影片《達·芬奇密碼》根據美國作傢丹·布朗的同名懸疑小說改編。哈佛大學的符號學專傢羅伯特·蘭登《達芬奇密碼》(湯姆·漢剋斯飾)在法國巴黎出差期間的一個午夜接到一個緊急電話，得知盧浮宮博物館年邁的館長被人殺害在盧浮宮的博物館裏，人們在他的屍體旁邊發現了一個難以捉摸的密碼。
蘭登與法國一位頗有天分的密碼破譯專傢索菲·奈芙(奧黛麗·塔圖飾)，在對一大堆怪異的密碼進行整理的過程當中，居然發現一連串的綫索就隱藏在達·芬奇的藝術作品當中。這些綫索，大傢都清楚可見，然而卻被畫傢巧妙地隱藏起來。
蘭登無意中非常震驚地發現，已故的博物館館長（也就是奈芙的祖父）竟然是峋山隱修會（Priory of Sion）的重要成員。峋山隱修會是一個真實存在的秘密組織，其成員包括牛頓、維剋多·雨果與達·芬奇等多位歷史名人。蘭登的直覺告訴他，他和奈芙是在找尋一個石破天驚的歷史秘密……
《達芬奇密碼》-劇情
巴黎深夜，羅浮宮德高望重的館長，在館內被人殺死，旁邊寫了一串人傢看不懂的字。一串字裏唯一看得懂的是羅伯特·蘭登這個人名，這人是哈佛大學歷史教授，也是一位符號學家，館長與他素未謀面，但約好第二天見面。警察局找到了這位教授住的旅館，並帶到羅浮宮命案現場。
其中有一名女警嚮教授偷偷透露自己是館長的孫女身份，他們經幾番猜測，兩人最後在達·芬奇《蒙娜麗莎的微笑》背後，找到了館長生前留下的紙條，是一首語意含糊的詩。後來被調查員警發現情況不對，教授帶着館長的孫女逃跑，這一對男女不但成了通輯犯，另一個延續了將近千年的秘密組織，也開始追逐他們。故事就這樣展開序幕……
暢銷 500 萬本的小說，當然不衹是單純的推理故事，真正引人入勝的，是背後所傳遞的信息～延續兩千年的宗教爭議，有關傳說耶穌娶妻生子。耶穌成為“基督”，是在公元三百多年以後的事，早期的教會崇拜“偉大的母親”，而代表的女性，卻是淫蕩悔改、以後跟隨耶穌的抹大拉的瑪利亞，她同時也被認為是耶穌的妻子，為耶穌生育，象徵“聖杯”。
“聖杯”傳說是耶穌在最後晚餐用的酒杯，同時也是被釘在十字架上接盛耶穌的鮮血的酒杯，這正是這本小說的主軸，各路人馬爭奪“聖杯”之戰。
《達芬奇密碼》-演員介紹
湯姆·漢剋斯是美國演員，連續兩屆以《費城》和《阿甘正傳》榮獲奧斯卡影帝，自90年代中期以來驚人地保持着數一數二的江湖地位。6歲時父母離異，隨着廚師父親各處跑，高中時開始着迷演戲，大學念到一半幹脆輟學全身投入演藝圈。
1979年首次演出電影小角色，接着進入電視圈演出一堆喜劇。1984年他以《美人魚》嶄露頭角，四年後因《飛進未來》首度入圍奧斯卡最佳男主角。1992年《紅粉聯盟》和1993年《西雅圖夜未眠》使他成為票房巨星，真正的突破是《費城》。擅長表現平凡人的不平凡一面。
自拍罷《幸福終點站》後，湯姆·漢剋斯已鮮有大作了，之後接拍的《師奶殺手》因票房慘淡而讓這位影帝略顯頽勢。2006年又在朗·霍華德導演的影片《達芬奇密碼》中出演男主角。雖然近幾年來漢剋斯沒有給影迷帶來足夠震撼的作品，但他在影迷心目中的地位卻是難以動搖的。
《達芬奇密碼》-影片評價
《達芬奇密碼》是一部忠於原著的電影，但是很可惜，影片沒有帶給觀衆任何驚喜。
——USA Today
電影很平庸，沒有懸念也沒有浪漫，更重要的是沒有趣味。
——《波士頓先驅報》
儘管受到了不同的評價，但是這部影片依然能夠在全球有一個盛大的票房開局。因為全世界有無數雙好奇的眼睛等着看這部擁有四千萬讀者的小說改編成電影會是什麽樣子。
——路透社
《達芬奇密碼》-關於主題
《達芬奇密碼》《達芬奇密碼》
因涉及敏感的宗教題材，《達· 芬奇密碼》自開拍伊始便風波不斷，天主教聯盟和事工會團體的紛至沓來的抗議和反對信件使該片成為2005-2006年度最具爭議的影片。天主事工會曾希望影片隱去組織名稱，在這一要求遭到拒絶後，事工會發起了一項為自己正名的運動，通過各種媒體大作宣傳，用各種方式說明小說用錯誤的方式描寫其組織。羅馬一牧師甚至推出了自己的博客，反駁《達·芬奇密碼》的“不實之詞”。抗議的程度隨着電影上映的逼近而加劇，但有關專傢卻號召所有的天主教徒都應去看這部謬誤百出的電影，衹有這樣才能發現其中的錯誤。
雖然布朗的原著序言宣稱“本書中關於藝術品、建築、文獻和秘密儀式的所有描述全都確有其事”，但導演朗·霍華德則一直明智地高舉“虛構”大旗：“影片不會在宗教問題上過度糾纏。丹·布朗是一個成功的作傢而非宗教和歷史學家。我們之所以拍這部電影是因為我喜歡這個故事。”並坦言，影片的重點是驚悚懸疑的情節。製片方哥倫比亞的發言人也為此證實：“我們想做的衹是拍一部宗教色彩不會過於明顯的好片子。”
為達驚悚目的，讓觀衆大呼過癮，“和看小說一樣帶勁”，朗·霍華德做足功課，重看了許多包括《驅魔人》、《羅斯瑪麗的嬰兒》等在內的經典驚悚片。在保持小說故事框架的前提下，由金牌編劇阿齊瓦·高斯曼操刀，對小說中的“反天主教主題”作了改動，但“其中最為精彩之處絶對要表現出來”。
《達芬奇密碼》-關於演員
《達芬奇密碼》《達芬奇密碼》
《達·芬奇密碼》的演員陣容超級豪華。有着過硬演技卻日漸發福的湯姆·漢剋斯雖在外表上並不符合極具魅力的羅伯特·蘭登教授，但用朗·霍華德的話來說老湯哥屬於“最全面的演員”，而“一個真正優秀的演員可胜任一切表演”；主演過《天使愛美麗》的法國女星奧黛麗·多杜出任幹練的索菲·奈芙，對其以往的一貫純真靈動進行了徹底顛覆，讓朗·霍華德“之前的擔心完全多餘”；而有着 “全世界最酷的法國男人”頭銜法國影壇硬漢尚·雷諾出演狡猾嚴酷法捨探長；在英國戲劇界有“莎翁專業戶”之稱、並在柏林獲得終身成就奬的傳奇性演員伊恩· 麥剋萊恩爵士出演提彬爵士；被美國媒體譽為自休·格蘭特以來最受歡迎的英國演員保羅·貝塔尼扮演白化病人塞拉斯修士，被製片人布萊恩·格雷澤稱為影片“驚悚氣氛的最好砝碼”。
《達芬奇密碼》-外景地
《達芬奇密碼》《達芬奇密碼》
《達·芬奇密碼》占盡地利，連連得手於世界上最著名的博物館和教堂。
為達完美的真實效果，使小說中的情景被百分之百還原，能否在原著開頭處的法國盧浮宮實地拍攝成為關鍵。2004年12 月，霍華德和製片人在巴黎挑選女演員時意外接到法國總統希拉剋辦公室打來的電話，同希拉剋的一小時會晤言談甚歡，遂輕易地敲定入駐盧浮宮拍攝的特許，從而成為繼《盧浮魅影》後第二部進入盧浮宮取景的電影。在一周的拍攝期間，劇組衹能在晚上以及每周二博物館關閉日拍攝。有意思的是，自2005年5月影片開拍後，盧浮宮雖將票價上調，但影片的走紅卻帶給盧浮宮創下歷史新高的700萬人次。
小說重頭戲之一的威斯敏斯特教堂斷然拒絶了製片方入內拍攝的請求，並發表聲明：“雖然這是一本精彩的小說，但我們絶不贊同書中涉及的有爭議的、極度主觀的暗示性內容，也不同意它對於基督教和《新約》的觀點。”
相對於威斯敏斯特教堂的堅决說“不”，修建於公元11世紀、其內部結構與威斯敏斯特教堂十分相近的林肯大教堂卻敞開大門。而同影片達成拍攝協議的還有愛丁堡附近的建於15世紀的羅斯林大教堂，在小說中羅斯林大教堂和一度強盛的“聖殿騎士團”有關聯，因此這個占地不大的中世紀教堂兩年來的遊客數劇增為以前的三倍。劇組為林肯大教堂和羅斯林大教堂分別支付了10萬英鎊的高額租用費。
從中漁利的還有曾嚮開放的英格蘭南部的溫徹斯特大教堂。此教堂不僅賺得2萬英鎊的出租費，且教堂管理人員趁着影片日漸高漲的人氣决定於2006年3月1日起對每位訪客強製收取4英鎊的入場費，以支付不斷增加的營運費用。
《達芬奇密碼》-幕後花絮
·盧浮宮的鎮館之寶《蒙娜麗莎》是一個極其重要的道具，但因拍電影的燈光會對這幅名畫造成損害，因此，出於安全和保護的因素，劇組衹得退而求其次地使用了一個比例精確的復製品。這一秘密的泄露讓霍華德感到痛苦：“我十分討厭別人問我這樣的問題，但是……”他停頓了幾秒鐘，“畢竟這幅畫是無價之寶！”令人安慰的是，影片中保存《蒙娜麗莎》這幅油畫的房間是真的。
·在盧浮宮拍電影就像在做夢。由於折服於盧浮宮的藝術魅力，湯姆·漢剋斯將其房車停在停在盧浮宮外面的街道上，老湯哥每次前往拍攝地點都必須穿過無數畫廊：“這裏名作衆多，目不暇接--《約瑟芬皇后加冕》、《雷奧尼達在溫泉關》，從這裏走着去工作的感覺實在棒極了！”
·背負巨大輿論壓力的湯姆·漢剋斯為在外形上嚮角色靠攏，一面積極減肥，一面將常年的板刷頭變成了“飄逸”的長發，但看過《達·芬奇密碼》試片的觀衆依然對老湯哥的仿學者發型吹毛求疵，將其喻為“前額光禿，後腦勺一個鴨尾巴”！
《達芬奇密碼》《達芬奇密碼》
·小說提及的維雷特城堡也是影片拍攝地之一。這座建於1668年的城堡專為路易十四駐意大利大使所建，現在的主人是美國房産大亨。據悉，劇組從17間房中闢出6間專供演員使用，但老湯哥放棄了享受貴族待遇的機會，選擇和妻子孩子住在演員唐納德·薩瑟蘭巴黎的傢中，盡享平民之樂。
·為更好扮演白化殺手塞拉斯，保羅·貝塔尼不滿足於化妝時纔有的白化病人獨有的慘白皮膚，還不惜將一頭金發染成白色，將深藍的眼睛改為血紅。但這一形象卻引起美國白化病和色素沉澱組織的極大憤慨，該組織認為如此描寫是沿襲好萊塢許多電影對白化病同性戀的醜化。
·伊恩·麥剋萊恩信仰基督教，當劇組在英格蘭的林肯郡拍攝遭遇英國宗教人士的屢屢抗議示威時，麥剋萊恩數次出頭，號召人們的態度不可太過偏激，而應以全新的角度審視一貫堅持的信仰。
·2005年8月16日，就在《達·芬奇密碼》拍得熱火朝天之際，為抗議林肯大教堂對劇組行方便之事，一來自“和平與仁慈”婦女協會的瑪麗·邁剋爾跪在林肯大教堂的臺階前，使得大教堂的負責人奈特不得不讓步，說小說“非常牽強、充滿異端”。
《達芬奇密碼》-新片看點
1.大腕雲集
湯姆·漢剋斯的長發造型絶無僅有；“天使愛美麗”奧黛麗·塔圖搖身變成深沉、果敢、智慧的密碼專傢；“警察專業戶”“殺手萊昂”讓·雷諾這回亦正亦邪；此外還有《蜘蛛俠2》章魚博士、《指環王》甘道夫、《防火墻》裏的綁匪。
2.標新立異
《最後的晚餐》裏的耶穌門徒有一個是女人；耶穌結過婚，有了孩子，並且血脈延續到現代；牛頓和達· 芬奇都擔任過隱修會會長……電影編排了許多情節來證明上述觀點。
3.南腔北調
羅伯特·蘭登的美式英語，索菲的法語腔英語，雷·提彬的純正倫敦腔，演員身份和角色設定完全符合，所以我們有機會聽到演員自己的腔調。
4.音樂精彩
如何用聲畫表現人物心理，《達·芬奇密碼》改編電影必須過這道坎兒。它的辦法是：音樂。破譯密碼時，從一頭霧水到茅塞頓開的心理變化過程，電影音樂將其細膩、準確而富感染力地展現出來。
5.珍貴影像
《蒙娜麗莎》《岩間聖母》《最後的晚餐》等傳世畫作的原作出現在鏡頭裏。盧浮宮實景拍攝，觀衆仿佛實地歷險。塞納河、布洛涅森林、羅斯林教堂都出現在片裏。最令人難忘的還是各種風格的歐洲古代教堂。
1.最意外的破譯
蘭登根據索尼埃留下的密碼，一路破譯下去，居然在《蒙娜麗莎》後面找到一把鑰匙。整個破譯過程意外迭出、精彩紛呈。
2.最驚險的倒車
蘭登和索菲被警察發現，他們來不及調轉車頭，衹好倒車逃跑。在車水馬竜的大街上，倒着開的小汽車居然跑贏了迎頭追上來的警車。
3.最搞笑的急智
銀行行長冒充卡車司機，差點被警察識破。警察看到司機手腕上的勞力士金表，很是納悶。行長頗有急智，趁機嚮警察兜售：“冒牌貨！你想要？給你，35塊……不行？那30塊？”不耐煩的警察放走了卡車。
4.最駭人聽聞的
雷·提彬對着《最後的晚餐》侃侃而談：聖杯其實是一個女人，而這個女人正是耶穌的妻子……這個場面很平靜，但雷·提彬的主張，實在讓人腦袋“嗡嗡嗡”。
5.最亦真亦幻的
蘭登和索菲嚮牛頓墓地走去。牛頓生活時代的倫敦街景與現代的倫敦街景在銀幕上重迭起來，前者是粗顆粒、高反差的畫面，後者是正常色彩還原的畫面，一時間讓人産生不知“今夕何夕”的超現實感。
6.最激動人心的
影片最後，蘭登颳鬍子受傷，受到水池裏血綫的啓發，想到抹大拉遺骸的藏身之地。他來到盧浮宮，地下靜靜躺??待，劍刃和聖杯一起看護着她的門外，她躺在大師們令人鐘愛的傑作的懷抱中，在繁星閃爍的天空下終於得到了安息。”隨着鏡頭，謎語被完美破解。
《達芬奇密碼》-改編亮點
1.剋服恐懼
蘭登因為7歲的時候掉進井中，因此對密閉的環境非常緊張，不時表現出恐懼的感覺。片中也着力表現，除了一開始他與法希進入盧浮宮坐電梯是原書已有情節外，另增加了一個細節：他和索菲從蘇黎世存托銀行出來，為避警方追捕，進入裝甲運鈔車這樣一個密閉的空間，躲在車廂內緊張得發抖。索菲用小時候媽媽安撫她的方法—————把雙手搓熱了，捂在蘭登的兩邊太陽穴上，同時柔聲安慰鼓勵。
