The Count of Monte Cristo – Abridged

Title: The Count of Monte Cristo

US Release: 1/25/2002

Directed by Kevin Reynolds

Written by Jay Wolpert – Based on the original literature written by Alexandre Dumas

Distributed by Buena Vista Pictures

Cast:

Jim Caviezel – Edmond Dantes

Guy Pearce – Fernand Mondego

James Frain – Villefort

Dagmara Dominczyk – Mercedes

Richard Harris – Abbe Faria “Priest”

Luis Guzman – Jacopo

Michael Wincott – Armand Dorleac

The Skinny:

                Edmond Dantes (Caviezel), second mate of a French merchant ship, takes his sick captain, along with the Ship owner’s representative and life-long friend, Fernand Mondego (Pearce), ashore to the Island of Elba.  Knowing Napoleon is currently exiled to the island and under heavy guard by Royal British dragoons, Edmond is desperate to save the life of his captain, and takes the risk to seek medical attention.  After a short skirmish, Fernand and Edmond wound, but do not kill, a few dragoons before being met by Napoleon Bonaparte himself (Alex Norton) who grants them use of his physician.  Before the captain passes away, Napoleon requests Edmond take a personal letter to an old friend back in Paris, but not to tell the dragoons or even Fernand about it. 

                Back in Marseille, the crew delivers the body of the captain to the ship’s owner.  When debriefed, the first mate blames Edmond for the death of the captain and putting the ship’s crew and merchandise at unnecessary risk.  The Ship’s owner disagrees, and commends Edmond for his selflessness.  He gives Edmond the rank of Captain for the merchant ship, passing over the first mate, much to his chagrin.

                Edmond’s fiancé, Mercedes (Dominczyk), meets with Fernand while he meets with the ship’s owner.  Fernand, a spoiled rich boy, keeps pressing Mercedes to have an affair with him.  Mercedes denies him, apparently not for the first time.  Edmond soon joins them with the news he’s been promoted.  No longer having to wait to pay for a wedding to Mercedes, they are both over joyed.  Fernand, however, feels his social status should guarantee him such good luck, and walks away sullen.

                As Edmond celebrates his good news with his father and Mercedes, their dinner is interrupted by the authorities.  Arrested without being told why, Edmond is forcibly removed from his Father’s house and brought before Villefort (Frain), Magistrate of Marseille.  Villefort tells Edmond he’s being charged with treason as he agreed to deliver a personal letter from Napoleon, which turned out to be a plan of escape.  Edmond knew nothing of the contents of the letter, as he’s illiterate.  Villefort believes him and agrees to let him go, until Edmond reveals the name of the “friend” he was supposed to deliver the letter to.  Villefort’s demeanor changes.  He burns the letter and offers give Edmond use of his personal carriage home, which turns out to be a prison cart that takes him to the docks.  Informed he’s not going home but to prison, Edmond escapes and flees to Fernand’s residence, with more authorities in pursuit behind him. 

                Fernand seems willing to help Edmond out of his predicament, but turns on him once he discovers he’s unarmed.  Shocked at his best friend’s betrayal, Fernand confesses to framing to him, with the help of the first mate who was passed over for promotion.  Authorities soon arrive and take Edmond to the Chateau d’if.

                Edmond is introduced to the warden, Armand Dorleac (Wincott) a man driven insane from years stuck on the island, who sadistically flogs the prisoners on the anniversary of their imprisonment, to “remind” them of how long they have been there.  Edmond tries to remain hopeful, but years of solitary confinement and beatings for a crime he did not commit, breaks his spirit.

                While eating his only daily meal in his cell, he’s surprised to find another prisoner digging his way up from the floor.   The other prisoner turns out to be Abbe Faria (Harris), a former soldier who deserted Napoleon’s army after burning a church filled with innocent women and children under orders.  Consumed with guilt, he devoted his life to repentance and honest work as he apprenticed to a wealthy yet humble nobleman.  When the nobleman died, Napoleon wanted his family fortune to fund his army, but Faria claimed he didn’t know where it was hidden, so he was imprisoned in Chateau d’if until he “remembered”.  Nicknamed “priest” by Edmond, he assists Faria in digging out of the prison to escape, in exchange for learning how to read and write, and be trained how to fight, with weapons and hand to hand combat.          

                While digging, the tunnel collapses on Faria.  Fatally injured, he confesses to Edmond that he knows where the treasure is, and even provides him a map to its location.  Edmond swears he will use the treasure to seek revenge if he ever gets out of prison, but Faria still admonishes him to forgive and use the gold to serve others.  Soon passing away, Edmond sees an opportunity to escape by hiding in the makeshift body-bag meant for Faria.  He narrowly escapes the island, being mistaken for a dead body in the body-bag and swims to the nearest island.  There he meets a pirate crew about to punish one of their own, Jacopo (Guzman), for hoarding stolen swag.  The captain wants to exert his authority, but fears killing Jacopo would cause the crew to splinter and mutiny, so he challenges Edmond to a knife fight with Jacopo, the winner allowed to be a part of the crew.  Using his training from Faria, Edmond gains the upper hand over Jacopo, but doesn’t kill him.  Requesting the captain spare Jacopo, he offers to join the crew and work diligently before the mast.  The Captain agrees, and Jacopo, out of gratitude for sparing his life, pledges to be Edmonds right hand man.

                Soon the pirate ship makes port at Marseille.  Having become good friends with the Captain and crew, Edmond his released along with Jacopo to find work ashore.  Finding his old employer (though he does not recognize him after all the years gone by) informs him that the first mate took control of the shipping company in a hostile take-over, Villefort has become chief prosecutor of France when his father was murdered by an unknown assailant, and Mercedes married Fernand only a month after his imprisonment. 

