The Count of Monte Cristo [DVD] [1998]

Gerard Depardieu stars in this made-for-TV adaptation of the classic adventure story by Alexandre Dumas. Edmond (Depardieu) has been held in a French prison for nearly 20 years for daring to love Mercedes (Naike Rivelli), a woman who has also been wooed by a man in power, Mondego (Jean Rochefort). When Abbe (Georges Moustaki), a close friend and fellow prison inmate, is about to die, he tells Edmond of a fortune that he has hidden on the outside. Edmond escapes, finds the money, and assumes the identity of the Count of Monte Cristo. "The Count" uses his new wealth as part of a plan to bring down the men who helped keep him behind bars for so long -- Mondego, his henchman Danglars (Michel Aumont), and Count Morcef (Stanislas Merhar). Produced for French television by a consortium of French, German, and Italian production houses, this version of The Count of Monte Cristo received its American premier on the Bravo cable network.~Mark Deming