#the count of monte cristo spoilers
Explore tagged Tumblr posts
pedanther · 2 years ago
Text
There are, in my experience, two big changes that adaptations of The Count of Monte Cristo always make.
One is that they always rearrange events so that the climax of the story is Edmond having a sword fight with Fernand. This, I think, says a lot about who adaptors think Edmond's worst enemy is and about what kind of story they think it is, or at least about what kind of story they want it to be, and what they think makes a good hero and a good villain.
(There's an essayist elsewhere on Tumblr who's been known to say that the key to writing Superman well is to understand that the only Superman villain who matters is Superman: he's so powerful that no external threat could ever cause him as much trouble as he could cause himself if he used his power maliciously or unwisely. Dumas writes his protagonist the same way: once Edmond has ascended to become the Count of Monte Cristo – transformed, rich, powerful, almost a god – his enemies are powerless to do anything he can't counter, and every problem that befalls him from that point on is a consequence of his own choices. But that means that the climax of the novel is him realising that he's made bad decisions and choosing to make better ones. Defeating an external threat by sticking a sharp piece of metal into it in a stylish way is so much easier to make an exciting climax out of.)
Speaking of happy endings, the other thing that adaptations always change is what happens in the end to Edmond himself.
I don't think I've ever seen an adaptation that ends with Edmond going off with Haydée. A lot of them leave Haydée out entirely. (Incidentally, my thoughts about what exactly Haydée is to Edmond at the end of the novel change every time I read it. I suspect Dumas intended it to be read as a declaration of romantic love, but I think there is room for other interpretations.) But I'm not sure I've ever seen an adaptation that offered an alternative I preferred.
Many of them have Edmond getting back together with Mercédès, which is a choice that I understand the attraction of but don't like; it's fundamental to my understanding of the novel that there are some things that, once broken, even the mighty Count of Monte Cristo can't repair.
Some adaptations kill Edmond off at the end, either because the author of the adaptation believed that was what he deserved or perhaps just because they couldn't think of a better alternative either. I've seen one where Edmond gets a fatal injury during the obligatory climactic duel with Fernand, and I've heard of one where Edmond survives everything but then kills himself at the end, convinced that he's done more harm than good. (I don't remember hearing what that version does with Haydée.)
There's one adaptation I remember being amused by – it was one of the ones with no Haydée, and I think may also have dropped out the subplot with Maximilien and Valentine – which ended, after the obligatory Fernand duel, with an abridged version of the scene where Monte Cristo sees Mercédès farewelling Albert from the dock at Marseille. He tries to suggest that they could get back together, she explains why she considers it impossible, and then she walks off, leaving him standing alone on the dock where it all started, with an expression of "Well, what the heck do I do now?" as the credits rolled...
80 notes · View notes
korrolrezni · 4 months ago
Text
This is so cruel. Why...he was so close!
Tumblr media
3 notes · View notes
glacierruler · 9 months ago
Text
Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck
Is,, is old Dantes gonna die before he ever sees his son again ;-;
2 notes · View notes
lamuradex · 6 months ago
Text
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.
255 notes · View notes
theceaselessidiot · 6 months ago
Text
If Cressida comes back to society in season 4 I want her to be completely confident and just call out everyone in the ton to their fucking face. I want her to be completely calm about it, not angry anymore, but still completely ruthless and cutting with her words, but only speaking the truth
93 notes · View notes
warblingandwriting · 2 years ago
Text
No one does revenge like The Count of Monte Cristo. It's all physical violence and murder these days, what ever happened to completely psychologically destroying your former tormentors and ruining their lives?
424 notes · View notes
fayevalcntine · 8 months ago
Text
Anyway I've been kind of following the press releases for The Count of Monte Cristo (2024) (French) movie and some potential spoilers that I kind of want to air out:
The film seems to be marketed as "much darker" in terms of focusing on the revenge aspect, which I don't mind, but some other stuff give me pause as to how they're gonna handle The Count as a character because the way the actors talk about him, he almost sounds weirdly irredeemable, or rather just completely incapable of still loving and caring about people? Which is the exact opposite of how he behaves in the book..... he wants to be cold and completely detached but fails each time because he a) forms close connections with people like Haydée and Maximilien, even comes to deeply respect Albert despite trying to talk himself into not caring about the boy and b) is meant to question his own revenge plot because it inadvertently causes the death of an innocent child
Apparently Haydée is 'torn between her loyalty for the Count and the love of her life' with said love of her life being.....guess who? Albert de Morcerf. There's no mention of a court scene so far where she accuses Fernand of being a traitorous officer and murdering her father, instead Edmond apparently gets her to seduce Albert but then Haydée falls in love with him for real? I once wrote a post complaining about this type of idea I've seen others mention as a "potential fix" for the plot but taking aside my issue with Albert/Haydée as a pairing in any sense, in this context it's almost doubly bizarre and I feel like the writers took so many different elements from the book, namely Albert's blind trust and admiration towards the Count and the forbidden love story between Maximilien and Valentine, and decided to go for a much more digestible change for the story, I guess? The actress who plays Haydée also mentions that she wants to "break free from the Count's psychological grip", which..... you can say a lot of stuff about Edmond/Haydée as an overall dynamic, particularly in him inserting her in his plan for revenge, but the big thing noted in the book is that Haydée makes the decision herself to testify against Fernand, and even thinks that the Count will disapprove of her for this. He also does genuinely care for her and wanted her to inherit everything he owns should he die.... the whole point of him taking her in is that he wanted her to have the life she was entitled to before Fernand's actions stripped it away from her.