2.密碼筒
原着中的密碼筒有兩個，第一個打開是一個更小的密碼筒。片中衹出現一個密碼筒，就是原着中的第二個密碼筒及提示語句，避免了情節的重複。
3.法希身份
原着法希是一個好大喜功的警察，而在片中，他成為事工會的教徒。事工會的主教阿潤沙（原着譯為阿林加洛沙）告訴法希，他聽到羅伯特·蘭登的懺悔，正是蘭登殺了盧浮宮博物館館長雅剋·索尼埃，因此，法希將蘭登鎖定為兇手，並且將案情進展隨時報告給阿潤沙。但是最後關頭，他看出了破綻，發現阿潤沙編造了謊言，因而不再懷疑蘭登。
4.聖杯秘密
聖杯的秘密為何不嚮世人公開，這是改編的最大亮點。原着中，索菲與奶奶、弟弟相認，得知郇山隱修會根本不打算嚮世人揭開聖杯的秘密，於是决定放棄嚮世人揭示這一足以摧毀基督教權威的秘密，致使影片一開始郇山隱修會的4名守護者寧死不說出聖杯的秘密顯得多餘，全書不免有虎頭蛇尾之感。而在片中，蘭登與索菲在羅斯林教堂沒有找到抹大拉瑪利亞的石棺，誤以為已經被索尼埃毀掉，而索菲要證明自己實為耶穌的後代缺少DNA實證。正灰心之際，蘭登突然發現盧浮宮玻璃金字塔的設計暗合聖杯存放地的提示語，接着鏡頭轉入盧浮宮玻璃金字塔底下，正是抹大拉瑪利亞的石棺，影片在這裏結束。這樣的結局，使得全片前後呼應，更能自圓其說。
《達芬奇密碼》-新片快評
驚悚懸疑不輸原著
電影《達·芬奇密碼》的緊張驚悚氣氛、環環相扣故事、高潮迭起情節，絲毫不比原着遜色。
導演為了製造緊張驚悚，大量運用詭秘陰沉的背景音樂。此外，大量血淋淋的鏡頭嚇得觀衆連
《達芬奇密碼》《達芬奇密碼》
連發出驚呼。片中多次出現白化殺手塞拉斯對自己的肉體進行懲罰的特寫鏡頭。塞拉斯脫去外衣，露出健美的裸體，細看上去傷痕纍纍。接着他取下帶釘的苦修帶，使勁勒上鐵鏈，痛得渾身顫抖。塞拉斯在聖敘爾皮斯教堂行兇處理得相當好。先是修女桑德琳接到電話，半夜安排塞拉斯參觀教堂，突然窗戶被陰風猛地關上，暗示不祥。全片多次用閃回表現塞拉斯殺害不同人物，使人一看到他就聯想起殘暴、血腥。環環相扣的解謎過程與步步緊逼的追殺情節緊密交織，相當刺激。索菲和蘭登自進入盧浮宮博物館起開始解謎，用字母換位法找到達·芬奇《蒙娜麗莎》，繼而找到《岩間聖母》，發現索尼埃留下的鑰匙，與警衛打鬥；在出逃途中，索菲又展示了一把車技，倒着開“都市精靈”，衝過車流和人群……基本上每轉換一個場景就出現一個高潮。不過影片也有小小的遺憾：背景知識太多，在兩個半小時內，將之全盤灌輸給觀衆，使得臺詞多而密集，一派喋喋不休的架式，與整片驚悚懸疑的氣氛不太融合。
《達芬奇密碼》-首映
根據丹·布朗暢銷小說改編的同名電影《達·芬奇密碼》即將於本月19號在全球上映。但是，和該小說之前遭遇的官司危機一樣，這部影片還沒上映，就已經在衆多國傢遭到了不同程度的抵製。
印度大約2000名天主教徒前天在孟買舉行抗議集會，認為該片有關情節褻瀆了天主教。由於抗議不斷，該片在印度的首映已被推遲。在英國，影片遇到了分級爭議。英國電影分類局專傢認為，這部電影用於增加緊張氣氛的配樂會讓兒童感到恐怖。如不進行重大修改，衹能獲得受限製的 15級許可。而在新加坡，這部電影也被列為"成人題材"的NC-16級電影。
5月17日晚美國影片《達-芬奇密碼》在北京亮相。由於時差原因，《達-芬奇密碼》在中國首映的時間實際上比戛納還要早六七個小時，從而成為此片在世界範圍內的最早亮相。衆多明星均捧場出席了該首映禮，因在北京拍攝影片《滿城盡帶黃金甲》的周潤發也攜夫人陳薈蓮出席。
《達-芬奇密碼》的首映典禮在東方新世紀影城所在的君悅酒店宴會大廳舉行。入場嘉賓在進場前可在一個特製的暗箱中扮作 “蒙娜麗莎”進行拍照。20位通過網絡遊戲在全國範圍海選産生的特殊嘉賓在首映式上登場，在幾位明星來賓的評判下，他們一起通過一係列密碼破譯遊戲展開了激烈角逐，最終産生了4位分數最高的幸運兒。他們將代表中國的“密碼迷”們與其它國傢的遊戲優勝者一起參加精彩紛呈的“達芬奇歐洲之旅”。
《達芬奇密碼》-波折經歷
世界天主教會教皇本篤十六世的副手號召起了信衆，各宗教團體開始了公開指責地址，白化病患者為自己的形象再次被典型化憤怒，涉及的旅遊地點格外蓬
《達芬奇密碼》《達芬奇密碼》
勃，鑽研起密碼學的人持續增多，遊戲開發納入進程，宗教熱潮空前高漲，有事沒事的閑人們也準備起了長期的激烈爭論……謊言？真相？陰謀論？蒙娜麗莎神秘的微笑再次成為了茶餘飯後的談資。
不過一部虛構小說，怎麽就能引得西方社會各界人士肉搏？是它蟬聯美國暢銷書排行榜117周，全球銷量超過4000萬本，成為美國今年最受歡迎的小說的事實？還是因為丹·布朗在《達芬奇密碼》裏講的故事，完全是和西方人的宗教支柱唱對臺戲？爭論從來沒有答案，我們衹知道，不管是多少的抗議，多麽沸沸嚷嚷的涉嫌侵權案，那個小說裏承載了千古復雜秘密的達芬奇密碼，受關註的程度還是一直升溫！
對於虎視眈眈的好萊塢來說，這樣不缺談資的題材絶對是電影票房的根基，爭議越大關註越多票房越高，改編劇本衹是早晚而已。更何況，盧浮宮、達· 芬奇、聖經、宗教、密碼學、符號學、驚悚、懸疑和讓人心驚膽顫解密追蹤，《達芬奇密碼》從一開始就明顯具備銀幕發光元素。震蕩了世界書市的超級暢銷小說即將面世，還有什麽比這更值得宣傳呢？！
The title of the novel refers to, among other things, the fact that the murder victim is found in the Denon Wing of the Louvre, naked and posed like Leonardo da Vinci's famous drawing, the Vitruvian Man, with a cryptic message written beside his body and a pentacle drawn on his stomach in his own blood.
The novel has provoked a popular interest in speculation concerning the Holy Grail legend and Magdalene's role in the history of Christianity. The book has been extensively denounced by many Christian denominations as an attack on the Roman Catholic Church. It has also been criticized for its historical and scientific inaccuracy.
The book is a worldwide bestseller that sold 80 million copies as of 2009[update] and has been translated into 44 languages. This makes it, as of 2010, the best selling English language novel of the 21st century and the 2nd biggest selling novel of the 21st century in any language. Combining the detective, thriller, and conspiracy fiction genres, it is Brown's second novel to include the character Robert Langdon, the first being his 2000 novel Angels & Demons. In November 2004, Random House published a Special Illustrated Edition with 160 illustrations. In 2006, a film adaptation was released by Sony's Columbia Pictures.
This book describes the attempts of Robert Langdon, Professor of Religious Symbology at Harvard University, to solve the murder of renowned curator Jacques Saunière of the Louvre Museum in Paris. A baffling cipher is found near his body. Saunière's granddaughter, Sophie Neveu and Langdon attempt to sort out the bizarre riddles and are stunned to discover a trail of clues hidden in the works of Leonardo Da Vinci.
The unraveling of the mystery requires solutions to a series of brain-teasers, including anagrams and number puzzles. The ultimate solution is found to be intimately connected with the possible location of the Holy Grail and to a mysterious society called the Priory of Sion, as well as to the Knights Templar. The story also involves the Roman Catholic organization Opus Dei.
Details
The story starts off with the murder of Jacques Saunière (the Grand Master Of Priory of Sion, although virtually no one knows that at the time) by Silas (acting on behalf of someone known only as The Teacher) to extract the location of the "keystone", an item that leads to the Holy Grail. The police summon Robert Langdon, who is delivering a lecture in Paris, to the murder scene and ask for his help in deciphering the code Sauniere left on and near his body. Bezu Fache, the Captain of the Central Directorate Judicial Police, believes Langdon is the prime suspect in the murder.
Sophie Neveu shows up at the murder scene as a police cryptographer and quickly gains Langdon's trust. Jacques Saunière was Neveu's grandfather and they were very close to each other until she discovered him participating in a pagan sex ritual (Hieros Gamos) at his home in Normandy, when she made a surprise visit there during a break from boarding school. (That she had observed something is mentioned and hinted at several times throughout the story, but what it is that she saw is revealed to no one, including the reader, until near the end when she tells Robert).
