for a larger biography on Dumas - there
are probably French ones out there - this had some interest but I felt it
should have had a bigger story with all the period designs thrown at it.
