Director: Luc Besson
Release date: 2025
Contains spoilers
Also titled Dracula: A Love Tale and (on the Blu-Ray cover) subtitled Bram Stoker’s Dracula, I approached this film with trepidation. You see, I am very fond of some of Luc Besson’s films (especially the Fifth Element and Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, the latter of which I know makes me somewhat of an outlier), but as I read about the film, when it was first announced, he suggested that it was true to Stoker and yet it described something akin to Coppola’s Dracula. When I watched the trailer, I don’t think I was alone in thinking that this essentially appeared to be a Coppola remake.
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| the burning cross |
However, it is not – let us get that straight and I will explore why in a rather spoiler-full review. However, getting back to trepidation. The cast gave me hope. I particularly enjoy Christoph Waltz as an actor and I really rather like Caleb Landry Jones (Byzantium) and was interested in what he would do with the role of Dracula. Then, once released, there were the naysayers – I appreciate that everyone has and is entitled to their own opinion but, as you will see, if you are a naysayer then I disagree with you. Of course, the joy of the vampire genre is, from its inception, it has been a genre that takes from and expands upon other works – all the way back to Polidori borrowing the kernel of the Vampyre from Byron. This is no different. Now, with all the preamble laid down, let us begin.
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| the musical box |
Some people assume that Coppola’s Dracula introduced the reincarnated love aspect into the Dracula megatext. Whilst it centred on it, clearly, actually the Dan Curtis’ TV Movie Dracula pre-empted it by almost two decades; strongly connecting the fictional Count and Vlad III, as well as using reincarnation of a lost love. That film tied past and present with a musical box (itself a motif lifted from the Curtis produced Dark Shadows). The opening of this, which is an extended montage showing the love between Vlad (Caleb Landry Jones) and Elisabeta (Zoë Bleu, Mother May I Sleep with Danger) begins with a musical box (the potential idiosyncrasy of such a box in 1480 is dealt with in later dialogue). By this, Besson positions this next to Curtis as much as Coppola.
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| heads on spikes |
I also want to address the Ţepeş aspect straight away. By dating this 1480 we are past the recorded lifespan of the historic Vlad Ţepeş. Later in the film Dracula calls himself Prince (not voivode) Vlad II (not the third), Count Dracula – offering both titles. This may just be a dating error and a patronymic suffix error – admittedly – but it can also be argued that this is a deliberate move away from Ţepeş and, rather, this Vlad is just a generic Romanian nobleman who happened to fight the Ottoman empire (remembering that Wilkinson, Stoker's known source for the name Dracula, suggested, "Dracula in the Wallachian language means Devil. The Wallachians were, at that time, as they are at present, used to give this surname to any person who rendered himself conspicuous either by courage, cruel actions, or cunning." Thus it not being a familial name.). This is likely as, following the battle that is about to occur, Vlad and his men do not stake the enemy full-bodied (as Coppola alluded to in his battle scene and the historic Vlad is most famous for) rather they challenge Mehmet (Jassem Mougari) with severed heads on pikes.
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| a happier time |
So, we have the montage of love scenes, and this does far more to cement with the viewer the deep emotion between the pair than has been done in previous films. However, the Turks are on the doorstep and Vlad’s generals enter, interrupting sex, and drag him from his bride. Notable here, that there is some humour to his reaction and this is fitting as the film has a humorous streak. He is presented to the Cardinal (Haymon Maria Buttinger), who blesses him, but he asks for a boon – that God spare his wife. Note that by making him a Cardinal, and by his costume, they code this priest Roman Catholic and not Orthodox – this would be unusual for the region and further separates from the historic Ţepeş who, whilst it is supposed he converted to Roman Catholicism for political reasons during his lifetime, would have been Orthodox by birth. Vlad sends Elisabeta to another castle, with a small escort to keep her safe, and rides out to battle.
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| tragedy |
So, Vlad wins the battle – the battle scene is marred slightly, for me, with the use of fast cuts. I can certainly see why they’re used, but found them jarring. Meanwhile a crossbowman has killed one of Elisabeta’s escort, she has ridden away from the ambush and is chased down by horsemen. After the battle, Vlad is informed and told she is in the forest of wolves – he rides after her. She emerges from the forest and into a plain covered in snow, which hides the many wolf traps. A trap brings down an Ottoman rider’s horse and, eventually, another snaps closed on her horse. Recovering, she backs away from her pursuers and eventually a trap catches her (though she does not cry out or fall). Vlad arrives and kills one assassin, but the other has reached her. He throws his sword, killing the Ottoman but not before the assassin has stabbed Elisabeta {EDIT: Paul contacted me to say it appears that it was Vlad's sword which killed Elisabeta, through the assassin. In truth, having checked, it is not clear and could be read either way}. She dies in Vlad’s arms.
