01x03 - The Abbe Faria

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There's your Governor.

Mercedes!

Mercedes...

Your Majesty, this is
Monsieur Gérard de Villefort,

Deputy Public Prosecutor
of Marseille.

Come in, Mr. de Villefort.

Mr. de Villefort,
the Duke de Blacas assures me

that you have important information
for me. You may proceed.

Sire, in the exercise of my duties,
I arrested a Bonapartist agent,

charged with a verbal message from
the Grand Marshal to the committee in Paris.

A verbal message? Why should he betray
a secret carried in his head?

My examination was rigorous
and the man something of a coward.

He made a full confession
in the hope of obtaining leniency.

I see.

And what was the content
of this message?

Sire, it revealed
no commonplace plot,

but a full-blown conspiracy.

- Come now, de Villefort.
- Bonaparte has armed three ships.

There is great peril.
Forgive me, Your Majesty.

We do not doubt your devotion,
Villefort.

It is not possible, though,
that your enthusiasm

may have given more weight to this
rogue's words than they truly merit?

Sire, it was not enthusiasm
that made me leave

my bride on our wedding night
to bring you this news.

Of course you're engaged
to mademoiselle de Saint-Méran!

Do you indeed do that?

Sire, I could do no less.

Which means that your prisoner's
confession has convinced you,

as you must now convince us.

What more is there to tell?

The usurper has sailed
from Elba.

Sailed?

No, it's absurd.
It's ridiculous. He's left Elba.

Where could he go?

Sire, that is the extent
of my information.

Sire.

Dandré, what's the matter?
What ails you?

- Sire, dreadful misfortune.
- Speak! I command you, speak!

The usurper landed in France
three days ago.

Edmond Dantès?

Edmond Dantès, this is
the Inspector-General of Prisons.

Is there anything
you want to say to him?

He seems harmless enough. I thought
you said he was mad and dangerous.

He did his best to m*rder
the turnkey here.

- Tried to strangle me.
- Is that why you keep him down here?

Partly, but he's also
a dangerous conspirator.

My orders are to keep
the strictest watch on him.

I see.

Well, Dantès,
have you understood?

Do you know who I am?

The Inspector General of Prisons.

Of course! Is it true
you tried to k*ll the turnkey?

- Yes.
- What made you do such a thing?

A long time ago.
I was mad.

But you're not mad now?

No, I don't think so.

When were you arrested?

The th of February, ,
at h in the afternoon.

Today is the th of June, .

Yes, yes, yes,
that is a long time.

Five and a half years!

I'm innocent.

They all say that, no matter
how damning the evidence may be.

No evidence?

No, Dantès,
my task is to inspect prisons.

You can complain to me about
your food or your treatment,

but I cannot investigate
the grounds on which

the judges at
your trial convicted you.

Judges?
Trial?

There never was a trial.

He was arrested
during the emergency.

A man could be jailed
for a conspiracy then without a trial.

Yes, yes.
That was a bad time.

Well, Dantès,
what is it you demand?

Knowledge of my trial.

I demand to be tried,
to know what crime I'm guilty of.

sh**t me if I'm guilty, but for God's
sake set me free if I'm innocent.

It is not in my power
to release you.

I know that, monsieur.

I don't ask it,
but you can't plead for me.

You can at least have me tried,
and that's all I'm asking.

We shall see, we shall see.

Well, at least let me hope.

No, I can't do that, but I can promise
to examine your case.

- Then I'm free! I'm saved!
- Who arrested you?

Monsieur de Villefort.

Speak to him, monsieur,
see what he says.

Monsieur de Villefort
has been gone a long time.

He left Marseille in the year
you were arrested.

Then I understand.

Had he remained,
I'd never have been detained.

But you must find him, monsieur.
Speak to him.

No, I cannot do that.

His brilliant career has taken
him to Paris and Versailles.

All the same, he should...

Are you sure he had
no personal cause to dislike you?

None. He was kindness itself.

I can't then rely entirely on any notes
he may have left concerning you.

Entirely, monsieur!

Very well, Dantès.
You may trust me to do the best I can.

- Monsieur?
- You must be patient.

Thank you.

Monsieur, thank you.

I think this is the entry, monsieur.
Edmond Dantès.

Yes, that is the man.
Thank you.

"Edmond Dantès: Violent Bonapartist,
took an active part in the return from Elba."

"Greatest watchfulness
and care to be exercised."

"To be kept in perpetual solitary
confinement." Signed de Villefort.

You,
give me another candle.

- What do you do, eat them?
- It's the rats.

I don't mind them
as long as I can see them.

To wake up in the darkness
and have them crawling over my body...

Put them where they can't
reach them, comrade.

- Bring me another candle.
- I'll see what I can do.

- What's the date?
- Why do you bother, Comrade?

What's the use
of counting the days?

They're never going
to let you out of here.

Then I shall be here
until the day I die.

And since nothing else happens
in this place, that'll be a great event.

One should always know the great dates
of great events, Comrade.

- th of December, .
- Thank you.

- Good night.
- Good night.

God.

Don't let me die in despair.

Who speaks of God
and despair at the same time?

- Who are you?
- A prisoner.

- Your name?
- Edmond Dantès.

