The Professional, Nikita, The Fifth Element, Lucy... Luc Besson (Paris, 1959) has been demonstrating for decades now that European cinema can have commercial ambition and compete head to head with Hollywood. With Dracula, which he presented this Wednesday at the Sitges Festival, the French director approaches Bram Stoker's novel, greatly enhancing its romantic dimension, moving the action from London to Paris and introducing digital gargoyles that the Prince of Darkness has as servants in his castle. It is the first major production released by Besson after a judge declared him innocent in 2023 of the rape complaint filed in 2018 by actress Sand Van Roy; later, anonymous accusations of sexual misconduct by eight women were added on the French investigation website Mediapart.