The Da Vinci Code is a 2006 mystery thriller film directed by Ron Howard, written by Akiva Goldsman, and based on Dan Brown's 2003 novel of the same name. The first in the Robert Langdon film series, the film stars Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Ian McKellen, Alfred Molina, Jürgen Prochnow, Jean Reno and Paul Bettany. In the film, Robert Langdon, a professor of religious symbology from Harvard University, is the prime suspect in the grisly and unusual murder of Louvre curator Jacques Saunière. On the body, the police find a disconcerting cipher and start an investigation. Langdon escapes with the assistance of police cryptologist Sophie Neveu, and they begin a quest for the legendary Holy Grail. A noted British Grail historian, Sir Leigh Teabing, tells them that the actual Holy Grail is explicitly encoded in Leonardo da Vinci's wall painting, The Last Supper. Also searching for the Grail is a secret cabal within Opus Dei, an actual prelature of the Holy See, who wish to keep the true Grail a secret to prevent the destruction of Christianity.
The film, like the book, was considered controversial. It was met with especially harsh criticism by the Catholic Church for the accusation that it is behind a two-thousand-year-old cover-up concerning what the Holy Grail really is and the concept that Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene were married, producing a daughter, as well as its treatment of the organizations Priory of Sion and Opus Dei. Many members urged the laity to boycott the film. In the book, Dan Brown states that the Priory of Sion and "all descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents and secret rituals in this novel are accurate."
The Da Vinci Code premiered as the opening film of the 59th Cannes Film Festival on May 17, 2006, and was theatrically released in the United States on May 19. The film grossed $224 million in its worldwide opening weekend and a total of $760 million worldwide against a $125 million budget, becoming so the second-highest-grossing film of 2006, as well as Howard's highest-grossing film to date. However, the film received generally negative reviews from critics. It was followed by two sequels, Angels & Demons (2009) and Inferno (2016).
Plot[]
Jacques Saunière, a Louvre curator, is pursued by an albino Catholic monk named Silas, who demands the location of the "keystone" to find and destroy the Holy Grail. Saunière gives him a false lead and is murdered. The police find his body posed like Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man. Police captain Bezu Fache summons American symbologist Robert Langdon, who is in Paris for a lecture on the interpretation of symbols, to examine Saunière's body.
Langdon is shown the body and a secret message, readable only by UV light. It contains an out-of-order Fibonacci sequence. Sophie Neveu, a police cryptographer and Saunière's granddaughter, tells Langdon that Fache planted a tracker on him after finding the words, "P.S. Find Robert Langdon" at the end of Saunière's secret message. Fache believes that Langdon murdered Saunière. Sophie throws away the tracker, distracting the police while they sneak around the Louvre, finding more clues in Leonardo da Vinci's works. Langdon deduces that Saunière was the grand master of the Priory of Sion.
Silas works for an anonymous person referred to as "The Teacher", along with members of Opus Dei, led by Bishop Aringarosa. He travels to the church as directed by Saunière and finds a marker with "Job 38:10" inscribed in it, a bible verse that begins, "Here you shall come, and no farther..." Enraged, he kills the nun in residence.
Langdon and Sophie travel to a French bank and access Saunière's safe deposit box by using the Fibonacci sequence. Inside is a cryptex, a cylindrical container that contains a message on papyrus. It can only be opened without destroying the contents by turning dials to spell a code word. As the police arrive, bank manager Andre Vernet helps Langdon and Sophie escape, then attempts to steal the cryptex and murder them. Langdon and Sophie escape with the cryptex.
They visit Langdon's friend, Sir Leigh Teabing, a Holy Grail expert. Teabing claims the Grail is not a cup but instead is Mary Magdalene. He says she was not a prostitute but the wife of Jesus Christ. Teabing argues that Mary was pregnant during Jesus' crucifixion, and the Priory was formed to protect their descendants. The Opus Dei have been trying to destroy the Grail to preserve the credibility of the Vatican. Later, Silas breaks into Teabing's house, but Teabing, who uses crutches, uses one to disable him by striking the leg bound by a celice, a metal device used to appropriate the lashing of a whip, in deference to Christ's torture. The group escapes to London using Teabing's private plane, along with his butler, Remy Jean. Their interpretation of a clue hidden in the cryptex box leads them to the Temple Church, where they find nothing. Remy, who claims to be the Teacher, frees Silas. Remy takes Teabing hostage, dumping him in the car trunk, and taking Silas to hide out in an Opus Dei safe house. Teabing, who is revealed as the Teacher, later poisons Remy and sends the police after Silas. Police shoot Silas after accidentally wounding Aringarosa, who is promptly arrested by Fache, who resents being used to hunt Langdon.
Teabing, who wants to bring down the Church for centuries of persecution and deceit, confronts Langdon and Sophie. Now understanding the true meaning behind the clue to unlocking the cryptex, the trio goes to Westminster Abbey to the tomb of Isaac Newton, a former grand master of the Priory. Teabing demands that the pair open the cryptex. Langdon tries and seemingly fails before suddenly tossing the cryptex into the air. Teabing dives for and catches it, but the vial breaks and the papyrus is thought destroyed. The police arrive to arrest Teabing, who realizes Langdon must have solved the cryptex's code and removed the papyrus before throwing it. The code is revealed to be "APPLE", after the apocryphal story of the apple which led Newton to discover his law of universal gravitation. The clue inside the cryptex, which tells of the Grail hiding "'neath the rose," leads Langdon and Sophie to Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland.
Inside the chapel, they discover a secret room where Magdalene's tomb has been removed. Langdon, after searching through documents, realizes that Sophie's family died in a car crash, that Saunière was not her grandfather but her protector, and that she is the last descendant of Jesus Christ. The two are greeted by several members of the Priory, including Sophie's grandmother, who promises to protect her. Langdon and Sophie part ways, the former returning to Paris. While shaving, he cuts himself and has an epiphany when his blood curves down the sink, reminding him of the Rose Line. Realizing the true meaning of the cryptex clue, he follows the line to the Louvre, concluding the Holy Grail is hidden below the Pyramide Inversée. Langdon kneels atop it and the sarcophagus of Mary Magdalene is seen in a secret underground chamber.
Cast[]
- Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon
- Audrey Tautou as Sophie Neveu
- Ian McKellen as Sir Leigh Teabing
- Alfred Molina as Bishop Aringarosa
- Jürgen Prochnow as André Vernet
- Jean Reno as Police Captain Bezu Fache
- Paul Bettany as Silas
- Hugh Mitchell as young Silas
- Étienne Chicot as Lieutenant Jérôme Collet
- Jean-Yves Berteloot as Remy Jean
- Jean-Pierre Marielle as Jacques Saunière
- Charlotte Graham as Mary Magdalene
- Seth Gabel as Michael the Cleric
- Marie-Françoise Audollent as Sister Sandrine
- Francesco Carnelutti as Prefect
- Rita Davies as Elegant Woman at Rosslyn
- Denis Podalydès as Flight Controller
- Ranaich Dunnett as Himself
- Author Dan Brown and his wife make cameos (forefront) in the first scene of the book signing scene.
- The Templar Revelation authors Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince make a brief appearance as passengers on a bus.