- Your profession?
- Sailor.

- How far have you tunneled?
- Only a few feet from my cell.

Then go back there.

I shall break through.

I'm Edmond Dantès.

I...

I am the Abbé Faria.

Have you a little water, please?

The dust in there
it gets in your throat.

How long is your tunnel?

Fifty feet.

Fifty feet?
That's impossible.

You shall judge for yourself.

How did you shift them?

With this.

My tools are better,
but then I probably had longer.

You talk of tools.
This is just a handle.

No, my friend. It ceased to be that
when you turned it to its present use.

It has become a tool.
Crude but serviceable.

But you would not have progressed
very far with that alone.

I am better equipped.
See

This is my chisel.

- How did you obtain this?
- Made it.

- Made it?
- Yes.

Because of my age,
or calling,

perhaps because of both,

I am a somewhat pampered prisoner
and I have furniture.

A bed and a stool,

The clamp from the bed
made the blade

and a bar from the stool
made the handle.

Yes, I'm very proud of it.

How long have you been digging,
Abbé?

Two years.

It was hard work at first.

But making the tools was hardest,
and it cost me four years.

You've labored
six years to escape.

You've overcome
every difficulty,

and all your efforts
have led you just to this.

Another cell.

To a companion also.

I must be very poor exchange
for freedom, Abbé.

It was the will of God.
I am not ungrateful.

You're a saint?

If it had been me,
I'd have cursed his name.

I'd have been mad
with grief and rage.

Yet here you sit as calmly as a man
who has his own fireside.

That's superhuman.

No, you are mistaken, my friend.

I had my moment
of disappointment some days ago.

When the first sounds
of your excavating answered mine,

that was when I knew
that I had miscalculated.

You were so near, and I felt confident
you could only be another prisoner,

and once I had recovered
from my disappointment,

I became curious,
even anxious to meet you.

Not more than I.

But tell me, if you had
succeeded in breaching the walls,

what would you have done?

Cast myself into the sea
and gained the island of Tiboulen.

Three miles.

Could you have swung that far?

Heaven would have
given me strength.

Abbé?

We're two now.

And together we'll forge
a new shaft for freedom.

And with my help, the work
will take but half the time.

Perhaps less.

I am growing old.

But you are still
young and vigorous.

- We go dig, then.
- With all my heart.

But now! Now!

There's twelve hours
before the jailer comes again.

Let us not lose a single minute!

Not tonight.

This enterprise comes
fresh to you, but...

I have been tunneling like a rat
in the darkness some months on end.

No, Mr. Dantès.

I want you to understand fully the nature
of the task in which you would join me.

I commend your enthusiasm,
it is not enough by itself.

You you will need
infinite patience

and you must achieve a faith,
not that one that will move mountains

but objects which,
in the confines of a small tunnel,

are equally obdurate.

My words dishearten you.
- No, on the contrary.

Everything you say must be true.
I needed only to hear it.

I swear to you that my resolution
shall match yours.

I do not doubt it.

Tomorrow we can make our preparations,
but tonight I shall rest in your company.

Abbé...

Tell me about yourself and how
did you come to be in this place?

You mean,
what crime have I committed?

I did not say it.

For, though I've only just met you,
I know that you're a good man.

And what crime could you
possibly be guilty of?

A very great one.

My name tells you
that I am Italian.

Well, like Machiavelli, I had a dream
of altering the political face of my country.

I don't understand.

It is all quite simple.

Italy is divided into a number
of small principalities,

each one of which is ruled over
by men or other fools or tyrants.

United under one crown, the country
would go strong and prosper.

My dream was to achieve this.

Yes, but men are not
imprisoned for dreaming.

Not if they keep
their thoughts to themselves.

Although I am a dreamer,
I'm also a man of action.

And I was obsessed
with the nobility of my vision.

I sought all means possible
to make it a reality.

My efforts excited the fears
of the fools and the tyrants.

They forgot all
their differences

and banded together to suppress
the voice of the Abbé Faria.

Were you aware of the danger
that you were running?

Yes, of course.

And you were prepared to sacrifice
your freedom and your life just for...

... an idea?

It was more than an idea,
it was an ideal!

And I was ready to die for it,
but that was not demanded of me.

Instead I was seized
and sentenced.

Here I am, years later,

confiding in you the sad story
of my political enterprise.

There's no justice
under the sun.

And how can you laugh?

I saved my tears for those
I failed to help.

Come, my son, you shall not
distress yourself on my account.

- It's your turn now.
- My turn?

You've heard why I'm here.
What crime have you committed?

I'm innocent.

Of what then were you accused?

That's very strange.

For years I've longed to pour out
my sufferings to a sympathetic ear,

and now,
with the opportunity here, I...

I can't...

Then do not try.

We shall have time on our hands
if nothing else.

And there will be other occasions
when you will feel disposed to do so.

Would you care
to see where I live?

With all my heart.

Come then, bring your candle.

I exercise my body by thinking,
and my mind by writing.

And what you write, Abbé?

My treatise on the practicability
of forming Italy into a sovereign state.

If ever I escape,
I shall hope to publish it.

Let us say when.

Better still, my friend.

Let us say when.