On the 13th of May, our French A level students had the opportunity to visit the Ciné Lumière, a famous Art Deco French cinema in the heart of South Kensington, for a screening of Le Comte de Monte Cristo, a 2024 box office success in France with over 9 million tickets sold.
This historical action-adventure film, set in post-Revolution France, is based on the 1844 epic novel by Alexandre Dumas and tells the story of Edmond Dantès, a sea captain who finds himself incarcerated for a crime he did not commit. Enduring fourteen years of imprisonment, he eventually engineers his escape and embarks on a meticulously crafted quest for vengeance, assuming multiple identities.
The film explores A Level topics such as heritage, family, social inequality, French history, crime and, of course, cinema. The screening provided students with a valuable opportunity to reflect on the similarities and differences between this film and the one they study at AS Level.
Despite its three-hour runtime, the film was thoroughly enjoyed by the students and clearly deepened their interest in French history and culture.
