![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
igenlodePossibly the silliest Russian Musketeers ever... (actually made by a Ukrainian studio using Russian actors, in the days before that was considered a significant difference)
Young d'Artagnan comes to Paris to join the Musketeers, only to discover that there is a problem: in this universe, it is well known that the Musketeer regiment only recruits women! But of course he soon runs into three of the best blades in the regiment, and ends up acquiring three cheerfully patronising big sisters (they actually pat him on the head at one point).
Meanwhile there is a problem in the shape of the formidable Madam Richelieu, who intercepts his letters home, criticises their grammar and spelling, and manages to win the diamonds from Buckingham via a game of strip poker :-p Buckingham, meanwhile, appears to spend all his time in the basement experimenting with alchemy...
I think this is basically a Christmas pantomime (hence the 'Happy New Year' sequence at the end). It's a parody where the three Musketeers fail to make it to London because they get distracted by shopping, the King is a frustrated artist with zero talent who regards Madam Cardinal as his muse, Treville has a memory problem, and there is (happily) no Milady. On the other hand, it's obviously done with affection - and some specific allusions to the Soviet musical version, clearly assumed to be part of the cultural reference of the audience! (And they actually have the same composer providing songs, I realised at the end; unfortunately most of the on-screen titles are in cursive Cyrillic, and my ability to read and write handwritten Russian is extremely rusty, though slowly improving thanks to the Russian habit of using it for onscreen captions :-p)
Most of the dialogue went clean over my head, and I didn't put a lot of effort into understanding exactly what was going on, since the film was clearly completely irrelevant to anything that I was actually looking for. But it is extremely silly, and in a good way, which is why I did continue watching it, even if only in the background. Being able to make fun of something without disrespecting it (the three Musketeers are extremely feminine —hence humour when d'Artagnan instinctively attempts to adopt their hip-swinging walk!— but also know exactly how to handle themselves) is a surprisingly rare quality.
Young d'Artagnan comes to Paris to join the Musketeers, only to discover that there is a problem: in this universe, it is well known that the Musketeer regiment only recruits women! But of course he soon runs into three of the best blades in the regiment, and ends up acquiring three cheerfully patronising big sisters (they actually pat him on the head at one point).
Meanwhile there is a problem in the shape of the formidable Madam Richelieu, who intercepts his letters home, criticises their grammar and spelling, and manages to win the diamonds from Buckingham via a game of strip poker :-p Buckingham, meanwhile, appears to spend all his time in the basement experimenting with alchemy...
I think this is basically a Christmas pantomime (hence the 'Happy New Year' sequence at the end). It's a parody where the three Musketeers fail to make it to London because they get distracted by shopping, the King is a frustrated artist with zero talent who regards Madam Cardinal as his muse, Treville has a memory problem, and there is (happily) no Milady. On the other hand, it's obviously done with affection - and some specific allusions to the Soviet musical version, clearly assumed to be part of the cultural reference of the audience! (And they actually have the same composer providing songs, I realised at the end; unfortunately most of the on-screen titles are in cursive Cyrillic, and my ability to read and write handwritten Russian is extremely rusty, though slowly improving thanks to the Russian habit of using it for onscreen captions :-p)
Most of the dialogue went clean over my head, and I didn't put a lot of effort into understanding exactly what was going on, since the film was clearly completely irrelevant to anything that I was actually looking for. But it is extremely silly, and in a good way, which is why I did continue watching it, even if only in the background. Being able to make fun of something without disrespecting it (the three Musketeers are extremely feminine —hence humour when d'Artagnan instinctively attempts to adopt their hip-swinging walk!— but also know exactly how to handle themselves) is a surprisingly rare quality.