The film also seems to have merged several different characters related to Villefort into one, namely Benedetto/Andrea and Bertuccio, since Andrea (in the film) is also under the Count's wing and seems to accompany him as a possible servant in some scenes. This isn't a bad idea in theory, though I'm pretty sure that he ends up dying when he goes after Villefort at the court house, so I presume he's also supposed to represent Edouard's death? My main question is when this scene even happens in the film because apparently, there's a final sword fight (likely the one between Fernand and Edmond), so the death that makes Edmond question his entire plot isn't even at the end of his plan?
This brings me to my next point which is why are Fernand and Edmond even doing a sword duel in the first place.... apparently the film has Fernand come from a rich family already, and he's known and been friends with Edmond prior to his imprisonment, so w/e, classic trope of CoMC adaptations at this point. But the duel and Haydée's 'seduction' plot just makes me think that for all the apparent attempts at centering her as a character more, these writers took out a significant scene related to her character that means a lot FOR her, namely the court scene, and instead centered Edmond's feelings of betrayal towards Fernand. I know that this is likely to also focus a lot on Edmond's lost life with Mercedes, but Fernand isn't even such a significant focus of Edmond's ire in the book as much as the other two men are.
The movie doesn't seem to end with Mercedes and Edmond getting back together, which I at least appreciate if this Edmond is "much darker" than even in the book, but if he isn't with her or isn't dead by the end, what exactly is the point of him going off alone? I presume this is the ending if Haydée/Albert are supposed to represent Maximilien/Valentine and the Count "gives them support" for being together, but Edmond was pretty much contemplating suicide until Haydée stopped him in the book. The point is that his focus on avenging the past was his only assumed reason for living, but there's a chance for him to simply live on with those who genuinely care about him as he is now. Without him trying to make amends through Maximilien and Valentine and Haydée indicating she will only live if he lives, I can't really see the film making a good argument for why Edmond wouldn't contemplate suicide instead of living on.
Apparently Villefort has a Bonapartist sister (I presume this character is meant to replace his father in the film) whom I also think Edmond saves from a shipwreck that has been shown in the trailers. I've zero clue how this movie is going to fit a new character in this while doing all of this to the other more significant characters, but that seems to be a general trend with this scriptwriter duo.
Only minor positive thing so far is that Eugenie IS included for once, and they didn't omit her being a lesbian.
71 notes · View notes
persephone-nymph · 4 months ago
Text
Dumas said smoke weed and get horny and I think that’s fantastic
14 notes · View notes
pulusional · 2 months ago
Text
Anyone obsessed with the new french movie of this wanna infodump about what all these changes and stuff represented??
Why was he Lord Halifax and not Wilmore?
Why did he wear a mask as the Count??
Why did they have the swordfight and why did Edmond struggle so hard?
It was funny cuz Danglars was explicitly dealing in slave trade to hammer in how evil he was xD
I understand a lot of it was to save time and a lot was also cut due to it:(
Also they didn't really explain that bandit thing.
15 notes · View notes
pedanther · 2 years ago
Text
Some differences between the translations in Chapter 105.
The older translator seems to have found M. de Villefort's thoughts about cemeteries a bit disrespectful:
M. de Villefort, parisien pur, regardait le cimetière du Père-Lachaise comme le seul digne de recevoir la dépouille mortelle d'une famille parisienne; les autres lui paraissaient des cimetières de campagne, des hôtels garnis de la mort. Au Père-Lachaise seulement un trépassé de bonne compagnie pouvait être logé chez lui.
M. de Villefort, a true Parisian, considered the cemetery of Pere–la–Chaise alone worthy of receiving the mortal remains of a Parisian family; there alone the corpses belonging to him would be surrounded by worthy associates.
M. de Villefort, a pure Parisian, considered the Père-Lachaise cemetery the only one worthy of receiving the mortal remains of a Parisian family. The others appeared to him like country cemeteries, death's lodging-houses. Only in the Père-Lachaise could the respectable departed be accommodated at home.
I don't often say this when the translators disagree on the meaning of a passage, but in this case I think the older translator might have a better grasp of what Dumas is saying:
C'étaient presque tous des jeunes gens que la mort de Valentine avait frappés d'un coup de foudre, et qui, malgré la vapeur glaciale du siècle et le prosaïsme de l'époque, subissaient l'influence poétique de cette belle, de cette chaste, de cette adorable jeune fille enlevée en sa fleur.
