French Director Rewrites Bram Stoker’s Classic Dracula for a New Generation
Known as Dracula, and released in some countries as Dracula: A Love Tale, the film debuted in the summer of 2025 and is now available to stream in the U.S. on platforms such as Amazon Prime Video. The film introduces a refreshing interpretation of the classic vampire myth, placing tragedy at its core, driven by eternal love and loss.
Directed by French filmmaker Luc Besson, the film draws inspiration from Francis Ford Coppola’s 1992 gothic classic Bram Stoker’s Dracula. In Besson’s interpretation of the story, he explores a love that transcends life, death, and eternity, introducing themes of reincarnation and the afterlife after Dracula’s first love dies in a tragic war. Caleb Landry Jones stars as Dracula, with Zoë Bleu portraying Mina and Elisabeta. Together, they radiate a love of such purity that their separation feels almost physically painful, heavy with longing.
Jones exudes a haunting vulnerability in his portrayal as Dracula, adding to his chemistry with co-star Bleu, who plays his reincarnated love. However, in Jones’s portrayal of the character, he doesn’t abandon the underlying characteristics of Dracula’s drive for power and control, nor his internal struggle with the darkness within him. He faces conflict within himself about what it means to serve God as a human, to lead in war, and to endure the loss of his wife. What he once saw as obedience is now defiance.
In contrast, Bleu brings a sense of lightness and a dreamlike quality, highlighting the film’s themes of innocence, grace, and eternal love. Her portrayal of Mina and Elisabeta balances Dracula’s intensity and inner darkness with quiet strength and meekness.
One of the film’s most intriguing elements is the concept of Dracula repenting to God for both his wife’s salvation and his own. Though their days on earth are fleeting, Dracula kneels before God, asks for forgiveness, and sacrifices his demonic flesh, offering them both the hope of eternity together.
Visually, the film aestheticizes 15th-century castles, knights, and princes. Besson fills the screen with enchanting landscapes, classical music, and rich period details, including costume design and references to the 16th and 17th centuries.
In essence, Dracula rewrites its central themes of fear and horror, nestling them within those of grief, loss, and spiritual repentance. Rather than portraying him as a merciless, blood-hungry, narcissistic monster, the film presents him as an emotionally moving, tragic man burdened with blood on his hands and torn between heaven and damnation.
For viewers who favor gothic romance, Dracula: A Love Tale is a refreshing take on the vampire myth, driven more by longing, love, and purity than by bloodlust. It brings a sense of humanism that viewers will enjoy and resonate with long after the film ends.
Rating: 8.5/10
Written by Samantha Ysaguirre
