Dracula Review – The French Director’s Love-Struck Reinterpretation of the Timeless Gothic Tale is Outlandish but Engaging
It’s possible there is no great enthusiasm for a fresh take of Dracula from Luc Besson, the celebrated French director for glossiness and bloat. Still, it has to be said: his richly designed romantic vampire tale displays creativity and style – and amid its theatrical camp, it could be preferable to it to Robert Eggers’s recent, solemnly classy version of Nosferatu. A few strange elements appear, such as a scene that appears to show a land border between France and Romania.
Christoph Waltz as a Clever but Weary Clergyman Hunting Vampires
Christoph Waltz embodies a clever but beleaguered cleric fighting vampires – it’s surprising he never took on this character previously – who arrives in Paris in 1889 to mark the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. Likewise present is the sinister Dracula, enacted by the body-horror veteran Caleb Landry Jones with a mangled central European accent evoking Carell’s Gru character of the Despicable Me series. This is a part that he too was born to take on.
The Story: A Chronicle of Longing
The plot unfolds as follows: the vampire lord has traveled ceaselessly the world in torment for hundreds of years following his rise as one of the undead, a punishment for his faithless sorrow over the death of his beloved Elisabeta (a movie debut role for Zoë Bleu, Rosanna Arquette’s child). Dracula has sought relentlessly for some woman who could be the return of his deceased partner. By cruel fate, the lucky lady is revealed as Mina (again played by Bleu), the modest betrothed of the count’s timid estate manager, Jonathan Harker (enacted by Ewens Abid), who has recently been to Dracula’s fortress to discuss his real estate holdings and whose miniature portrait of the charming Mina attracted Dracula’s gaze.
The Filmmaker’s Approach and Humorous Style
Besson arranges Dracula’s second-act backstory of worldwide travels sporting extravagant attire confidently, and he is not above giving us funny bits in the style of Mel Brooks – like the count’s repeated and futile attempts to kill himself post-Elisabeta’s demise, in addition to farcical scenes that follow Dracula applies to himself using a particular scent in historic Florence, which causes him to be irresistible to women. Ridiculous and watchable.
Dracula is on digital platforms beginning on the first of December and on DVD and Blu-ray from December 22nd. It will be shown in Australian cinemas from 5 February 2026.