These last consisted of all the young people whom Valentine’s death had struck like a thunderbolt, and who, notwithstanding the raw chilliness of the season, could not refrain from paying a last tribute to the memory of the beautiful, chaste, and adorable girl, thus cut off in the flower of her youth.
Almost all were young men who had been forcibly struck by Valentine's death and who, despite the cold mists of the century and the prosaic spirit of the age, felt the elegaic poetry of this beautiful, chaste, adorable young woman, struck down in her prime.
And finally, the obituaries:
Quelques hommes, et comme toujours, c'étaient les moins impressionnés, quelques hommes prononcèrent des discours. Les uns plaignaient cette mort prématurée; les autres s'étendaient sur la douleur de son père; il y en eut d'assez ingénieux pour trouver que cette jeune fille avait plus d'une fois sollicité M. de Villefort pour les coupables sur la tête desquels il tenait suspendu le glaive de la justice; enfin, on épuisa les métaphores fleuries et les périodes douloureuses, en commentant de toute façon les stances de Malherbe à Dupérier.
A few men, the least impressed of all by the scene, pronounced a discourse, some deploring this premature death, others expatiating on the grief of the father, and one very ingenious person quoting the fact that Valentine had solicited pardon of her father for criminals on whom the arm of justice was ready to fall—until at length they exhausted their stores of metaphor and mournful speeches.
A few men – and, as always, the least impressive – made speeches. Some regretted this premature death, others expatiated on her father's grief. Some had been found who were ingenious enough to have discovered that the young woman had more than once implored M. de Villefort on behalf of guilty men over whose head the sword of justice was suspended. Finally, every flowery metaphor and tortuous syntactical device was exhausted in every type of commentary on the lines written by Malherbe to du Périer.
(Buss explains in a footnate that François de Malherbe was a poet in the 16th century whose famous works include "Consolation to M. du Périer, gentleman of Aix-en-Provence, on the death of his daughter".)
14 notes · View notes
t1r3dr3pt1l3z · 2 years ago
Text
FLASH AND SPOILER WARNING
This song is so good y’all, shout out to Ink Potts for getting me into the Count of Monte Cristo
138 notes · View notes
glacierruler · 9 months ago
Text
Just finished reading the Examination chapter in The Count of Monte Cristo,,,
I think Villefort's gonna take the letter he destroyed and say that Dantes destroyed it or something. And with Dantes lying about the letter on Villefort's command...
1 note · View note
is-adequate · 7 months ago
Text
Madame de Villefort immediately asking what the dying Barrois ate while he's writhing on the floor and then casually peacing out has to be the funniest thing to happen in the Count of Monte Cristo. Excuse me could you be any more obvious?
13 notes · View notes
bagheerita · 2 years ago
Text
Recentering the story on Albert really changes the whole thing on a fundamental level I don't think I understood the first time I watched Gankutsuou. Because it's not about Edmond and Edmond's vengeance anymore. It's about the Count doing to Albert what was done to him.
I hated the duel the first time I watched it, because it's one of my favorite scenes in the book and they change everything and make it worse. But it's because the story is about Albert, so the character that dies to change the trajectory of the story can't be Édouard anymore, it has to be someone Albert cares about. And changing the duel is one of the easiest ways to get this to happen.
It still tears down everything I loved about the original, but I get it.
42 notes · View notes
typemoonconfessions · 8 months ago
Text
Tumblr media
18 notes · View notes
ponds-of-ink · 8 months ago
Text
I have returned from the Five Nights fandom to bring you this quick 2024 Count of Monte Cristo trailer rundown.. Or, well, the things I’ve noticed.
Spoilers both minor and major below the cut.
(1) I am so glad that there are English subtitles. I was genuinely worried that I’d have to guess with my minimal knowledge of French.
(2) So this version has Edmond getting arrested at the wedding, it looks like? That’s.. a choice.
(3) Looks like they may be using the actual Chateau D’if for exterior shots. Finally an adaptation that does this.
(3) Abbe’s characterization is leaning towards the 2002 movie, but that’s just judging from the trailer I’m watching.
(4) Mercedes’ reunion outfit did not have to go that hard, but I’m glad it did.
(5) Fernand is blonde and.. barely present in this. I think he was hugging a grieving Mercedes after he returns home from war, so that was a considerate addition.
(6) Danglars is MIA unless he’s the one older gentleman I saw for, like, a split second. They really did nail that one description from Chapter 46 if true.
(7) Villefort might be investigating who Edmond is, which is accurate to the book.
(8) In terms of accuracy in general, I think they’re combining different adaptations and throwing in their own curveballs. Let’s see if that pays off.
(9) Back to characters: I might have seen Valentine dancing with someone at the ball? The girl in question had blonde hair, which sounds about right. Maybe her partner’s Maximillian? 👀
(10) And one more thing: They nailed Edmond’s appearance as the Count. Bizarrely youthful for his age and all.
12 notes · View notes