Dracula Review – The French Director’s Romantic Reimagining of the Gothic Classic is Absurd but Engaging
Perhaps there is no great enthusiasm for an updated adaptation of Dracula from Luc Besson, the French maestro for glossiness and bloat. However, it’s worth noting: his richly designed love story with vampires has ambition and panache – and amid its theatrical camp, I’m not sure I wouldn’t prefer to it to the recent, stately interpretation by Robert Eggers of Nosferatu. A few strange elements appear, such as a scene that seems to depict a territorial boundary between France and Romania.
Christoph Waltz as a Clever but Weary Priest Tracking the Undead
Christoph Waltz portrays a witty yet careworn cleric fighting vampires – I can’t believe he hasn’t played this character previously – who ends up in Paris in 1889 for the French Revolution centenary celebrations. So does the sinister Dracula, played by the seasoned horror actor Caleb Landry Jones with a mangled central European accent reminiscent of the voice of Gru by Steve Carell of the Despicable Me series. This character he seemed destined to play.
The Narrative: A Tale of Love and Loss
The story is this: the count has wandered endlessly the world in anguish over four centuries following his rise as one of the undead, a consequence due to his blasphemous mourning after the passing of his beloved Elisabeta (a movie debut role for Zoë Bleu, the offspring of Rosanna Arquette). Dracula has been searching, searching, searching for some woman who might be the reincarnation of his deceased partner. By cruel fate, the fortunate female proves to be Mina (portrayed once more by Bleu), the modest betrothed of Dracula’s wimpish land agent, Jonathan Harker (Ewens Abid), who has recently been to the count’s castle to negotiate his property portfolio and whose miniature portrait of the winsome Mina attracted Dracula’s gaze.
The Filmmaker’s Approach and Humorous Style
Besson arranges Dracula’s flashback sequence of global roaming sporting extravagant attire with a sure hand, and he is not above offering some comedy moments reminiscent of Mel Brooks – for example the vampire’s constant unsuccessful tries to commit suicide post-Elisabeta’s demise, in addition to comical sequences that result after Dracula sprays himself using a particular scent in historic Florence, that renders him unavoidably attractive to females. Absurd yet engaging.
Dracula is available digitally starting December 1st and on DVD and Blu-ray from December 22nd. It will be shown in Australian cinemas beginning on the fifth of February, 2026.