Dracula Film Analysis – Besson’s Love-Struck Reinterpretation of the Classic Horror Story is Outlandish but Entertaining
Maybe interest is limited for an updated adaptation of Dracula from Luc Besson, the French maestro for glossiness and bloat. And yet, it’s worth noting: his lavishly upholstered love story with vampires displays creativity and style – and with its B-movie charm, it could be preferable to it to Robert Eggers’s recent, solemnly classy version of Nosferatu. Odd details emerge, like a particular moment that appears to show a geographic divide between France and Romania.
The Veteran Actor as a Humorously Exhausted Vampire-Hunting Priest
Christoph Waltz embodies a witty yet careworn cleric fighting vampires – I can’t believe he hasn’t played this role before – who finds himself in Paris in 1889 to mark the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. The same goes for the evil Count Dracula, played by the body-horror veteran Caleb Landry Jones speaking in a twisted regional dialect reminiscent of Steve Carell’s Gru in the Despicable Me films. It’s a role suits him perfectly.
The Plot: A Saga of Heartbreak
The plot unfolds as follows: the count has wandered endlessly the world in anguish for hundreds of years after his transformation into a vampire, a punishment due to his blasphemous mourning following the loss of his wife, Elisabeta (a movie debut role for Zoë Bleu, daughter of Rosanna Arquette). The count has sought relentlessly for some woman who would be the rebirth of his deceased partner. By cruel fate, the fortunate female turns out to be Mina (again played by Bleu), the demure fiancee of Dracula’s wimpish land agent, Jonathan Harker (played by Ewens Abid), who just traveled to Dracula’s fortress to negotiate his land assets and the small picture of the charming Mina caught the count’s hooded eye.
The Filmmaker’s Approach and Lighthearted Touch
Besson arranges Dracula’s flashback sequence of worldwide travels in various outrageous costumes skillfully, and he doesn’t shy away from offering funny bits reminiscent of Mel Brooks – such as the count’s repeated and futile attempts to kill himself following Elisabeta’s passing, as well as comical sequences that result after Dracula douses himself in a certain perfume in historic Florence, which causes him to be unavoidably attractive to females. Outlandish but entertaining.
Dracula can be streamed online beginning on the first of December and in disc format from 22 December. It plays in Australian cinemas starting February 5, 2026.