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| mocking Christ |
This is a massive difference between this and the Coppola version. In the 1992 film the Princess dies through suicide and is denied the Kingdom of Heaven and it is this denial that causes Vlad to turn. In this, the Cardinal states that as a pure soul she will enter into God’s kingdom. It is not this that Vlad wants, he wants God to perform a miracle and bring her back. When the Cardinal denies that this can be, he breaks a staff headed with a cross and stabs the Cardinal whilst instructing him to give God the message that, until his wife is returned, his life no longer belongs to God. This results in thunder and lightning outside as he opens his arms in a mockery of Christ and the Christ on the chapel crucifix cries tears of blood. His men drag him away. To this point I have referred to the Prince as Vlad, hereon in I will use Dracula.
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| Christoph Waltz as the priest |
The film cuts to Paris 400 years later. Again, this is a change, with Besson setting his version of the story between the Carpathians and Paris, with neither London or Whitby getting a look in. The head of an asylum, Dumont (Guillaume de Tonquédec), has been informed that his guest has arrived and been placed in the chapel. His guest is a priest (Christoph Waltz), who is not credited with a name nor named (as far as I could tell) in film. That he is unnamed is interesting and there might be a deeper dive into him representing the church as an entity, but, beyond anything else, he is the Van Helsing equivalent. He is part of an order that the Vatican sends on delicate cases, and this is delicate as the woman, Maria (Matilda De Angelis), who has been incarcerated was engaged to a relative, Henry Spencer (David Shields), of the Queen of England.
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| Matilda De Angelis as Maria |
Henry is a, lightly used, surrogate for Arthur Holmewood, and Maria, as we meet her in an asylum, can be read as a gender swapped Renfield but, more so and more accurately, she is the Lucy equivalent. She was at her wedding to Henry – which at her insistence was at the family estate and not in a church. Henry had invited the Bishop of Westminster to bless the union and, on seeing the holy man, she was seized with hysteria and a “sexual appetite beyond comprehension” – of course hysteria was deemed a particularly female affliction, named after the Greek for the uterus, and was tied to female sexuality. The Doctor reads her age as young but the priest notes in the paperwork that she was born in 1759 – making her 130.
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| impact of a direct ray |
The priest wants to observe her and, on seeing her fangs, tells Dumont that his order has been studying this phenomenon for 400 years, himself for 30, and yet the Doctor is the first to capture a specimen alive and confides that she is a vampire – this is a vast shift in the Lucy character, making her a vampire prior to us meeting her, prior to Dracula arriving (though he did turn her over a century before). The priest tests her – sunlight generally is not an issue except for direct rays. Opening the shutter in the cell burns her hand. Holding a cross before her causes the cross to burst into flames. He procures blood from the finger of the orderly (Raphael Luce) and gives it her for her cooperation. She supposes he knows what she desires, though he says it is what she needs. She does seem to love blood, however, later Dracula reveals he doesn’t crave blood but needs it to remain young. The priest finds bite marks on her neck, confirming that she is not first generation – she was turned. He gets her to speak about her master, the Prince and the Princess he searches for – though she gives no names – and reveals that the master is coming to Paris. Note, even though she is the Lucy equivalent, Maria is not killed at this point. The priest names her one of God’s creatures and believes she can become human again, by destroying the source. I also want to point out the great performance by Matilda De Angelis who makes Maria a fantastic character.
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| Harker meets Dracula |
We cut to Jonathan Harker (Ewens Abid) travelling to Dracula’s castle. His coach abandons him at night with only a direction to go in and a flaming torch, the coachman (Arben Bajraktaraj) refusing to walk with him as he can’t leave the horses due to the wolves. There are wolves in the forest and, though we get eyeshine, there is no indication that they are under Dracula’s control – just our expectation. There is no calèche arriving to bring him to the Count and the reason, we discover, is that Harker is not expected. Nonetheless he is granted entry, and we get our first view of the Count. Old with an elaborate hairstyle, this is where the film does ape Coppola as the hair is, of course, inspired by old Dracula in that. He is, however, a gracious host and feeds his guest. The solicitor is impressed with his trick – making a bowl of food move to him with the wave of a hand – this is one power we do see displayed, telekinesis along with a pyromancy that allows torches to spring to life. He also causes Harker’s cross, given to him by the coachman, to fly across the floor into the fire.