Langdon and Neveu find a baffling cipher near Saunière's body. These clues were meant to lead to a second set of clues. By deciphering her grandfather's clues, Neveu finds the painting, which has a key hidden behind it with an address and symbols of the Priory of Sion were written on it. Working together, Langdon and Neveu trick the police, flee the scene and figure out the secret of the key.
The key opens a safe deposit box at the Paris branch of the Depository Bank of Zurich. Saunière's account number at the bank is a 10-digit number listing the digits of the first eight Fibonacci numbers: 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21.
Inside the safe deposit box they find the keystone which is actually a large cryptex, a cylindrical device supposedly invented by Leonardo Da Vinci for transporting secure messages. To open it the combination of rotating components must be arranged in the correct order. If the cryptex is forced open an enclosed vial of vinegar ruptures and dissolves the message, which was written on papyrus. The rosewood box containing the large cryptex contains clues to the combination of the cryptex, written in backwards script in the same manner as Leonardo's journals.
The instructions that Saunière revealed to Silas at gunpoint are actually a well-rehearsed lie, namely that the keystone is buried in the Church of Saint-Sulpice beneath an obelisk that lies exactly along the ancient "Rose Line" (the former Prime Meridian which passed through Paris before it was redesignated to pass through Greenwich). The message beneath the obelisk simply contains a reference to a passage in the Book of Job (38:11a) which reads in part "Hitherto shalt thou go and no further."(KJV) When Silas reads this, he realizes he has been tricked.
Still being chased by the police, Langdon and Neveu take the keystone to Sir Leigh Teabing (an expert in the Holy Grail and Langdon's friend). They flee the country in Teabing's private plane, and on the plane figure out how to open the cryptex, but the large cryptex actually contains a second smaller cryptex with a second riddle that reveals its combination. The riddle, which says to seek the orb that should be on the tomb of "a knight a pope interred," refers not to a medieval knight, but rather to the tomb of Sir Isaac Newton, who was buried in Westminster Abbey, and was eulogized by Alexander Pope (A. Pope).
It turns out that Teabing is the Teacher who assigned Silas to kill Jacques Saunière and he also had information on the identities of the leaders of the Priory of Sion who then bugged their offices and had Silas assassinate them. Rémy is his collaborator. It is Teabing who contacted Bishop Aringarosa, hiding his identity, and tricked him into financing the plan to find the Grail. He never intended to hand the Grail over to Aringarosa but is taking advantage of Opus Dei's resolve to find it. Teabing believes that the Priory of Sion has broken its vow to reveal the secret of the Grail to the world at the appointed time. He plans to steal the Grail documents and reveal them to the world himself, ruining the church, which he blames for the event. It was he who informed Silas that Langdon and Sophie Neveu were at his chateau. He did not seize the keystone from them himself because he did not want to reveal his identity. He summoned Silas to seize the keystone in his house, but himself thwarted Silas, in order to gain Langdon and Sophie's further help with decoding the cryptex. Subsequently, the police raid the house, having followed the tracking device in the truck Langdon had stolen while escaping from the bank. Teabing led Neveu and Langdon to the Temple Church in London, knowing full well that it was a dead end, in order to stage the hostage scene with Rémy and thereby obtain the keystone without revealing his real plot to Langdon and Neveu.
To erase all knowledge of his work, Teabing kills Rémy by giving him cognac laced with peanut powder, knowing Rémy has a deadly allergy to peanuts. Thus, Rémy dies of an anaphylactic shock. Teabing also anonymously tells the police that Silas is hiding in the London headquarters of Opus Dei.
In a showdown with Teabing in Westminster Abbey, Langdon secretly opens the second cryptex and removes its contents before destroying it in front of Teabing. Teabing is arrested and led away while fruitlessly begging Langdon to tell him the contents of the second cryptex and the secret location of the Grail.
Bezu Fache finds out that Neveu and Langdon are innocent after Bishop Aringarosa contacts him privately to confess. Fache then cancels the warrants for the arrest of Neveu and Langdon.
Silas accidentally shoots Aringarosa outside the London headquarters of Opus Dei while fleeing from the police. Realizing his terrible error and that he has been duped, Aringarosa tells Bezu Fache to give the bearer bonds in his briefcase to the families of the murdered leaders of the Priory of Sion. Silas dies from his fatal wounds.
