Luc Besson’s gothic horror romance, Dracula: A Love Tale, reinterprets the age-old Count Dracula tale and reimagines him as a tragic figure. The crippling loneliness that comes with immortality and the desperation to be reunited with the love of his life resulted in Dracula’s painful existence. Vlad II, a Romanian prince, was madly in love with his wife, Elisabeta. He couldn’t imagine his life without her, so when he had to leave for a battle, he asked the court priest to pray for her longevity. Although Vlad won the battle, the celebration didn’t last long. He was soon informed that Elisabeta’s life was in danger, as she was being followed by the enemies. By the time Vlad found her, she was already wounded, and the sword that he’d swung to kill the enemy ended up injuring her. Vlad didn’t get to say his final goodbye to the love of his life, and blamed God for taking her away from him. As a prince, he thought he’d been a dedicated believer and served God’s purpose, but he lost his faith in Christ after Elisabeta’s death. Since God couldn’t protect her, he decided to abandon Him, and he killed the priest out of vengeance. As a result of his offense, Vlad was subjected to a divine curse, where he was denied death, and he had no choice but to be alive forever.
Spoiler Alert
Who was Maria?
One of the first ‘specimens’ to be captured was Maria. The priest who had been studying the phenomenon had already read about it in books and research, but to witness vampires firsthand was a different experience altogether. Maria flaunted her fangs, she burned easily when exposed to direct sunlight, and she was capable of setting fire to a crucifix with just a glance. She was the textbook definition of a vampire. The priest was sent to the psych ward by the Vatican, and the only information he had was that it was a delicate case. The doctor assumed that her birth year, 1759, was a clerical error, since it would suggest that she was 130 years old, but the priest suspected that maybe that was indeed the only actual information they had on her.
Upon interrogating Maria, the priest discovered that she had a master, a prince, who was supposed to come to Paris in search of his princess. For four hundred years, the church had been trying to track down the source of vampirism, and the priest finally felt hopeful. Maria was supposed to marry Henry William Spencer, and they’d agreed to not have their wedding at a church, so they instead arranged it at an estate, but things went out of control when the bishop Henry had invited arrived at the wedding. The minute Maria laid eyes on him, she started to behave frantically. It had become almost impossible to contain her, and she was admitted to a hospital. We later discover that Maria had befriended Mina, a young woman who looked just like Princess Elisabeta. Henry knew Mina’s soon-to-be husband, Jonathan, and that was how Maria was introduced to Mina. She immediately knew that her master would be impressed by her success in finally finding his princess. But unfortunately, things didn’t exactly go as planned, and Maria ended up chained in the psych ward. Later, after Vlad helped her escape, she went back to Henry and attempted to bite him, but the priest and the doctor arrived at the scene before things could get any worse. Jonathan used a sword to decapitate Mina, and the priest used a stake to put an end to her.
How did Jonathan Harker escape?
As a solicitor, Jonathan believed he must go wherever his work took him, and that was how he ended up at Count Dracula’s castle. He worked at an advocate’s chamber in Paris, and when he was asked to visit Vlad at his castle in Romania, he obliged. Jonathan was startled when Dracula welcomed him; he was an old man who looked frightening as a result of his white skin, long nails, and stained teeth. But Jonathan didn’t consider running away; instead, he decided to look past appearances and get straight to business. He mentioned that one of the properties Dracula owned in the heart of Paris was in a dilapidated condition, and he wondered if he would consider selling it. Dracula was tempted to quench his thirst, but he had retired, and he usually resorted to rodents for a quick fix. He decided to discuss the matter the next day, and before leaving, he instructed his guest to not leave his room under any circumstance. But Jonathan was a curious man, and he decided to investigate the castle at night. He entered the dungeon and found a coffin with Dracula resting in it. Before he could draw any conclusions, Count Dracula reminded him that he was not supposed to leave his room. Since he’d failed to respect the rule, the Count announced that it was time to kill him. His minions tied Jonathan and hung him upside down. When Dracula asked him for his dying wish, Jonathan cleverly requested that he narrate his story.
Dracula chose to respect the dying man’s wish, and he told him how he had spent four hundred years of his life laboring under the curse. He’d tried to die, but he’d failed. He was convinced that Elisabeta would be reincarnated because she was a pure soul, so he spent all his money and energy to create a perfume, an elixir, that would instantly seduce women in his vicinity. He traveled the world and sprinkled the perfume on, and while the women were always drawn to him, he couldn’t find Elisabeta. Frustrated, one day he ended up using the power of the magical perfume to quench his thirst and convert many innocent women into vampires. They became his subordinates (Maria, for example), and their duty was to track down Elisabeta for their master. While his subordinates brought him immense wealth, they couldn’t find the one thing he’d asked of them. After listening to Dracula’s love story, Jonathan stated that his beloved was waiting for him at home. They were soon to be married, and he feared that she wouldn’t be able to go on if she learned about his death. Dracula couldn’t believe his eyes when Jonathan showed him a photograph of her that he always carried in a locket. He decided not to kill the young man, because he was the reason he’d found Elisabeta again. He asked his minions to lock Jonathan in the dungeon while he prepared to reunite with the love of his life. Whether it was serendipity or one of Maria’s cunning schemes that brought Jonathan to the castle remains debatable. Jonathan managed to climb out of the prison, and even though the minions followed him, they realized that risking their lives by walking on a frozen lake wasn’t worth it. Jonathan managed to return to Paris.
Did Vlad and Elisabeta reunite?
