Dagmara Dominczyk was terrible


Just about says it all really. She can't act. Her diction is awful and if I had a hearing impediment I would not have understood her because she produces all her sounds through her nose and does not move her mouth. It's not sexy or clever and does not sell the part. This might be the worst acting I've seen in a major film in years. The director really should have been onto this because the part of Mercedes is far too important to be weak. And it's weak because of bad acting.

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I thought she was gorgeous! I LOVED how she delivered her lines. Her voice is so pretty, and I loved her accent.

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I totally agree with Antspeaks. Dagmara's beauty was enchanting. I am swept off by the sexiness she brought to the character who plays a central role causing one of the friends to become so jealous of the other, that he resorts to such heinous acts in pursuit of attaining her interests.
I especially liked her in the scene where she hides herself in Monte Cristo's "chariot" waiting him to come in and then reveals herself. She has so elegantly portrayed an awesome combination of happiness, doubt and desperation.

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when her son was almost killed she yelled out a blood curdling sound!

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jd-276 you are right, you are right, you are right! The way she spoke drove me CRAZY!!

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i agree, jd-276 you have absolutley no idea what you are talking about, she was brilliant, truly conveyed the feelings of the countess and much better than the acting i saw in the french tv version. you could see her great acting when she is confused wether monte cristo is dantes, tht is very gd aswell. you are very ignorant my friend

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Are you kidding me? She was totally convincing and gorgeous to boot. She's a better actress than Scarlett Johanssen and Natalie Portman combined.

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[deleted]

[deleted]

Shall we dispense with the ad hominem attacks and get down to tin tacks?

If you want to say you don't agree with me and back up your assertions with some information, be my guest. If you just want to hand out insults then you can get stuffed.

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If you had a hearing impediment, you'd watch this film with the subtitles on! Mercedes' character in the film is one of grace and humility; Dominczyk's diction perfectly portrays this. Her actual accent is beautiful, and I'm willing to bet her diction coach and she worked very hard for the way the spoke on screen. I thought it was beautiful and full of control, not the overemotional, overacted part I think you wanted. Also, some of the scenes where she does show more strength of character ended up on the cutting room floor in the interest of the pacing of the film.

- a²r - Never had one lesson.

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She's a tasty element of an otherwise horrible movie. Is she hot? Oh yeah. Is her performance commendable? I don't know - the direction for this movie is laughable, as are the story modifications; i can't tell whether she's good at what she does or not.

"Cain and Abel will go to Heaven... if they can make it through Hell!"
-Los Hijos Del Topo

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Well jd, some may argue her performance as "subtle."

However, I just can't help but think that the modifications in this adaptation merely prioritized image over substance.

I certainly wouldn't go on to say that she "can't act," because she is actually a fine performer but I really just can't stand people who will bash you for your opinions because of how pleasing she was to look at.

"Suddenly being better is being pretentious.."

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Well, I hadn't thought of it in terms of subtlety but then I haven't seen a lot of that commodity in this film...interesting thought.

My opinion that she can't act is possibly a little harsh in that this is the only thing I've seen her in and it's hardly a stellar performance. It's interesting to me that the vast majority of respondents to this thread, other than you, seem to be judging her acting ability on her looks which are entirely irrelevant. "Sexy" was another word used but I don't think Stanislavski would have cared much for it as a skill.

For what it's worth, I thought she was good looking but whatever else I thought of her physical attributes, there was no way she could sell me the part. She just wasn't believable.

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I agree , She gave the role the most terrible b***chy flavour..!! I have read the book and saw some other movie adaptions.In all these movies Mercedes was portrayed as some sort of sad , but noble queen without those horrible prostitute - like notes from Dagmara something

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I just saw this movie for the 2nd or 3rd time, and I agree with jd-276, Dominczyk was awful. I think she is beautiful, but I hated her voice. It was like she was practically whispering everthing and she wouldn't move her mouth. I wanted to yell, "Speak up! Stop mumbling." Her voice made the character of Mercedes appear weak and easily manipulated.

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Yeah, I got told I didn't know what I was talking about for saying that. Apparently, for most people, being beautiful and sexy (or "HOT!") makes those acting skills irrelevant. LOL!

My reaction was exactly the same as yours: I wanted to yell "Speak up!" too. If you go to the scene where she's making the speech for her son's birthday (God, he was a gormless twitt too), she utters a line "It comes to me" almost entirely through her nose. It made me cringe when I heard it because it is so affected. There are lots of other lines, like when she goes to see Dantes or in the carriage, when she is barely audible. It's not that I can't hear her, it's just a distracting affectation which does nothing for the film. Affectations like that are just bad acting.

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While I would not say "awful", I would say "irritating" in her voice, for sure. As far as her acting, we have no way of knowing if it wasn't exactly what the director wanted. I saw some disconnects - she seems to act strong and weak by turns - then again, don't normal people do this? But she certainly didn't ruin the movie and she was very pretty.

Those who study history are doomed to watch others repeat it.

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She is HOT and her voice is so weak and sexy it's amazing.


I have to return some video tapes

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sorry...i'm siding with the OP on this one...yes,she was beautiful...quite stunning, and yes, she moved through her character with plenty of grace and elegance....but her diction and her accent were really hard to endure...for starters, it wasn't consistent. there were times she sounded semi-french, sometimes, semi-american, sometimes semi-british. and the mumbling...oh the mumbling!!!! sorry if you disagree-i won't take anything from her visual appeal, and i won't say she's awful, but it did take the enjoyment factor down a notch or 10 for me...

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Wow incredile opinions against her performance in this movie, which I cannot possibly agree with.

The first time I saw her in this movie I was always wondering who the heck she was and where did she come from. Fricken hot lady man no doubt.

Evertime I see this movie, two thoughts come to mind, one she is so damn gorgeous and second is the fact that I was really moved by her performance at some parts during the movie, which just leaves me under the impression that she actually has talent to go with her good looks.

So for anyone to say that she was a weak link in this film has alot to learn I think.

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I'm always open to learning new things but I know bad acting when I see it. I've been in film and television almost all my working life.

She was a weak link and her absence from any major productions suggests she's not quite up to par when compared with others in the same market. Now I'm not dumb enough to expect everyone to agree with me and everyone here has a right to an opinion.

I just think that there's a lot more to acting that being hot and sexy. Hollywood no longer cares about this dichotomy.

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[deleted]

LOL! You have every right to! :)

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I was very moved by her performance, and think that her quiet, subtle speech actually made her character more believable. Think about it: in the beginning of the movie when she's young and happy and in love, her voice is actually stronger, more even, more confident. It still has that soft, lovely tone, but it's not weak and whispery as it is later. Then 16 years after Edmond's imprisonment, after the only love of her life is "dead" and she's faced with giving birth to the illegitimate son of a "traitor" (from everyone else's perspective, not her own) and has to, for the well-being of her unborn child, marry someone she doesn't love, it's as though her heart has died. She's still alive, and she puts on a brave face for the sake of her son, but inside she is broken and sad. And not only has Edmond "died", but his best friend who seemed so caring and helpful and wonderful through the whole ordeal suddenly shows his ugly side once they're married and she's trapped in a marriage where her husband verbally abuses her, makes her feel like trash, and sleeps around constantly with other women. In my opinion, her performance of Mercedes (based on the movie's storyline and characters) was perfect.

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