The final message inside the second keystone actually does not refer to Rosslyn Chapel, although the Grail was indeed once buried there, below the Star of David on the floor (the two interlocking triangles are the "blade" and "chalice," i.e., male and female symbols).
The docent in Rosslyn Chapel is Sophie's long-lost brother. Sophie had been told as a child that he was killed with her parents and grandmother in a car accident.
The guardian of Rosslyn Chapel, Marie Chauvel, is Sophie's long-lost grandmother, and the wife of Jacques Saunière. She is the woman who participated in the sex ritual with Jacques Saunière. It is revealed that Sophie is a descendant of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene. The Priory of Sion hid her identity to protect her from possible threats to her life.
Even though all four of the leaders of the Priory of Sion are killed, the secret is not lost, since there is still a contingency plan (never revealed) that will keep the organization and its secret alive.
The real meaning of the last message is that the Grail is buried beneath the small pyramid (i.e., the "blade," a male symbol) directly below the inverted glass pyramid of the Louvre (i.e., the "chalice," a female symbol, which Langdon and Sophie ironically almost crashed into while making their original escape from Bezu Fache). It also lies beneath the "Rose Line," which is similar to "Rosslyn." Langdon figures out this final piece to the puzzle in the last pages of the book, but he does not appear inclined to tell anyone about this. See La Pyramide Inversée for further discussion.
Characters
These are the principal characters that drive the plot. Some have names that are puns, anagrams or hidden clues:
* Robert Langdon
* Jacques Saunière
* Sophie Neveu
* Bezu Fache
* Silas
* Manuel Aringarosa
* André Vernet
* Leigh Teabing
* Rémy Legaludec
* Jérôme Collet
* Marie Chauvel Saint-Clair
* Pamela Gettum
Secret of the Holy Grail
Detail of The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci
In the novel Leigh Teabing explains to Sophie Neveu that the figure at the right hand of Jesus in Leonardo da Vinci's painting of "The Last Supper" is not the apostle John, but actually Mary Magdalene. In the novel, Magdalene was the wife of Jesus Christ and was pregnant with his child when Jesus was crucified. Leigh Teabing says that the absence of a chalice in Leonardo's painting means Leonardo knew that Mary Magdalene was the actual Holy Grail and the bearer of Jesus' blood in the form of the child she was carrying. Leigh Teabing goes on to explain that this idea is supported by the shape of the letter "V" that is formed by the bodily positions of Jesus and Mary, as "V" is the symbol for the sacred feminine. The absence of the Apostle John in the painting is explained by knowing that John is also referred to as "the Disciple Jesus loved", code for Mary Magdalene. The book also notes that the color scheme of their garments are inverted: Jesus wears a red blouse with royal blue cape; John/Mary wears a royal blue blouse with red cape — perhaps symbolizing two bonded halves of marriage.
According to the novel, the secrets of the Holy Grail, as kept by the Priory of Sion are as follows:
* The Holy Grail is not a physical chalice, but a woman, namely Mary Magdalene, who carried the bloodline of Christ.
* The Old French expression for the Holy Grail, San gréal, actually is a play on Sang réal, which literally means "royal blood" in Old French.
* The Grail relics consist of the documents that testify to the bloodline, as well as the actual bones of Mary Magdalene.
* The Grail relics of Mary Magdalene were hidden by the Priory of Sion in a secret crypt, perhaps beneath Rosslyn Chapel.
* The Church has suppressed the truth about Mary Magdalene and the Jesus bloodline for 2000 years. This is principally because they fear the power of the sacred feminine in and of itself and because this would challenge the primacy of Saint Peter as an apostle. More than that, it would prove that Jesus was human, and therefore not divine.
* Mary Magdalene was of royal descent (through the Jewish House of Benjamin) and was the wife of Jesus, of the House of David. That she was a prostitute was slander invented by the Church to obscure their true relationship. At the time of the Crucifixion, she was pregnant. After the Crucifixion, she fled to Gaul, where she was sheltered by the Jews of Marseille. She gave birth to a daughter, named Sarah. The bloodline of Jesus and Mary Magdalene became the Merovingian dynasty of France.
* The existence of the bloodline was the secret that was contained in the documents discovered by the Crusaders after they conquered Jerusalem in 1099 (see Kingdom of Jerusalem). The Priory of Sion and the Knights Templar were organized to keep the secret.
The secrets of the Grail are connected, according to the novel, to Leonardo Da Vinci's work as follows:
* Leonardo was a member of the Priory of Sion and knew the secret of the Grail. The secret is in fact revealed in The Last Supper, in which no actual chalice is present at the table. The figure seated next to Christ is not a man, but a woman, his wife Mary Magdalene. Most reproductions of the work are from a later alteration that obscured her obvious female characteristics.
* The androgyny of the Mona Lisa reflects the sacred union of male and female implied in the holy union of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. Such parity between the cosmic forces of masculine and feminine has long been a deep threat to the established power of the Church. The name Mona Lisa is actually an anagram for "Amon L'Isa", referring to the father and mother gods of Ancient Egyptian religion (namely Amun and Isis).
A number of different authors also speculate about the possibility of Jesus becoming a father. There are at least three children attributed to him, a daughter Tamar, born before the Crucifixion, and two sons Jesus (the Jesus Justus from the New Testament) and Josephes, both born after the Resurrection. Although their names are now part of the common culture of conspiracy writers, only two decades ago, when The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail was written, the names were not mentioned. The royal descents that lie at the heart of The Da Vinci Code mystery centre on the family of Josephes, who is supposed to be the grandfather of Aminadab del Graal, first of the "Fisher Kings". However the genealogies that are quoted in Grail lore appear to record too few generations, with children regularly being born to fathers in their 40s.
Reception
Brown's novel was a major success in 2004 and was outsold only by J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It won Book Sense's 2004 Book of the Year Award in the Adult Fiction category. It spawned a number of offspring works and drew positive reviews from The New York Times, People,[citation needed] and The Washington Post.[citation needed] Additionally, The Da Vinci Code has inspired a number of novels very similar to it, including Raymond Khoury's The Last Templar and Steve Berry's The Templar Legacy.[citation needed] In a 2008 survey of more than 15,000 Australian readers, the book came in fourth in a list of the 101 best books ever written.
The book was not generally well received by critics, however, and it has been the subject of numerous negative appraisals concerning its literary value and its portrayal of history. Its writing and historical accuracy were reviewed scathingly by The New Yorker, The New York Times, and Salon.com, among others.
Criticism
Main article: Inaccuracies in The Da Vinci Code
Historical inaccuracies
The book generated criticism when it was first published, due to its inaccurate description of core aspects of Christianity, the history of the Catholic Church, and descriptions of European art, history, and architecture. The book has received mostly negative reviews from Catholic and other Christian communities.
Many critics say that Brown should have done much more research before publishing this book. On February 22, 2004, an article titled "The Last Word: The Da Vinci Con" appeared in the New York Times by writer Laura Miller. Miller attacks the Da Vinci Code on multiple levels, referring to it as "based on a notorious hoax", "rank nonsense", and "bogus." She points out how heavily the book is based on the fabrications of Pierre Plantard (the Priory of Sion did not exist until Plantard created it) who in 1953 was arrested and convicted of fraud.
Critics accuse Brown of distorting and fabricating history. For example, Marcia Ford wrote:
Regardless of whether you agree with Brown's conclusions, it's clear that his history is largely fanciful, which means he and his publisher have violated a long-held if unspoken agreement with the reader: Fiction that purports to present historical facts should be researched as carefully as a nonfiction book would be.
Richard Abanes wrote:
The most flagrant aspect … is not that Dan Brown disagrees with Christianity but that he utterly warps it in order to disagree with it … to the point of completely rewriting a vast number of historical events. And making the matter worse has been Brown's willingness to pass off his distortions as ‘facts' with which innumerable scholars and historians agree.
The book opens with the claim by Dan Brown that "The Priory of Sion — a European secret society founded in 1099 — is a real organization". The Priory of Sion itself was actually a hoax created in 1956 by a Mr. Pierre Plantard. The author also claims that "all descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents … and secret rituals in this novel are accurate"; but this claim is disputed by almost all academic scholars in the fields the book discusses.
Numerous works have been published that explain in detail why any claim to accuracy is difficult to substantiate, while two lawsuits have been brought alleging plagiarism in The Da Vinci Code. The first suit for copyright infringement was filed in February 2006 in a British court by the authors of The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, a purportedly nonfiction account of Mary Magdalene's role as the wife of Jesus of Nazareth and the mother of his child, was found in Dan Brown's favor. No verdict has yet been rendered on a second suit, filed in August of the same year, in the United States by Jack Dunn, the author of The Vatican Boys.
A third author, Lewis Perdue, alleged that Brown plagiarized from two of his novels, The Da Vinci Legacy, originally published in 1983, and Daughter of God, originally published in the year 2000. He sought to block distribution of the book and film. However, Judge George Daniels of the US District Court in New York ruled against Perdue in 2005, saying that "A reasonable average lay observer would not conclude that The Da Vinci Code is substantially similar to Daughter of God" and that "Any slightly similar elements are on the level of generalised or otherwise unprotectable ideas." Perdue appealed, the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the original decision, saying Mr. Perdue's arguments were "without merit".
Dan Brown himself dilutes the suggestion of some of the more controversial aspects being fact on his web site: "The "FACT" page makes no statement whatsoever about any of the ancient theories discussed by fictional characters. Interpreting those ideas is left to the reader". However, it also says that "these real elements are interpreted and debated by fictional characters", "it is my belief that some of the theories discussed by these characters may have merit." and "the secret behind The Da Vinci Code was too well documented and significant for me to dismiss." Brown's ambiguity on the matter continues to fuel debate over the factual content of the novel.