                Further consumed by revenge, Edmond sails with Jacopo and retrieves the treasure.  Now with more than enough gold, Edmond devises an elaborate plan to destroy the livelihoods of Mercedes, Fernand, Villefort, and anyone else involved in his imprisonment.

                                

On the Surface:

                This movie makes no excuses for being a very condensed and very Americanized version of Alexandre Dumas classic piece of historical fiction, and a lot of dramatic license was taken.  To make the film more marketable to American audiences, over 75% of the original story was compressed or cut out altogether.  Luis Guzman’s character of Jacopo was a composite of several characters made specifically for this film so as to keep the supporting cast short and easier for the audience to follow. 

                The Victorian era visuals of pre and post Battle of Waterloo (Napoleon’s last effort to retake control of France) gave the film an almost high-brow feel, as if you had to be educated or a connoisseur of classic literature just to buy a ticket for the film.  Even though the films run time was around two hours, many movie goers avoided this film thinking it was going to be long and boring.  Jay Wolpert, with collaboration from Director Kevin Reynolds, tried to modify the story into a swashbuckler tale, instead of the epic long form that Alexandre Dumas had written.     

Production wise:

                Screenwriter Jay Wolpert added the element of the lifelong friendship between Edmond and Fernand to make the revenge angle more believable.  Kevin Reynolds, garnering a reputation for directing period specific action/drama films, was tapped to direct for that reason. 

                The film suffered from many poor screenings, causing it to undergo many cuts and script rewrites, even going through reshoots late into the year after the seasons had changed, making most of the locations unusable.   This also resulted in the film maxing out its budget, and the studio would not pay any more money for the production.  Reynolds however, was able to improvise in most of the scenes.  While reshooting the ending fight sequence, he used low angles and had the production crew place virgin wheat stock close to the camera to cover up the grass that had turned brown and dead because of the fall season.  When panning around Caviezel and Pearce as they fenced, the wheat passed very quickly at the bottom of the frame, giving a much-needed sense of urgency to the sequence.

                This would be one of the last films veteran actor Richard Harris would act in before his passing, even celebrating his 70^th birthday on set. 

                                 

Why I like the film:

                This film definitely has the Victorian era feel to it, but doesn’t play out in longform as you would see in a masterpiece theater production: getting very long, dull and boring as it played out over several weeks.

                One of my few peeves about the film (which I see in other films too) is how any country in Europe, no matter what time frame or region, all the roles are played by English actors with their natural English accents.  It gives movie goers the impression that all of Europe is British.  So almost every film set in any European country, weather Germany, Austria, and yes France, the characters portrayed as natives still speak in English accents, which kills the realism for me.  Maybe Hollywood producers assume the general movie going public will just accept that any non-American character in a film naturally speaks in an English accent.   I would like to see actors and actresses, English or American, expand their range and/or rise to the challenge of mastering the exotic accent of the country they are tasked to portray.

                I liked seeing Luis Guzman, known more for his comedic roles, portray a serious character.  His facial expressions and tone conveyed a sternness that drove deep when he delivered his lines.  Richard Harris, a master actor who had honed his craft over decades, gave a moral authority to his role as the “priest” Abbe Faria.  In as much that his character acts as Edmond’s conscience, while Guzman as Jacopo acts as the voice of reason (ironic as his character is a pirate), admonishing Edmond to let go his lust for revenge and take his fortune to live as a king elsewhere.   This is one of Henry Cavill’s first big studio films.  Though he has a very small supporting role, and is only 8 years younger than his on-screen mother Dagmara Dominczyk, it’s still very weird to think of him as Superman having seen him perform first in this film.  Jim Caviezel, though not employing any accent what so ever and sticking with his natural American “Yank” accent, does portray the varying emotions of Edmond very well.  From naïve and hopeful, to shocked and betrayed, to angry and scheming, to finally humbled and relieved, I did see him as Edmond Dantes, not a yank playing a role outside his skillset.   Dagmara Dominczyk portrays the female lead very well.  In a time when women were seen as property, but regarded with some esteem if married or married into nobility, her demeanor exemplifies the common mindset of women of the time.   In a time, long before women’s suffrage, if she did not marry, she had little to no options to survive in such a time.  Clearly, she was in love with Edmond, and devasted when lead to believe he was dead.  Going further she was depressed when she had to tolerate Fernand’s infidelity and reckless attitude as her life wore on, but showed to be hopeful and over joyed when she sees Edmond, (in disguise as the Count of Monte Cristo) thinking she would be freed of her depression and reunited with true love.  Dominczyk needs to be in more dramatic films to showcase her abilities.

                Michael Wincott with his trademark raspy/growly voice, sets his character of the warden apart from the rest.  I don’t know why he didn’t have more supporting roles in films, either as the main villain or the head henchman, and the few times I’ve seen him as the villain, his work is wasted on the subpar script and filming of the projects he was in.  Its sad when good actors like Wincott have mediocre careers due to poor material they (probably) are forced to work with.

                Of course, the moral end of the story is always present.  Those who schemed, lied, bribed, stole and murdered to rise up in social rank eventually had a life of anxiety: always in debt, always needing money, and when finally getting it, illegally, only to blow it on bad decisions and addictions of vice (gambling, drinking, prostitution etc.) keeping them in a bad cycle which lead to either a long overdue guilty verdict or death.

                                   

The film is rated PG-13 for the violence and Swordplay, some sensuality though mostly implied on film and not really seen.  Stream or rent where available for when the mood calls for a good swashbuckling adventure, and ignore that it deviates majorly from its namesake.  Enjoy it for what it is not what literary snobs say it should be.