Vlad consumed the blood of nuns living in a convent to get back his youth. He used his perfume, and as a result, they lost control of themselves and surrendered to Dracula. Immediately after he got back his strength, Vlad traveled to Paris and freed Maria. He was proud of her and offered her the blood of a clerk as a reward. Maria was back to her usual self, and she immediately reached out to Mina. Mina was surprised to see Maria; she had no idea that Maria had been discharged from the hospital. Mina had been in talks with the priest and the doctor, who were convinced that Dracula would come to find her, and before he did so, they planned on capturing him. Mina had no idea who Dracula/Vlad was. All she knew was that she didn’t feel like she belonged to the time she was born into. She always felt there was something missing, but she couldn’t figure out what it was. She admitted that Jonathan was a picture-perfect fiancé, yet she didn’t feel quite attracted to him. Mina soon realized that she had always been subconsciously searching for her prince. When Maria showed up at Mina’s doorstep, she proposed they attend a festival, and that was when she introduced Mina to Vlad. There was something about him that made him impossible to ignore.
Later, when Vlad told her that she looked just like his late wife, Elisabeta, Mina didn’t know how to react. The music box that Vlad gifted her brought back memories from another life, but Mina was extremely puzzled, and she reminded Vlad, and also herself, that she was not the woman he was searching for. After Mina returned to her boarding facility, he found the doctor, the priest, and Jonathan in the waiting area. They told her about Dracula, that he was a vampire who’d been searching for her, and that he was dangerous. The priest was relieved when he discovered that Mina hadn’t been bitten. Mina wondered if it was Vlad’s magical perfume that made her imagine a different life altogether. When she got back to her room, she played the music box again to find out if it was the magic potion that caused her vivid imaginations. But she soon figured out that the music itself momentarily took her back to the lost times. Mina was shocked to see Vlad in her room, all of a sudden. She asked him to leave but was not ready to watch him jump off her balcony. She accused him of lying to her, but he reassured her that he never used the perfume on her. He even went ahead and flung the potion into the fireplace. He didn’t need it anymore. Vlad admitted that he drank the blood of his victims, but he reminded her that she was not one of his victims. She was Elisabeta, the woman he’d spent four hundred years searching for, and he would never do anything to harm her. When Vlad held her hand and kissed her, Mina remembered the happy days she’d spent with him in her previous life. Even though it was shocking, she ultimately learned to accept the fact that she was, in her previous life, Elisabeta, a Romanian princess. The reason why she always felt so empty was because her heart had been searching for Vlad and the warmth that he brought into her life. Mina begged Vlad to bite her, and he obliged.
How did the priest lift the curse?
By the time the priest figured out that Vlad was in Mina’s room, the two of them had already left for Romania. Mina finally felt at home when she arrived at the castle. She was ready for a new beginning with the man she’d known forever. But their happiness was cut short when the priest, the doctor, Henry, and Jonathan arrived with soldiers and broke into the castle. Vlad singlehandedly overpowered the force, but the priest changed his mind.
During Dracula: A Love Tale’s ending, when Vlad held a sword to the priest, he begged him to think about Mina. The priest thought it would be unfair if Vlad chose to keep Mina under the curse that had kept him trapped in the mortal world for four hundred years. Even though they were in love, Vlad knew what a burden it was to stay alive forever, and he was aware how unfair it would be for Elisabeta. When Vlad stated that he’d killed for God, yet he was punished in the worst possible way, the priest told him that God never asked him to kill, and whatever he did was for his own fame and glory. He reassured Vlad that he had come to the castle to save him, and if he repented his actions and begged God for salvation, he would be relieved from the curse. Vlad realized that the priest was right; he shouldn’t drag Elisabeta into the dark world that he’d belonged to for so long. To help her return to life, Vlad chose to surrender himself to God. Elisabeta begged him not to leave, but Vlad had made up his mind. He locked Elisabeta in a room and submitted himself to the priest, hoping this time, God would let him recognize this true repentance. The priest chanted holy verses and stabbed his heart with a stake and hammer, and Vlad immediately collapsed to the floor. The curse was lifted, and Vlad turned into an old, wrinkled man. Elisabeta dragged his body into the room and demanded to know why he did this to himself. Vlad cupped her face and told her in his dying breath that he did it all because he loved her. Vlad turned into dust, and Elisabeta watched the dust leave the castle.
Who were the kids that left the castle?
In Dracula: A Love Tale’s ending, we witness, just as the priest had anticipated, Vlad’s victims being freed from the curse as well. The people he and his minions had attacked and bitten regained consciousness. Elisabeta/Mina too was relieved from the curse and returned to her mortal self. Jonathan, who’d been injured, hoped to be reunited with Mina, but he soon realized that she was no longer the woman he once knew, and he gave up. Even though Vlad was gone, Mina’s life had been altered forever. She was in mourning, and there was no way she could go back to her old life. It will take her years to process what she’d been through, and perhaps every now and then she will resort to her fond memories with Vlad for comfort. In the final scene, a group of young boys was seen walking out of the castle, suggesting they were the minions who used to work for Vlad. The Dracula used his magical power to turn them into little monstrous servants (dwergis) to look after the castle, and after the curse was lifted, they were finally free. Considering Vlad had been alive for four hundred years, the minions should have also been at least a few hundred years old, yet when the curse was lifted, they were turned into young boys. Maybe the monsters were entirely Vlad’s creation (built from scratch and not young boys transformed), and after the curse was lifted, they evolved into mortal beings. The ending confirms the end of the vampire era. It was a progress, given the damage Vlad and his subordinates had caused, but when it comes to the love story, the ending remains a tragic one.