Brown's earlier statements about the accuracy of the historical information in his book, however, were far more strident. In 2003, while promoting his novel, he was asked in interviews what parts of the history in his novel actually happened. He replied "Absolutely all of it." In a 2003 interview with CNN's Martin Savidge he was again asked how much of the historical background was true. He replied, "99% is true ... the background is all true". Asked by Elizabeth Vargas in an ABC News special if the book would have been different if he had written it as non-fiction he replied, "I don't think it would have." More recently Brown has avoided interviews and has been rather more circumspect about the accuracy of his claims in his few public statements. He has also, however, never retracted any of his earlier assertions that the history in the novel is accurate, despite substantial academic criticism of his claims.
In 2005, UK TV personality Tony Robinson edited and narrated a detailed rebuttal of the main arguments of Dan Brown and those of Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln, "The Real Da Vinci Code", shown on British TV Channel 4. The program featured lengthy interviews with many of the main protagonists cited by Brown as "absolute fact" in The Da Vinci Code. Arnaud de Sède, son of Gérard de Sède, stated categorically that his father and Plantard had made up the existence of the Prieuré de Sion, the cornerstone of the Jesus bloodline theory - to quote Arnaud de Sede in the program, "frankly, it was piffle". The program also cast severe doubt on the Rosslyn Chapel association with the Grail and on other related stories like the alleged landing of Mary Magdalene in France.
Portrayal of early Christianity
According to The Da Vinci Code, the Roman Emperor Constantine I suppressed Gnosticism because it portrayed Jesus as purely human. The novel's argument is as follows. Constantine wanted Christianity to act as a unifying religion for the Roman Empire. He thought Christianity would appeal to pagans only if it featured a demigod similar to pagan heroes. According to the Gnostic Gospels, Jesus was merely a human prophet, not a demigod. Therefore, to change Jesus' image, Constantine destroyed the Gnostic Gospels and promoted the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, which portray Jesus as divine or semidivine.
In fact, Gnosticism did not portray Jesus as merely human. Some Gnostic writings do depict Jesus interacting with his disciples in a wholly human way, one example being the Gospel of Mary,[citation needed] but the general Gnostic depiction of Jesus is not clear-cut. Many Gnostic writings depict Christ as purely divine, his human body being a mere illusion (see Docetism). Some Gnostic sects saw Christ this way because they regarded matter as evil, and therefore believed that a divine spirit would never have taken on a material body. The Da Vinci Code also portrays the Council of Nicaea's decision to recognize the fully human and divine aspects of Christ as being a close vote, while some authors dispute this.
Literary criticism
The novel has also attracted criticism in literary circles for its alleged lack of artistic or literary merit and its allegedly stereotyped portrayal of British and French characters.
Salman Rushdie claimed during a lecture, "Do not start me on 'The Da Vinci Code,' A novel so bad that it gives bad novels a bad name."
Stephen Fry has referred to Brown's writings as "complete loose stool-water" and "arse gravy of the worst kind." In a live chat on June 14, 2006, he clarified, "I just loathe all those book[s] about the Holy Grail and Masons and Catholic conspiracies and all that botty-dribble. I mean, there's so much more that's interesting and exciting in art and in history. It plays to the worst and laziest in humanity, the desire to think the worst of the past and the desire to feel superior to it in some fatuous way."
In his 2005 University of Maine Commencement Address, best-selling author Stephen King put Dan Brown's work and "Jokes for the John" on the same level, calling such literature the "intellectual equivalent of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese." The New York Times, while reviewing the movie based on the book, called the book "Dan Brown's best-selling primer on how not to write an English sentence". The New Yorker reviewer Anthony Lane refers to it as "unmitigated junk" and decries "the crumbling coarseness of the style." Linguist Geoffrey Pullum and others posted several entries critical of Dan Brown's writing, at Language Log, calling Brown one of the "worst prose stylists in the history of literature" and saying Brown's "writing is not just bad; it is staggeringly, clumsily, thoughtlessly, almost ingeniously bad." Roger Ebert described it as a "potboiler written with little grace and style," although he did say it did "supply an intriguing plot." In his review of the film National Treasure, he wrote: "I should read a potboiler like The Da Vinci Code every once in a while, just to remind myself that life is too short to read books like The Da Vinci Code."
Parodies
2005
The book was parodied by Adam Roberts with The Va Dinci Cod, and by Toby Clements with The Asti Spumante Code.
A telemovie spin-off of the Australian television series Kath & Kim parodied the film version as Da Kath and Kim Code in late 2005.
2006
The BBC program Dead Ringers parodied the Da Vinci Code, calling it the Da Rolf Harris Code.
Popular South African political cartoonist Zapiro published a book collection of his strips entitled Da Zuma Code, which parodies the former deputy president Jacob Zuma.
2007
The book was parodied in the South Park episode "Fantastic Easter Special" and Robert Rankin's novel The Da-da-de-da-da Code.
The characters Lucy and Silas are parodied in the film Epic Movie. The movie starts with a scene similar to the opening of The Da Vinci Code, with Silas chasing the orphan Lucy, a parody of Sophie Neveu, in a museum. Throughout the movie, Silas speaks in Latin. However, the translations for his speech are intentionally false for the sake of parody (e.g. Silas says "Et tu, Brute?" to Aslo, when the film translates it as "I'm Rick James, bitch!").
Szyfr Jana Matejki (Jan Matejko's Cipher) is a Polish parody by Dariusz Rekosz. Sequel Ko(s)miczna futryna: Szyfr Jana Matejki II (Co[s]mic Door-frame: Jan Matejko's Cipher II) was released in 2008. Main character is inspector Józef Świenty who tries to solve The Greatest Secret of Mankind (Największa Tajemnica Ludzkości) - parentage of Piast dynasty.
The book was parodied in the American Dad episode "Black Mystery Month". But instead Stan searches for the controversial truth that Mary Todd Lincoln created peanut butter, not George Washington Carver.
2008
In 2008, it was parodied in the second series of That Mitchell and Webb Look as "The Numberwang Code", a trailer for a fictional film based on a recurring sketch on the show.
Also in March 2008, the Irish blogger Twenty Major, parodied elements in his first book The Order of the Phoenix Park.
Inspiration and influences
The novel is part of the exploration of alternative religious history. Its principal source book is listed as per the court case, Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince's The Templar Revelation, as well as the books by Margaret Starbird. An earlier novel had already used the theme of a Jesus bloodline: The Dreamer of the Vine, by Liz Greene, published in 1980 (Richard Leigh's sister and Michael Baigent's girlfriend at that time). The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail (which is explicitly named, among several others, at the beginning of chapter 60), was stated by Dan Brown not to be amongst his primary research material for the book.
Having paid acknowledgement to the above books as sources of inspiration, Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code contains the overriding salient point in its plot: that the Merovingian kings of France were descendants from the bloodline of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene.
In reference to Richard Leigh and Michael Baigent (two of the authors of The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail), Brown named the principal Grail expert of his story "Leigh Teabing" (an anagram of "Baigent Leigh"). Brown confirmed this during the court case. In reply to the suggestion that Lincoln was also referenced, as he has medical problems resulting in a severe limp, like the character of Leigh Teabing, Brown stated he was unaware of Lincoln's illness and the correspondence was a coincidence. After losing before the High Court in July 12, 2006, Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh appealed, unsuccessfully, to the Court of Appeal.
Following the trial, it was found that the publicity had actually significantly boosted UK sales of The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail
There are also some striking similarities to 1996 video game Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars.
Release details
The book has been translated into over 40 languages, primarily in hardcover. Alternate formats include audio cassette, CD, and e-book. Most recently, a Trade Paperback edition was released March 2006 in conjunction with the film.
Major English-language (hardcover) editions include:
* (US) The Da Vinci Code, April 2003 (First edition), Doubleday, ISBN 0-385-50420-9.
* The Da Vinci Code, Special Illustrated Edition, November 2, 2004, Doubleday, ISBN 0-385-51375-5 (as of January 2006, has sold 576,000 copies).
* (UK) The Da Vinci Code, April 2004, Corgi Adult. ISBN 0-552-14951-9.
* (UK) The Da Vinci Code: The Illustrated Edition, October 2, 2004, Bantam Press. ISBN 0-593-05425-3.
* (US/Canada) The Da Vinci Code (Trade Paperback edition), March 2006, Anchor Books.
* On March 28, 2006, Anchor Books released 5 million paperback copies of the book, and Broadway Books released 200,000 paperback copies of The Da Vinci Code Special Illustrated Edition.
* On May 19, the day of the film's release, Doubleday and Broadway Books released The Da Vinci Code Illustrated Screenplay: Behind the Scenes of the Major Motion Picture, by screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, with the introductions by Ron Howard and Dan Brown. It included film stills, behind-the-scenes photos and the full script. There were 25,000 copies of the hardcover, and 200,000 of the paperback version.
Puzzles
Book jacket
Part of the advertising campaign for the novel was that the artwork in the American version of the bookjacket held various codes, and that the reader who solved them via the author's website would be given a prize. Several thousand people actually solved the codes, and one name was randomly chosen to be the winner, with the name announced on live television, Good Morning America, in early 2004. The prize was a trip to Paris.
The five hidden puzzles reveal:
* That the back of the book jacket conceals latitude and longitude coordinates, written in reverse, light red on dark red. Adding one degree to the latitude gives the coordinates of the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency in Northern Virginia, which is the location of a mysterious sculpture called Kryptos. The coordinates were taken from part of the decrypted text of part 2 of the sculpture (part 4 has never been solved). When Brown has been asked why the coordinates are one degree off, his reply has been, "The discrepancy is intentional".
* Bold letters are present on the book jacket. There is a secret message hidden in the text of the book flaps. The message: Is there no help for the widow's son (a reference to Freemasonry).
* The words "only WW knows" can be seen on the back cover. It is a phrase printed invertedly, in the torn part of the book cover. This too is a reference to part 2 of the Kryptos sculpture.
* A circle with numbers, between the Doubleday logo and the barcode, reveals a secret message. These are the chapter numbers where the initial letters are arranged in Caesar box format, revealing the code "E Pluribus Unum".