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| Caleb Landry Jones as Dracula |
Harker has come as there is an abbey the Count owns in Paris, which is dilapidated, and the firm wish to see if he would be willing to sell it. This reverses the Carfax trope and is the only part the unnamed abbey plays in this. Harker does comment on the number of servants that would be needed in the large castle, they are discreet says the Count, but this version does have servants as we’ll see. He takes Harker to a bed chamber and warns him not to leave it during the night. Meanwhile, the priest has gone to Henry Spencer’s and discovered a page from a book, in Maria’s room, which shows Elisabeta. Back to Harker and he decides to do some late-night snooping, finds the Count’s coffin and is captured by the servants – animated gargoyles. Though we get an inkling at the end of what the gargoyles are created from (or become), they immediately reminded me of the subspecies in the film of the same name, though I suspect this is not intentional.
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| the fragrance in action |
Strung up, Harker is offered a last request, and he asks for Dracula’s story – which offers us a flashback of events after Elisabeta’s death. Dracula buries his bride but becomes convinced she will reincarnate as sometimes pure souls do return. He searched, hindered by the black death, and eventually, dejected returned to his castle and ultimately settles on suicide – soon discovering, following fall after fall from the castle, that he could not die. This belies the idea of him being undead – this Dracula never died and cannot die – and perhaps draws to mind the character of the Wandering Jew and recall how Dracula, like that figure, mocked Christ. He still, however, had hope of Elisabeta’s return but a realism that he couldn’t visit everywhere and so for a century developed a fragrance, travelling to Bagdad, to India and to Italy to develop it. The fragrance, once ready, acting like an aphrodisiac, when he wore it all heads turned slavishly to him. He went from Court to Court but at Versailles, repelled by the corruption on display, he bit several courtiers to create servants to continue the search, one being Maria. Harker pleads, to the Count’s sense of love, for mercy as he has a love too (he became engaged just before leaving Paris) and the Count sees a portrait of Mina (also Zoë Bleu) and realises his love has been reborn. Grateful, he spares Harker but has him kept prisoner. Meanwhile, Mina has met Dumont and the priest whilst searching for news of Maria, a recent friend.
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| the nuns |
So, after 2000+ words let’s stop with the blow-by-blow. Dracula becomes younger by invading a convent, which put me in mind of the first episode of Dracula (2020), and in a great set-piece he uses the perfume, which causes the nuns to flock uncontrollably to him. My only question with the scene was why he was suddenly bald. Generously it was to do with disguising himself as a beggar to gain entry, but a cowl would do the job. He releases Maria and she introduces Mina to him. Given the opening romance montage and the memory triggers we see, culminating in the musical box fully jogging her recall, one does not question the very quick falling in love (or should we say rekindling) of Mina/Elisabeta. More I would question how, having seen Maria murdered through beheading and staking with little of a vampiric display to fall back on, the priest and Dumont manage to recruit Henry. Further we do not know how they managed to get a small cadre of soldiers to both invade the castle and pepper it with cannon fire. That has no reason to it, and marred the film slightly for me as it made the end feel a tad rushed, but does lead to an action-packed denouement. It also needs to be said that the despatching of Dracula does not follow the rules the priest gave (staking and beheading).
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| time for a bite |
The latter could mean that seeing his ashes float into the sky could as easily be read as a dusty escape rather than the redemptive ascending to heaven that the composition of the scene implies. Having suggested that, I also have to say this Dracula is low on the powers… immortal, yes, and blood makes him younger, we have seen pyromancy and telekinesis (and he has control of animated gargoyles) but there is no other form of shapeshifting offered in film, or animal control, and his ability to mojo others comes from a created scent. The priest mentions garlic as a deterrent but then dismisses it as unlikely. The filming is as lovely as one would expect, there are moments of violence and moments of humour – the use of the scent in the Courts of Europe and the dancing to his tune are especially, and deliberately, comedic – they also brought the Fearless Vampire Killers to mind. The cast all do what they need to, with perhaps more put on Caleb Landry Jones than often is needed for those cast in the role and he proving more than up to the task, Christoph Waltz being understated and yet charismatic and, for me, Matilda De Angelis stealing the show. This uses/references past versions of the megatext but it does something else with them – the story changes are very apparent and reducing the narrative around this to it being just a remake of Coppola is a disservice to the film. I enjoyed it. 8 out of 10.
The imdb page is here.
On Blu-Ray @ Amazon US
On Blu-Ray @ Amazon UK
