Dracula Film Analysis – The French Director’s Passionate Revamp of the Gothic Classic is Ridiculous but Watchable

It’s possible audiences aren’t clamoring for a new version of Dracula from Luc Besson, the French maestro for polished extravagance. Still, it’s worth noting: his lavishly upholstered vampire romance displays creativity and style – and in all its Hammer-y cheesiness, I’m not sure I wouldn’t prefer to it to Robert Eggers’s recent, solemnly classy version of Nosferatu. A few strange elements appear, including one shot that looks like it presents a geographic divide between France and Romania.

Waltz as a Humorously Exhausted Vampire-Hunting Priest

Christoph Waltz portrays a witty yet careworn cleric fighting vampires – it feels natural for him to tackle such a part earlier – who ends up in Paris in 1889 for the French Revolution centenary celebrations. Likewise present is the malevolent vampire count, enacted by the expert in grotesque roles Caleb Landry Jones with a mangled central European accent reminiscent of the voice of Gru by Steve Carell in the Despicable Me films. This is a part suits him perfectly.

The Plot: A Tale of Love and Loss

The story is this: the vampire lord has traveled ceaselessly the globe in anguish over four centuries since he became undead, a penalty due to his blasphemous mourning after the passing of his spouse Elisabeta (a first film part for Zoë Bleu, Rosanna Arquette’s child). The count has looked tirelessly for a lady who would be the return of his deceased partner. Unfortunately, the lucky lady proves to be Mina (also Bleu, of course), the modest betrothed of the count’s timid estate manager, Jonathan Harker (Ewens Abid), who has recently been to the vampire’s estate to review his property portfolio and the small picture of the charming Mina drew the vampire’s attention.

Besson’s Handling and Comic Flair

Besson organizes Dracula’s second-act backstory of worldwide travels sporting extravagant attire skillfully, and he is not above giving us humorous scenes with a distinctly Mel Brooks flavour – for example the vampire’s constant unsuccessful tries to kill himself post-Elisabeta’s demise, along with comical sequences that follow Dracula applies to himself in a certain perfume during the 1700s in Florence, that renders him unavoidably attractive to females. Absurd yet engaging.

Dracula can be streamed online from 1 December and on DVD and Blu-ray from 22 December. It screens in Australian cinemas from 5 February 2026.