* There is reverse writing on the cover of the book, which is the riddle for the first cryptex.
Brown, both via his website and in person, has stated that the puzzles in the bookjacket give hints about the subject of his next novel, The Lost Symbol. This repeats a theme from his earlier novels. For example, Deception Point had an encrypted message that, when solved, said, "The Da Vinci Code will surface".
In the simplified Chinese version of The Da Vinci Code, the cover has a secret text; however, this text can be easily seen. It reads: "13-3-2-1-1-8-5 O, Draconian devil! Oh, Lame Saint! P.S. Find Robert Langdon." This is the multiply encrypted clue written in invisible ink next to the dead body in the museum, which kicks off the plot of the entire novel.
Pages
All of the puzzles listed below can be found within the page headers in the Mass Market US Paperback edition of The Da Vinci Code.
* Page 60: "Ankh Fendile" (anagram of "knife handle") in place of "Dan Brown"
* Page 95: "De Lancs" (anagram of "candles") in place of "Da Vinci"
* Page 138: "Das Brilli" (anagram of "billiards") in place of "Dan Brown"
* Page 141: "La Sufrete" (anagram of "true/false") in place of "Da Vinci"
* Page 155: "sos" in place of page number
* Page 192: "Reon Tigaldo" (anagram of "Golden Ratio") in place of "Dan Brown"
* Page 217: "De Ysosy" (anagram of "odyssey") in place of "Da Vinci"
* Page 262: "Mer Reve" (anagram of "Vermeer") in place of "Dan Brown"
* Page 322: page number replaced by three asterisks
Also in the body text on page 138, the word "numbers" in the sentence "Tearing it open, she found four Paris phone numbers" is printed in a bold medieval typeface, instead of the typical serif typeface used throughout the rest of the book.
Film
Columbia Pictures adapted the novel to film, with a screenplay written by Akiva Goldsman, and Academy Award winner Ron Howard directing. The film was released on May 19, 2006, and stars Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon, Audrey Tautou as Sophie Neveu, and Sir Ian McKellen as Leigh Teabing. The film had an opening weekend gross of $77,073,388 and grossed $217,536,138 in 2006, making it the fifth highest grossing movie of 2006. The film did very well overseas, grossing over $758,239,852 worldwide. On November 14, 2006 the movie was released on DVD.
蘭登與法國一位頗有天分的密碼破譯專傢索菲·奈芙(奧黛麗·塔圖飾)，在對一大堆怪異的密碼進行整理的過程當中，居然發現一連串的綫索就隱藏在達·芬奇的藝術作品當中。這些綫索，大傢都清楚可見，然而卻被畫傢巧妙地隱藏起來。
蘭登無意中非常震驚地發現，已故的博物館館長（也就是奈芙的祖父）竟然是峋山隱修會（Priory of Sion）的重要成員。峋山隱修會是一個真實存在的秘密組織，其成員包括牛頓、維剋多·雨果與達·芬奇等多位歷史名人。蘭登的直覺告訴他，他和奈芙是在找尋一個石破天驚的歷史秘密……
《達芬奇密碼》-劇情
巴黎深夜，羅浮宮德高望重的館長，在館內被人殺死，旁邊寫了一串人傢看不懂的字。一串字裏唯一看得懂的是羅伯特·蘭登這個人名，這人是哈佛大學歷史教授，也是一位符號學家，館長與他素未謀面，但約好第二天見面。警察局找到了這位教授住的旅館，並帶到羅浮宮命案現場。
其中有一名女警嚮教授偷偷透露自己是館長的孫女身份，他們經幾番猜測，兩人最後在達·芬奇《蒙娜麗莎的微笑》背後，找到了館長生前留下的紙條，是一首語意含糊的詩。後來被調查員警發現情況不對，教授帶着館長的孫女逃跑，這一對男女不但成了通輯犯，另一個延續了將近千年的秘密組織，也開始追逐他們。故事就這樣展開序幕……
暢銷 500 萬本的小說，當然不衹是單純的推理故事，真正引人入勝的，是背後所傳遞的信息～延續兩千年的宗教爭議，有關傳說耶穌娶妻生子。耶穌成為“基督”，是在公元三百多年以後的事，早期的教會崇拜“偉大的母親”，而代表的女性，卻是淫蕩悔改、以後跟隨耶穌的抹大拉的瑪利亞，她同時也被認為是耶穌的妻子，為耶穌生育，象徵“聖杯”。
“聖杯”傳說是耶穌在最後晚餐用的酒杯，同時也是被釘在十字架上接盛耶穌的鮮血的酒杯，這正是這本小說的主軸，各路人馬爭奪“聖杯”之戰。
《達芬奇密碼》-演員介紹
湯姆·漢剋斯是美國演員，連續兩屆以《費城》和《阿甘正傳》榮獲奧斯卡影帝，自90年代中期以來驚人地保持着數一數二的江湖地位。6歲時父母離異，隨着廚師父親各處跑，高中時開始着迷演戲，大學念到一半幹脆輟學全身投入演藝圈。
1979年首次演出電影小角色，接着進入電視圈演出一堆喜劇。1984年他以《美人魚》嶄露頭角，四年後因《飛進未來》首度入圍奧斯卡最佳男主角。1992年《紅粉聯盟》和1993年《西雅圖夜未眠》使他成為票房巨星，真正的突破是《費城》。擅長表現平凡人的不平凡一面。
自拍罷《幸福終點站》後，湯姆·漢剋斯已鮮有大作了，之後接拍的《師奶殺手》因票房慘淡而讓這位影帝略顯頽勢。2006年又在朗·霍華德導演的影片《達芬奇密碼》中出演男主角。雖然近幾年來漢剋斯沒有給影迷帶來足夠震撼的作品，但他在影迷心目中的地位卻是難以動搖的。
《達芬奇密碼》-影片評價
《達芬奇密碼》是一部忠於原著的電影，但是很可惜，影片沒有帶給觀衆任何驚喜。
——USA Today
電影很平庸，沒有懸念也沒有浪漫，更重要的是沒有趣味。
——《波士頓先驅報》
儘管受到了不同的評價，但是這部影片依然能夠在全球有一個盛大的票房開局。因為全世界有無數雙好奇的眼睛等着看這部擁有四千萬讀者的小說改編成電影會是什麽樣子。
——路透社
《達芬奇密碼》-關於主題
《達芬奇密碼》《達芬奇密碼》
因涉及敏感的宗教題材，《達· 芬奇密碼》自開拍伊始便風波不斷，天主教聯盟和事工會團體的紛至沓來的抗議和反對信件使該片成為2005-2006年度最具爭議的影片。天主事工會曾希望影片隱去組織名稱，在這一要求遭到拒絶後，事工會發起了一項為自己正名的運動，通過各種媒體大作宣傳，用各種方式說明小說用錯誤的方式描寫其組織。羅馬一牧師甚至推出了自己的博客，反駁《達·芬奇密碼》的“不實之詞”。抗議的程度隨着電影上映的逼近而加劇，但有關專傢卻號召所有的天主教徒都應去看這部謬誤百出的電影，衹有這樣才能發現其中的錯誤。
雖然布朗的原著序言宣稱“本書中關於藝術品、建築、文獻和秘密儀式的所有描述全都確有其事”，但導演朗·霍華德則一直明智地高舉“虛構”大旗：“影片不會在宗教問題上過度糾纏。丹·布朗是一個成功的作傢而非宗教和歷史學家。我們之所以拍這部電影是因為我喜歡這個故事。”並坦言，影片的重點是驚悚懸疑的情節。製片方哥倫比亞的發言人也為此證實：“我們想做的衹是拍一部宗教色彩不會過於明顯的好片子。”
為達驚悚目的，讓觀衆大呼過癮，“和看小說一樣帶勁”，朗·霍華德做足功課，重看了許多包括《驅魔人》、《羅斯瑪麗的嬰兒》等在內的經典驚悚片。在保持小說故事框架的前提下，由金牌編劇阿齊瓦·高斯曼操刀，對小說中的“反天主教主題”作了改動，但“其中最為精彩之處絶對要表現出來”。
《達芬奇密碼》-關於演員
《達芬奇密碼》《達芬奇密碼》
《達·芬奇密碼》的演員陣容超級豪華。有着過硬演技卻日漸發福的湯姆·漢剋斯雖在外表上並不符合極具魅力的羅伯特·蘭登教授，但用朗·霍華德的話來說老湯哥屬於“最全面的演員”，而“一個真正優秀的演員可胜任一切表演”；主演過《天使愛美麗》的法國女星奧黛麗·多杜出任幹練的索菲·奈芙，對其以往的一貫純真靈動進行了徹底顛覆，讓朗·霍華德“之前的擔心完全多餘”；而有着 “全世界最酷的法國男人”頭銜法國影壇硬漢尚·雷諾出演狡猾嚴酷法捨探長；在英國戲劇界有“莎翁專業戶”之稱、並在柏林獲得終身成就奬的傳奇性演員伊恩· 麥剋萊恩爵士出演提彬爵士；被美國媒體譽為自休·格蘭特以來最受歡迎的英國演員保羅·貝塔尼扮演白化病人塞拉斯修士，被製片人布萊恩·格雷澤稱為影片“驚悚氣氛的最好砝碼”。
《達芬奇密碼》-外景地
《達芬奇密碼》《達芬奇密碼》
《達·芬奇密碼》占盡地利，連連得手於世界上最著名的博物館和教堂。
為達完美的真實效果，使小說中的情景被百分之百還原，能否在原著開頭處的法國盧浮宮實地拍攝成為關鍵。2004年12 月，霍華德和製片人在巴黎挑選女演員時意外接到法國總統希拉剋辦公室打來的電話，同希拉剋的一小時會晤言談甚歡，遂輕易地敲定入駐盧浮宮拍攝的特許，從而成為繼《盧浮魅影》後第二部進入盧浮宮取景的電影。在一周的拍攝期間，劇組衹能在晚上以及每周二博物館關閉日拍攝。有意思的是，自2005年5月影片開拍後，盧浮宮雖將票價上調，但影片的走紅卻帶給盧浮宮創下歷史新高的700萬人次。
小說重頭戲之一的威斯敏斯特教堂斷然拒絶了製片方入內拍攝的請求，並發表聲明：“雖然這是一本精彩的小說，但我們絶不贊同書中涉及的有爭議的、極度主觀的暗示性內容，也不同意它對於基督教和《新約》的觀點。”
相對於威斯敏斯特教堂的堅决說“不”，修建於公元11世紀、其內部結構與威斯敏斯特教堂十分相近的林肯大教堂卻敞開大門。而同影片達成拍攝協議的還有愛丁堡附近的建於15世紀的羅斯林大教堂，在小說中羅斯林大教堂和一度強盛的“聖殿騎士團”有關聯，因此這個占地不大的中世紀教堂兩年來的遊客數劇增為以前的三倍。劇組為林肯大教堂和羅斯林大教堂分別支付了10萬英鎊的高額租用費。
