The Count of Monte Cristo (2002)

Richard Harris: Abbe Faria

Photos 

Quotes 

• Edmond : There are 72,519 stones in my walls. I've counted them many times.

  Abbe Faria : But have you named them yet?

• Abbe Faria : When I told them I had no idea where Count Spada hid his treasure, I lied.

  Edmond : You lied?

  Abbe Faria : I'm a priest, not a saint.

• Abbe Faria : Here is your final lesson - do not commit the crime for which you now serve the sentence. God said, "Vengeance is mine."

  Edmond Dantes : I don't believe in God.

  Abbe Faria : It doesn't matter. He believes in you.

• Abbe Faria : With two of us digging, we can cover twice the ground. It'll only take us, oh... 8 years to reach the outer wall.

  [Edmond laughs] 

  Abbe Faria : Ohh... and does something else demand your time? Some pressing appointment, perhaps?

• Abbe Faria : Define Economics.

  Edmond : Economics is a science that deals with the production, distribution, and consumption of commodities.

  Abbe Faria : Translation?

  Edmond : Dig first, money later.

• Abbe Faria : The stronger swordsman does not necessarily win. It is speed! Speed of hand, speed of mind.

• Abbe Faria : In return for your help, I offer something priceless.

  Edmond : My freedom?

  Abbe Faria : No, freedom can be taken away, as you well know. I offer knowledge, everything I have learned. I will teach you, oh, economics, mathematics, philosophy, science.

  Edmond : To read and write?

  Abbe Faria : Of course.

  Edmond : When do we start?

• Abbe Faria : The slot opens twice a day. Once in the morning for your toilet bucket, which is where we hide the dirt. And once more in the evening for your plate. Between those times, we can work all day without fear of discovery.

  Edmond : So neglect becomes our ally.

• Edmond Dantes : God is no more real than your treasure, Priest.

  Abbe Faria : Perhaps...

• Abbe Faria : Strange that a chief magistrate would burn evidence of a treasonous conspiracy, and then imprison the only man who was aware of monsieur Clarion's connection to that conspiracy.

  Edmond : He was protecting someone.

  Abbe Faria : Ah. A dear friend, perhaps?

  Edmond : No. No. A politician like Villefort would have rid himself of such friends. Clarion could be a relative. A close relative, possibly...

  [as realization dawns on him, he overturns a table in anger] 

  Edmond : No! Villefort's father was a colonel in Napoleon's army. Villefort wasn't protecting Clarion. He was protecting himself. Danglars, who falsely said he saw Napoleon give me that letter. Mondego, who told Villefort I had it. And Villefort himself, who sent me here.

  Abbe Faria : [clapping]  Bravo, Edmond. Bravo.

• Abbe Faria : 2,500 cubic centimeters of rock and dust a day for 365 days.

  Edmond : Equals three-and-a-half meters a year, 12 feet, a foot a month.

  [grunts] 

  Edmond : Three inches a week.

  Abbe Faria : In Italian.

  [whip cracking] 

  Edmond : Ancora tre metri e un mezzo.

• Edmond : How did you come to be here?

  Abbe Faria : The following day I deserted, to devote my life to repentance and to God. I worked as a private secretary to the enormously wealthy Count Enrique Spada. Spada was a righteous man. Sadly, a couple of years later, he died, amidst rumors that he had hidden his limitless fortune. Two weeks later, I was arrested.

  Edmond : Why?

  Abbe Faria : Napoleon wanted Spada's treasure. He did not believe that I had no idea where it was. So he had me thrown in here to refresh my memory. And so here I've remained with only God for company, until He sent me you.

• Abbe Faria : You once told me that Villefort had you re-arrested just after he had cleared you of all the charges.

  J.F. Villefort, Chief Magistrate : [flashback]  You may go.

  Edmond : Yes, that's true.

  Abbe Faria : Then why would he go through that charade unless he had reason to change his mind about letting you go? Think, Edmond.

  Edmond : I'm trying.

  Abbe Faria : What happened?

  Edmond : He asked me...

  J.F. Villefort, Chief Magistrate : [flashback]  Did Napoleon tell you who was supposed to pick up this letter?

  Edmond : I told him...

  [flashback] 

  Edmond : A monsieur Clarion.

  Abbe Faria : And nothing more?

  Edmond : Nothing. He burnt the letter and said I could go.

  Abbe Faria : Ah. He burned... the letter.

• Edmond : So you were in Napoleon's army.

  Abbe Faria : We had such dreams then. However, one night... my regiment ran down a band of guerillas, who ran into a church for sanctuary. I was ordered to burn down the church with them inside it.

  Edmond : Did you?

  Abbe Faria : To my everlasting shame, I did.

• Abbe Faria : [accidentally digging into Edmond's cell]  Forgive my intrusion. But I was under the impression that I... I was digging towards the outer wall.

• Abbe Faria : I have not seen the sky these eleven years. Thank you. Thank you, God.

  Edmond : There is no talk of God in here, Priest.

  Abbe Faria : What about the... inscription?

  Edmond : It's faded, just as God has faded from my heart.

  Abbe Faria : And what has replaced it?

  Edmond : Revenge.

• Abbe Faria : Perhaps your thoughts of revenge are serving God's purpose of keeping you alive these seven years.

  Edmond Dantes : To what end?

  Abbe Faria : Escape.

• Edmond : You were a soldier, Priest. So you know weaponry. Teach me. Or dig alone.

  Abbe Faria : You force me to walk a fine line, Dantes.