A Pigment of My Imagination

    Ultimately, Coppola’s film is a mostly faithful adaptation of Stoker’s world, but takes some creative liberties in updating the tale for a modern audience. With a cast of mostly young, handsome, and popular actors, Coppola chose to break the Victorian impositions of the novel and made it appealing to a wider audience. The technical and artistic merits of the film are impressive and give the story the operatic grandeur that it deserves.

Coppola’s biggest departure from the novel was the incorporation of the romantic arc between Dracula and Mina. The film closes with them alone, in the same temple-like room where Dracula first abandoned God. Beneath the shadow of the cross, Mina plunges a stake into Dracula’s heart, freeing him from an eternity of suffering. Wrapped in Mina’s arms, Dracula is finally at peace. Thus, instead of celebrating the defeat of the ultimate evil, as per the novel, we are left with a heartbreaking Shakespearean ending. As the film’s tag line states, “love never dies,” but in this thematic change, Bram Stoker’s Dracula replaces the Christian faith with erotic romance. This is a drastic move, but one that seems to follow the pattern of many modern adaptations, and no doubt fueled the success of the film, especially among younger audiences. This change aside, the 1992 film is a faithful and vibrant adaptation of Stoker’s masterpiece. Coppola and Hart wanted to return to the original book, and for the most part, their goal was spectacularly accomplished, and this intoxicating film is worthy of its title—Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

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There’s that! Read the book, very fascinating. And watch the movie, there’s a brand new Collector’s Edition DVD with a new transfer and special features.

Also, here’s some books to check out: great books about Coppola’s life and films:

Clarke, James. Coppola (Virgin Film). London: Virgin Books, 2003.
Schumacher, Michael. Francis Ford Coppola: A Filmmaker’s Life. New York: Crown Publishers, 1999.

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