MonCri

The Movies

It would be a little unrealistic of me to include every single movie made about Monte Cristo on this page... considering many of them are done in foreign languages and not available with English subtitles. This page isn't so much dedicated to every movie made but only the ones I have access to. Currently I'm afraid there are only two movies on Monte Cristo I've seen, one of them is a French mini-series done in 1998 and the other is the Hollywood movie done in 2002. Rest assured, as I see more movies on Monte Cristo, I'll be updating this page. The main purpose of this page to provide the key differences between the movies and the novel.

The Count of Monte Cristo (2002)

The 'Hollywood version' of Monte Cristo. This movie has some significant re-writes from the original novel for the sake of a 2 hour movie, but I have to say that despite all the changes done, it made for a solid movie, just don't expect a close adaptation of the original source. Considering most of the Monte Cristo novel is dialogue, this movie then changed the story in such a way that it is more of adventure, action, and thriller story. It's entertaining for sure, but I'm confident purists won't have the same opinion as me.

Perhaps the biggest difference from the original novel to the movie is the relationship between the Edmond Dantes and Fernand Mondego. In the novel they aren't very much close friends but merely acquaintances with a common friend --Mercedes. The movie turned this around but maintaining the same core. Edmond and Fernand were best of friends and even more so, crewmates on the Pharaon. Fernand was jealous of Edmond's fortune, but the movie makes emphasis that he was jealous of him as a person as well. Like one of the lines in the movie goes, Edmond could find more joy out of a whistle than Fernand could out of a pony. Fernand wanted to be Edmond, and on top of him getting engaged to Mercedes and promoted to captain of the Pharaon it drove him to set go along with Danglar's conspiracy.

Another difference is the age of the characters. In the novel, most of these characters, except for Villefort who was in his late twenties, are on their early twenties or late teens. Dantes was 19, Fernand was in his early twenties, Danglars was in his mid-twenties. I don't recall Mercedes age, but I speculate she was in her late teens as well, probably 17 or 18. Most of these characters in the movie are a few years older, except Danglars who looked like he was in his fifties! And while not mentioned much, some of the relationships between these characters are changed as well. On top of Edmond and Fernand's friendship, Fernand is not related to Mercedes (they're cousins!), and he has connections with Villefort, where as in the novel he had none.

All these changes served a similar purpose though. Fernand was portrayed as the ultimate villain in the story, the one that started it all. Danglars and Villefort also had their part and they got their end eventually (Dantes took matters into his own hands), but it's Fernand as the villain where the movie is ultimately headed. Caderousse is apparently missing from the story though, he's a rather important character in the novel but serves no purpose with the changes done to the story in this movie.

With Fernand in the focus, it was only inevitable that there would be a clash at the very end of the novel. Originally there's a very important character that is not in the movie (Haydee) that brings about Fernand's downfall (he commits suicide in the novel), however, following the movie's already established differences, the story then turns to a do-or-die battle between Edmond and Fernand. Without getting into much detail, here we learn that Albert, originally Fernand's and Mercedes' son in the novel is actually Edmond's and Mercedes' son. Edmond eventually kills Fernand in a sword fight (of course) and also keeps the girl of his dreams, along with his new found friends and family. Total 'Hollywood' ending.

Considering all the re-writes, Dumas was probably rolling on his grave at the time of this movie's conception. However, despite all these differences, I have to admit that it was an enjoyable ride. Where as the book is a solid mystery and drama story, the movie is a solid action and adventure story. Not to mention I thought Jim Caviezel made a pretty good Dantes!

The Count of Monte Cristo (France, 1998)

At the time of this writing, I do not have access to this mini-series yet. Expect updates soon though.