從中漁利的還有曾嚮開放的英格蘭南部的溫徹斯特大教堂。此教堂不僅賺得2萬英鎊的出租費，且教堂管理人員趁着影片日漸高漲的人氣决定於2006年3月1日起對每位訪客強製收取4英鎊的入場費，以支付不斷增加的營運費用。
《達芬奇密碼》-幕後花絮
·盧浮宮的鎮館之寶《蒙娜麗莎》是一個極其重要的道具，但因拍電影的燈光會對這幅名畫造成損害，因此，出於安全和保護的因素，劇組衹得退而求其次地使用了一個比例精確的復製品。這一秘密的泄露讓霍華德感到痛苦：“我十分討厭別人問我這樣的問題，但是……”他停頓了幾秒鐘，“畢竟這幅畫是無價之寶！”令人安慰的是，影片中保存《蒙娜麗莎》這幅油畫的房間是真的。
·在盧浮宮拍電影就像在做夢。由於折服於盧浮宮的藝術魅力，湯姆·漢剋斯將其房車停在停在盧浮宮外面的街道上，老湯哥每次前往拍攝地點都必須穿過無數畫廊：“這裏名作衆多，目不暇接--《約瑟芬皇后加冕》、《雷奧尼達在溫泉關》，從這裏走着去工作的感覺實在棒極了！”
·背負巨大輿論壓力的湯姆·漢剋斯為在外形上嚮角色靠攏，一面積極減肥，一面將常年的板刷頭變成了“飄逸”的長發，但看過《達·芬奇密碼》試片的觀衆依然對老湯哥的仿學者發型吹毛求疵，將其喻為“前額光禿，後腦勺一個鴨尾巴”！
《達芬奇密碼》《達芬奇密碼》
·小說提及的維雷特城堡也是影片拍攝地之一。這座建於1668年的城堡專為路易十四駐意大利大使所建，現在的主人是美國房産大亨。據悉，劇組從17間房中闢出6間專供演員使用，但老湯哥放棄了享受貴族待遇的機會，選擇和妻子孩子住在演員唐納德·薩瑟蘭巴黎的傢中，盡享平民之樂。
·為更好扮演白化殺手塞拉斯，保羅·貝塔尼不滿足於化妝時纔有的白化病人獨有的慘白皮膚，還不惜將一頭金發染成白色，將深藍的眼睛改為血紅。但這一形象卻引起美國白化病和色素沉澱組織的極大憤慨，該組織認為如此描寫是沿襲好萊塢許多電影對白化病同性戀的醜化。
·伊恩·麥剋萊恩信仰基督教，當劇組在英格蘭的林肯郡拍攝遭遇英國宗教人士的屢屢抗議示威時，麥剋萊恩數次出頭，號召人們的態度不可太過偏激，而應以全新的角度審視一貫堅持的信仰。
·2005年8月16日，就在《達·芬奇密碼》拍得熱火朝天之際，為抗議林肯大教堂對劇組行方便之事，一來自“和平與仁慈”婦女協會的瑪麗·邁剋爾跪在林肯大教堂的臺階前，使得大教堂的負責人奈特不得不讓步，說小說“非常牽強、充滿異端”。
《達芬奇密碼》-新片看點
1.大腕雲集
湯姆·漢剋斯的長發造型絶無僅有；“天使愛美麗”奧黛麗·塔圖搖身變成深沉、果敢、智慧的密碼專傢；“警察專業戶”“殺手萊昂”讓·雷諾這回亦正亦邪；此外還有《蜘蛛俠2》章魚博士、《指環王》甘道夫、《防火墻》裏的綁匪。
2.標新立異
《最後的晚餐》裏的耶穌門徒有一個是女人；耶穌結過婚，有了孩子，並且血脈延續到現代；牛頓和達· 芬奇都擔任過隱修會會長……電影編排了許多情節來證明上述觀點。
3.南腔北調
羅伯特·蘭登的美式英語，索菲的法語腔英語，雷·提彬的純正倫敦腔，演員身份和角色設定完全符合，所以我們有機會聽到演員自己的腔調。
4.音樂精彩
如何用聲畫表現人物心理，《達·芬奇密碼》改編電影必須過這道坎兒。它的辦法是：音樂。破譯密碼時，從一頭霧水到茅塞頓開的心理變化過程，電影音樂將其細膩、準確而富感染力地展現出來。
5.珍貴影像
《蒙娜麗莎》《岩間聖母》《最後的晚餐》等傳世畫作的原作出現在鏡頭裏。盧浮宮實景拍攝，觀衆仿佛實地歷險。塞納河、布洛涅森林、羅斯林教堂都出現在片裏。最令人難忘的還是各種風格的歐洲古代教堂。
1.最意外的破譯
蘭登根據索尼埃留下的密碼，一路破譯下去，居然在《蒙娜麗莎》後面找到一把鑰匙。整個破譯過程意外迭出、精彩紛呈。
2.最驚險的倒車
蘭登和索菲被警察發現，他們來不及調轉車頭，衹好倒車逃跑。在車水馬竜的大街上，倒着開的小汽車居然跑贏了迎頭追上來的警車。
3.最搞笑的急智
銀行行長冒充卡車司機，差點被警察識破。警察看到司機手腕上的勞力士金表，很是納悶。行長頗有急智，趁機嚮警察兜售：“冒牌貨！你想要？給你，35塊……不行？那30塊？”不耐煩的警察放走了卡車。
4.最駭人聽聞的
雷·提彬對着《最後的晚餐》侃侃而談：聖杯其實是一個女人，而這個女人正是耶穌的妻子……這個場面很平靜，但雷·提彬的主張，實在讓人腦袋“嗡嗡嗡”。
5.最亦真亦幻的
蘭登和索菲嚮牛頓墓地走去。牛頓生活時代的倫敦街景與現代的倫敦街景在銀幕上重迭起來，前者是粗顆粒、高反差的畫面，後者是正常色彩還原的畫面，一時間讓人産生不知“今夕何夕”的超現實感。
6.最激動人心的
影片最後，蘭登颳鬍子受傷，受到水池裏血綫的啓發，想到抹大拉遺骸的藏身之地。他來到盧浮宮，地下靜靜躺??待，劍刃和聖杯一起看護着她的門外，她躺在大師們令人鐘愛的傑作的懷抱中，在繁星閃爍的天空下終於得到了安息。”隨着鏡頭，謎語被完美破解。
《達芬奇密碼》-改編亮點
1.剋服恐懼
蘭登因為7歲的時候掉進井中，因此對密閉的環境非常緊張，不時表現出恐懼的感覺。片中也着力表現，除了一開始他與法希進入盧浮宮坐電梯是原書已有情節外，另增加了一個細節：他和索菲從蘇黎世存托銀行出來，為避警方追捕，進入裝甲運鈔車這樣一個密閉的空間，躲在車廂內緊張得發抖。索菲用小時候媽媽安撫她的方法—————把雙手搓熱了，捂在蘭登的兩邊太陽穴上，同時柔聲安慰鼓勵。
2.密碼筒
原着中的密碼筒有兩個，第一個打開是一個更小的密碼筒。片中衹出現一個密碼筒，就是原着中的第二個密碼筒及提示語句，避免了情節的重複。
3.法希身份
原着法希是一個好大喜功的警察，而在片中，他成為事工會的教徒。事工會的主教阿潤沙（原着譯為阿林加洛沙）告訴法希，他聽到羅伯特·蘭登的懺悔，正是蘭登殺了盧浮宮博物館館長雅剋·索尼埃，因此，法希將蘭登鎖定為兇手，並且將案情進展隨時報告給阿潤沙。但是最後關頭，他看出了破綻，發現阿潤沙編造了謊言，因而不再懷疑蘭登。
4.聖杯秘密
聖杯的秘密為何不嚮世人公開，這是改編的最大亮點。原着中，索菲與奶奶、弟弟相認，得知郇山隱修會根本不打算嚮世人揭開聖杯的秘密，於是决定放棄嚮世人揭示這一足以摧毀基督教權威的秘密，致使影片一開始郇山隱修會的4名守護者寧死不說出聖杯的秘密顯得多餘，全書不免有虎頭蛇尾之感。而在片中，蘭登與索菲在羅斯林教堂沒有找到抹大拉瑪利亞的石棺，誤以為已經被索尼埃毀掉，而索菲要證明自己實為耶穌的後代缺少DNA實證。正灰心之際，蘭登突然發現盧浮宮玻璃金字塔的設計暗合聖杯存放地的提示語，接着鏡頭轉入盧浮宮玻璃金字塔底下，正是抹大拉瑪利亞的石棺，影片在這裏結束。這樣的結局，使得全片前後呼應，更能自圓其說。
《達芬奇密碼》-新片快評
驚悚懸疑不輸原著
電影《達·芬奇密碼》的緊張驚悚氣氛、環環相扣故事、高潮迭起情節，絲毫不比原着遜色。
導演為了製造緊張驚悚，大量運用詭秘陰沉的背景音樂。此外，大量血淋淋的鏡頭嚇得觀衆連
《達芬奇密碼》《達芬奇密碼》
連發出驚呼。片中多次出現白化殺手塞拉斯對自己的肉體進行懲罰的特寫鏡頭。塞拉斯脫去外衣，露出健美的裸體，細看上去傷痕纍纍。接着他取下帶釘的苦修帶，使勁勒上鐵鏈，痛得渾身顫抖。塞拉斯在聖敘爾皮斯教堂行兇處理得相當好。先是修女桑德琳接到電話，半夜安排塞拉斯參觀教堂，突然窗戶被陰風猛地關上，暗示不祥。全片多次用閃回表現塞拉斯殺害不同人物，使人一看到他就聯想起殘暴、血腥。環環相扣的解謎過程與步步緊逼的追殺情節緊密交織，相當刺激。索菲和蘭登自進入盧浮宮博物館起開始解謎，用字母換位法找到達·芬奇《蒙娜麗莎》，繼而找到《岩間聖母》，發現索尼埃留下的鑰匙，與警衛打鬥；在出逃途中，索菲又展示了一把車技，倒着開“都市精靈”，衝過車流和人群……基本上每轉換一個場景就出現一個高潮。不過影片也有小小的遺憾：背景知識太多，在兩個半小時內，將之全盤灌輸給觀衆，使得臺詞多而密集，一派喋喋不休的架式，與整片驚悚懸疑的氣氛不太融合。
《達芬奇密碼》-首映
根據丹·布朗暢銷小說改編的同名電影《達·芬奇密碼》即將於本月19號在全球上映。但是，和該小說之前遭遇的官司危機一樣，這部影片還沒上映，就已經在衆多國傢遭到了不同程度的抵製。
印度大約2000名天主教徒前天在孟買舉行抗議集會，認為該片有關情節褻瀆了天主教。由於抗議不斷，該片在印度的首映已被推遲。在英國，影片遇到了分級爭議。英國電影分類局專傢認為，這部電影用於增加緊張氣氛的配樂會讓兒童感到恐怖。如不進行重大修改，衹能獲得受限製的 15級許可。而在新加坡，這部電影也被列為"成人題材"的NC-16級電影。
5月17日晚美國影片《達-芬奇密碼》在北京亮相。由於時差原因，《達-芬奇密碼》在中國首映的時間實際上比戛納還要早六七個小時，從而成為此片在世界範圍內的最早亮相。衆多明星均捧場出席了該首映禮，因在北京拍攝影片《滿城盡帶黃金甲》的周潤發也攜夫人陳薈蓮出席。
《達-芬奇密碼》的首映典禮在東方新世紀影城所在的君悅酒店宴會大廳舉行。入場嘉賓在進場前可在一個特製的暗箱中扮作 “蒙娜麗莎”進行拍照。20位通過網絡遊戲在全國範圍海選産生的特殊嘉賓在首映式上登場，在幾位明星來賓的評判下，他們一起通過一係列密碼破譯遊戲展開了激烈角逐，最終産生了4位分數最高的幸運兒。他們將代表中國的“密碼迷”們與其它國傢的遊戲優勝者一起參加精彩紛呈的“達芬奇歐洲之旅”。
《達芬奇密碼》-波折經歷
世界天主教會教皇本篤十六世的副手號召起了信衆，各宗教團體開始了公開指責地址，白化病患者為自己的形象再次被典型化憤怒，涉及的旅遊地點格外蓬
《達芬奇密碼》《達芬奇密碼》
勃，鑽研起密碼學的人持續增多，遊戲開發納入進程，宗教熱潮空前高漲，有事沒事的閑人們也準備起了長期的激烈爭論……謊言？真相？陰謀論？蒙娜麗莎神秘的微笑再次成為了茶餘飯後的談資。
不過一部虛構小說，怎麽就能引得西方社會各界人士肉搏？是它蟬聯美國暢銷書排行榜117周，全球銷量超過4000萬本，成為美國今年最受歡迎的小說的事實？還是因為丹·布朗在《達芬奇密碼》裏講的故事，完全是和西方人的宗教支柱唱對臺戲？爭論從來沒有答案，我們衹知道，不管是多少的抗議，多麽沸沸嚷嚷的涉嫌侵權案，那個小說裏承載了千古復雜秘密的達芬奇密碼，受關註的程度還是一直升溫！
對於虎視眈眈的好萊塢來說，這樣不缺談資的題材絶對是電影票房的根基，爭議越大關註越多票房越高，改編劇本衹是早晚而已。更何況，盧浮宮、達· 芬奇、聖經、宗教、密碼學、符號學、驚悚、懸疑和讓人心驚膽顫解密追蹤，《達芬奇密碼》從一開始就明顯具備銀幕發光元素。震蕩了世界書市的超級暢銷小說即將面世，還有什麽比這更值得宣傳呢？！
The title of the novel refers to, among other things, the fact that the murder victim is found in the Denon Wing of the Louvre, naked and posed like Leonardo da Vinci's famous drawing, the Vitruvian Man, with a cryptic message written beside his body and a pentacle drawn on his stomach in his own blood.
The novel has provoked a popular interest in speculation concerning the Holy Grail legend and Magdalene's role in the history of Christianity. The book has been extensively denounced by many Christian denominations as an attack on the Roman Catholic Church. It has also been criticized for its historical and scientific inaccuracy.
