History Film / TheCountOfMonteCristo

* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler:After being betrayed by his jealous friends on the eve of his wedding and condemned to spend years in a dungeon by a self-serving prosecutor, and then learning that his grief-stricken father committed suicide and his beloved fiancee married his enemy,]] Dantes would be forgiven for feeling [[WhiteHeat on top of the world]] [[spoiler:as he left the Chateau d'If for the last time with his true love, his son and his best friend at his side, the vast Spada fortune in his possession, and having exacted sweet revenge on his betrayers]].

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Cameo appearance by NapoleonBonaparte.

*
** AdaptationalVillainy: The warden of Chateau d'If, named Armand Dorleac in the film, is depicted as a sadist who tortures prisoners as part of an annual rite, despite the fact that he knows perfectly well that all the prisoners in Chateau d'If are innocent. In the book he did no such thing, never gave any indication of knowing his prisoners were innocent, and didn't even put Dantes in isolation until after a violent outburst on his part.

* AdaptationalVillainy: The warden of Chateau d'If, named Armand Dorleac in the film, is depicted as a sadist who tortures prisoners as part of an annual rite, despite the fact that he knows perfectly well that all the prisoners in Chateau d'If are innocent. In the book he did no such thing, never gave any indication of knowing his prisoners were innocent, and didn't even put Dantes in isolation until after a violent outburst on his part.

* SarcasticClapping: Abbe Faria does this when Dantes realizes the reason Villefort burned the incriminating letter and imprisoned him right after acquitting him of the charges.

* DoNotDoThisCoolThing: Remember kids, vengeance is bad. This film will demonstrate that although it appears to be ''totally awesome'', it's nevertheless very, very bad.

** NoDoubtTheYearsHaveChangedMe: Besides having an entirely different body build and almost certainly having somewhat changed the shape of his face (losing pretty much all of your body fat will do that), the dark, dangerous, and self-assured Count also doesn't speak, move, or act anything like gentle, sweet, nervous Edmond Dantes.

* ChessMotifs: Edmond and Fernand have a chess king that they trade back and forth when the other has a victory, recognizing the other as "King of the Moment". Edmond explains this to Napoleon Bonaparte, who observes that "In life, we are all either Kings or Pawns."
** This becomes {{Foreshadowing}} for later, when Fernand refuses to give up the king piece to Edmond after Mercedes accepts his proposal. Fernand soon after makes Edmond a pawn in his machinations.

** Particularly fun as Jim Caviezel is a very devout Christian, and is best known for playing Jesus in ''Film/ThePassionOfTheChrist''.

* LeaveBehindAPistol: {{Subverted}}. Dantes leaves [[spoiler:Villefort]] a pistol, but [[spoiler:it isn't loaded]].
** The DVD reveals that they shot versions of the scene both ways, with [[spoiler: the sound of a gunshot coming from the carriage]] as the Count simply walks away.

** Particularly fun as Jim Caviezel is a very devout Christian, and is best known for playing Jesus in ''{{The Passion Of The Christ}}''.

''The Count of Monte Cristo'' is a 2002 film based on [[Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo the novel of the same name]] by Creator/AlexandreDumas. It stars Jim Caviezel as the title character, and also Guy Pearce, James Frain, Luis Guzman, and Richard Harris.

** Actually, Faria is based on a real person, José Custódio de Faria, abbé and adventurer, though the artistic license is large.

* DeathByAdaptation: [[spoiler:Noirtier, Villefort's father]]. It was something of a running gag in Dumas' novel that he was virtually indestructible.

* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler:After being betrayed by his friends on the eve of his wedding and condemned to spend years in a dungeon by a self-serving prosecutor, and to then come out to learn that his grief-stricken father committed suicide and his fiancee married his former friend,]] Dantes probably felt pretty darn good [[spoiler:as he walked off with his true love, his son and his best friend at his side, the vast Spada fortune in his possession, and having taken revenge on all his betrayers]].

* AscendedExtra: Jacopo, who obeys the Count's instructions without question in the book, becomes TheWatson.

* CompositeCharacter: Jacopo, who has a relatively minor role in the novel, is merged with Monte Cristo's faithful servant Bertuccio.

''The Count of Monte Cristo'' is a 2002 film based on [[Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo the novel of the same name]] by Creator/AlexandreDumas. It stars Jim Caviezel as the title character, and also Guy Pearce, James Frain, and Richard Harris.