#Count of Monte Cristo

[nice1cream]

I love how in almost every adaptation of "The Count of Monte Cristo" the Abbe's last words are something like "Remember, do not let vengance consume you. Promise me you won't seek revenge. Justice is served by God" or smth like this, while in the book, the literal source material, he just goes "Find the treasure on the island of Monte Cristo. Get the money" and then dies.

This book is so unhinged, I can't even. It's pure chaos. Don't let anyone ever convince you that it's sophisticated classic literature. Dumas loved drama, schemes, adventures and dumb ironic humor.

[autismmydearwatson]

Men will be like "it's my favorite book!" and show you 19th century Batman

[oof745]

I’m so obsessed with this movie omg

[megalasaurus-rex]

Love it when guys with dark hair die or go through some other sort of trial and come out of it with a cute little streak of white in their hair. Favorite trope <3

[pulusional]

[lamuradex]

Okay. Here are the things about The Count of Monte Cristo I adore, but I am certain adaptations will get wrong without having watched any adaptations.

Edmond's father being a major motivator for his revenge. Films, for brevity, mainly seem to focus on Mercedes and his ruined marriage. Thanks Hollywood.

Villefort having no connection to the other people who betrayed Edmond. One of the most tragic elements is that Villefort is actually about to save Dantes, right before he sacrifices him to save himself. I'm aware of at least one musical that has Villefort conspire together with Danglars and Fernand. I love the songs but that bothers me.

Caderousse. I can imagine some versions cut him out as superfluous. The musical seems to replace him with Villefort. But he's the fourth conspirator! And the first to fall.

A whole bunch of the subplots. Do the films need all the stuff with Monsieur Noirtier? Maybe not. Is Monsieur Noirtier the best character in the book? I think so. He's the most magnificent bastard in the plot.

The Morrels. Again, is it strictly necessary? I don't know. But, again, is there the scene where they reveal Monsieur Morrel's last words were to remember Edmond Dantes, making it my favourite scene in the book? You bet your ass!

Seriously, so many subplots I can see them cutting, but each one pays off in some way. Vampa, Franz, Eugenie Danglars, the Abbey Fariah's book

That scene at the end where The Count goes back to the Château d'If is beautiful

Adaptations will try to give it a happy ending, getting him back with Mercedes or something. But that isn't the point of the book.

Only a handful of characters get out of the book happy. And most of them have gone through hell first.

Also, The Count never actually fights anyone with a sword. He could, he's apparently lethal, but he never does. He's about to once, but then Fernand fucking panics when The Count puts on a sailor suit.

He literally leaves the room, gets changed, and then comes back in a sailor's uniform. It's so extra and I love it. And Fernand loses his shit! Understandably.

The whole revenge plan is so extra, so complex, so convoluted, there is no way you could adapt it all into a film.

And all because Edmond knows the Abbey Fariah wouldn't want him just killing them. Because that would be against God.

So instead he unleashes hell on them!

It's classic "No, I didn't kill them. They're just trapped in never ending misery for the rest of their days. So it's fine."

Bleed them dry of money, out them as a criminal, introduce poisons to his wife and introduce his illegitimate bastard to society.

I can see why you could never truly adapt this book.

Doesn't mean I have to be happy about it.

[gotranting]

Just finished the movie, ran to Tumblr and...How are there no fanfictions of this man yet?!

*The movie is genuinely recommended for the plot. I didn't know there were so many film adaptations of the book though.

Count of Monte Cristo (2024)

[careyfell59]

Oberon and Dante

[goldendrizzle-art]

Me when I'll go see The Count of Monte Cristo for the 4th time

[calico-cows]

if I had a nickel for each time a wildly popular 19th century French Romantic book had a coffin heist, I’d have two nickels, which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it happened twice

[vforvalensa]

The Count of Monte Cristo (the book) has such a funny version of the dracula problem. In the first third of the book we, the readers, get a very detailed picture of how Edmond Dantes gets his whole life ruined, becomes the Count of Monte Cristo, and concocts the most convoluted revenge plot in literature. But after that, the book switches over to the perspective of characters that did not read the first third of the book and broadly misapprehend the Count's deal and what kind of book they're in. There's even a character that straight up thinks the Count is a vampire.

[nice1cream]

Nah, Anaïs Demoustier should get an oscar for this expression change alone

[autismmydearwatson]

A lot of tcomc adaptations I've seen have ended the story by having Edmond get his revenge and then happily reunite with Mercédés and leave the story like that, and here's why that does NOT fly with me.

The Count of Monte Cristo is NOT a love story about Edmond and Mercédés, though it starts that way. A lot of adaptations tend to do this, as in zero in on the romance (and leave Haydée out if the plot, wtf???) But the romance, although an accessory of the tragedy, is NOT central to the tragedy! Mondego, Danglars, Caderousse, and Villefort didn't JUST steal Edmond away from Mercédés, they also a) left his father to starve to death, b) took advantage of Mercédés' misery to marry her when she had no one left, c) abandoned Edmond to suffer in prison presumably for the rest of his life, and d) did all of that other insane shit that didn't affect Edmond personally.

But the point of the original ending is that there is too much time lost between Edmond and Mercédés, too much loneliness between them, and they have changed too much apart from each other for things to go back to how they were. Although Mercédés can see past the Counts callousness to find his old humanity, Edmond HAS changed, he's not the same bright-eyed young man who had so much in life to do. Mercédés isn't the same untroubled, poor woman Edmond fell for, and that's okay! They still love each other, though they have different paths in life and different responsibilities! It just seems, maybe cheap is the right word, to give Edmond the traditional "happy ending" by having him "get the girl back" in the end, as if that were the point of his efforts. They've earned their peace!

[tambourineman]

Je suis en train de relire Le Comte de Monte Cristo parce que je l'avais lu au collège mais je me rappelle de rien à part que c'était trop bien, et apparemment j'avais oublié que Dumas n'aime pas la précision c'est ultra drôle

On est sur de la très bonne stratégie d'évitement pour pas avoir à faire une chronologie précise dans son bouquin mdr Alexandre donne les chiffres putain

[blake-ritson-love]

New stills from iMDB, featuring Blake Ritson as Danglars in Count of Monte Cristo. I'll update the different international air dates on this post as they get announced.

[hanakihan]

tbh it’s been long ago I watched count of Monte Cristo adaptations but clearly from childhood I remember how I was frustrated with portrayal of his time in château d’if

like most adaptations loosely or briefly go through his imprisonment time to quickly move to meat of his revenge and while I understand such moves, many adaptations just miss the importance of his time here

it’s not only crucial to his development, it’s pretty much what also motivates him on his revenge quest

his imprisonment time is what breaks his psyche and moral compass, it’s what created fundament for count of Monte Cristo

even if adaptation does touch on his time here, it’s honestly more filled with melancholic feel and quickly jumps into his conversations with abbe faria

but everyone forgets he spend years here before even meeting with abbe faria and by time of it his psychological state was already yeeted the fuck out

because after watching several adaptations with my friend who didn’t read the book, said friend asked me what stopped Dantes from simply taking the treasure and start his life anew without getting involved into revenge that hard. like yes he started his revenge quest to make sure people involved in his demise get what they deserve and suffer as much as him, but most importantly ‘suffer as much as him all these years’ is literally the hell that was solitary prison cell for decades for him. it’s half about ruining his life and mostly about hell he went through, but adaptations make it appear as if he’s executing revenge with sound mind. he’s not, he’s clearly psychologically unstable and his goals and explanations are shifted despite what narration and he himself tries to make us believe