Released 30 years ago, the version of Dracula signed by Francis Ford Coppola, carried at arm’s length by an extraordinary Gary Oldman in the guise of the Prince of the Night, is a pure masterpiece. To see or rewatch on Amazon, via the Warner pass.
Seriously weighed down by a series of bitter failures in theaters since the painful filming of his film Coup de cœur, the debts of which he took twenty years to pay off, it is precisely with his Dracula that the immense Francis Ford Coppola will get back into the saddle and repay his creditors, with the big success of the film. And that’s only fair.
If the indestructible myth of the vampire count, born from the pen of Bram Stoker, has been revisited more than 200 times on screen, the version delivered by Coppola is undoubtedly the one that is most faithful to the original work. It can be seen or rewatched on Amazon Prime, via the Warner Pass.
The filmmaker’s version differs from many previous versions in that, just as in the novel, Dracula first appears as an old man, and becomes younger as the film progresses, thanks to his consumption of blood; faithful to one of the key phrases repeated in the film: “Blood is life!”
Excited by a sumptuous staging, shot entirely in the studio, the film is a formidable sum of talents resulting in an authentic masterpiece. The costumes already, signed by the immense and late Eiko Ishioka, whose work was rightly rewarded with an Oscar.
Columbia Pictures
The quality of the visual effects and special effects, still done the old-fashioned way, at a time when all CGI had not invaded the screens (and incidentally signed by the filmmaker’s son, Roman Coppola). The quality of the interpretation of a cast in unison, dominated by the masterful and breathtaking performance of Gary Oldman in the title role, supported by a brilliant Anthony Hopkins who plays his lifelong adversary, Professor Van Helsing.
And how can we not mention the extraordinary, hypnotic soundtrack, which has haunted the memory of more than one movie buff, composed by Wojciech Kilar? The same one who delivered another soundtrack thirteen years earlier, also fabulous, for a film that has gone down in history: The King and the Bird.
If there is only one adaptation of Bram Stoker’s work to see, it is certainly this one. You know what you have left to do…