Dracula Film Analysis – Besson’s Romantic Revamp of the Gothic Classic is Absurd but Engaging

Maybe there is no great enthusiasm for a new version of Dracula from Luc Besson, the celebrated French director for stylish excess. And yet, it has to be said: his opulently crafted romantic vampire tale has ambition and panache – and with its B-movie charm, I might just favor over the recent, stately interpretation by Robert Eggers of Nosferatu. Odd details emerge, including one shot that appears to show a territorial boundary between France and Romania.

Christoph Waltz as a Humorously Exhausted Vampire-Hunting Priest

Christoph Waltz embodies a humorous yet burdened vampire-hunting priest – I can’t believe he hasn’t played this character previously – who finds himself in Paris in 1889 during the centennial of the French Revolution. The same goes for the evil Count Dracula, brought to life by the body-horror veteran Caleb Landry Jones with a mangled central European accent reminiscent of the voice of Gru by Steve Carell in the Despicable Me films. It’s a role suits him perfectly.

The Narrative: A Saga of Heartbreak

The story is this: Dracula has wandered endlessly the world in sorrow over four centuries since he became undead, a punishment due to his blasphemous mourning over the death of his wife, Elisabeta (a movie debut role for Zoë Bleu, the offspring of Rosanna Arquette). Dracula has sought relentlessly for some woman who could be the return of his deceased partner. As ill fortune would have it, the chosen woman proves to be Mina (also Bleu, of course), the demure fiancee of the count’s timid estate manager, Jonathan Harker (enacted by Ewens Abid), who has recently been to Dracula’s fortress to discuss his property portfolio and whose miniature portrait of the lovely Mina caught the count’s hooded eye.

The Filmmaker’s Approach and Humorous Style

Besson arranges Dracula’s second-act backstory of global roaming sporting extravagant attire confidently, and he is not above offering humorous scenes reminiscent of Mel Brooks – like the count’s repeated and futile attempts to commit suicide after Elisabeta’s death, as well as farcical scenes that follow Dracula douses himself with a specific fragrance during the 1700s in Florence, which causes him to be compelling to the opposite sex. Outlandish but entertaining.

Dracula can be streamed online from 1 December and on DVD and Blu-ray starting the twenty-second of December. It plays in Australian cinemas from 5 February 2026.