The book is a worldwide bestseller that sold 80 million copies as of 2009[update] and has been translated into 44 languages. This makes it, as of 2010, the best selling English language novel of the 21st century and the 2nd biggest selling novel of the 21st century in any language. Combining the detective, thriller, and conspiracy fiction genres, it is Brown's second novel to include the character Robert Langdon, the first being his 2000 novel Angels & Demons. In November 2004, Random House published a Special Illustrated Edition with 160 illustrations. In 2006, a film adaptation was released by Sony's Columbia Pictures.
This book describes the attempts of Robert Langdon, Professor of Religious Symbology at Harvard University, to solve the murder of renowned curator Jacques Saunière of the Louvre Museum in Paris. A baffling cipher is found near his body. Saunière's granddaughter, Sophie Neveu and Langdon attempt to sort out the bizarre riddles and are stunned to discover a trail of clues hidden in the works of Leonardo Da Vinci.
The unraveling of the mystery requires solutions to a series of brain-teasers, including anagrams and number puzzles. The ultimate solution is found to be intimately connected with the possible location of the Holy Grail and to a mysterious society called the Priory of Sion, as well as to the Knights Templar. The story also involves the Roman Catholic organization Opus Dei.
Details
The story starts off with the murder of Jacques Saunière (the Grand Master Of Priory of Sion, although virtually no one knows that at the time) by Silas (acting on behalf of someone known only as The Teacher) to extract the location of the "keystone", an item that leads to the Holy Grail. The police summon Robert Langdon, who is delivering a lecture in Paris, to the murder scene and ask for his help in deciphering the code Sauniere left on and near his body. Bezu Fache, the Captain of the Central Directorate Judicial Police, believes Langdon is the prime suspect in the murder.
Sophie Neveu shows up at the murder scene as a police cryptographer and quickly gains Langdon's trust. Jacques Saunière was Neveu's grandfather and they were very close to each other until she discovered him participating in a pagan sex ritual (Hieros Gamos) at his home in Normandy, when she made a surprise visit there during a break from boarding school. (That she had observed something is mentioned and hinted at several times throughout the story, but what it is that she saw is revealed to no one, including the reader, until near the end when she tells Robert).
Langdon and Neveu find a baffling cipher near Saunière's body. These clues were meant to lead to a second set of clues. By deciphering her grandfather's clues, Neveu finds the painting, which has a key hidden behind it with an address and symbols of the Priory of Sion were written on it. Working together, Langdon and Neveu trick the police, flee the scene and figure out the secret of the key.
The key opens a safe deposit box at the Paris branch of the Depository Bank of Zurich. Saunière's account number at the bank is a 10-digit number listing the digits of the first eight Fibonacci numbers: 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21.
Inside the safe deposit box they find the keystone which is actually a large cryptex, a cylindrical device supposedly invented by Leonardo Da Vinci for transporting secure messages. To open it the combination of rotating components must be arranged in the correct order. If the cryptex is forced open an enclosed vial of vinegar ruptures and dissolves the message, which was written on papyrus. The rosewood box containing the large cryptex contains clues to the combination of the cryptex, written in backwards script in the same manner as Leonardo's journals.
The instructions that Saunière revealed to Silas at gunpoint are actually a well-rehearsed lie, namely that the keystone is buried in the Church of Saint-Sulpice beneath an obelisk that lies exactly along the ancient "Rose Line" (the former Prime Meridian which passed through Paris before it was redesignated to pass through Greenwich). The message beneath the obelisk simply contains a reference to a passage in the Book of Job (38:11a) which reads in part "Hitherto shalt thou go and no further."(KJV) When Silas reads this, he realizes he has been tricked.
Still being chased by the police, Langdon and Neveu take the keystone to Sir Leigh Teabing (an expert in the Holy Grail and Langdon's friend). They flee the country in Teabing's private plane, and on the plane figure out how to open the cryptex, but the large cryptex actually contains a second smaller cryptex with a second riddle that reveals its combination. The riddle, which says to seek the orb that should be on the tomb of "a knight a pope interred," refers not to a medieval knight, but rather to the tomb of Sir Isaac Newton, who was buried in Westminster Abbey, and was eulogized by Alexander Pope (A. Pope).
It turns out that Teabing is the Teacher who assigned Silas to kill Jacques Saunière and he also had information on the identities of the leaders of the Priory of Sion who then bugged their offices and had Silas assassinate them. Rémy is his collaborator. It is Teabing who contacted Bishop Aringarosa, hiding his identity, and tricked him into financing the plan to find the Grail. He never intended to hand the Grail over to Aringarosa but is taking advantage of Opus Dei's resolve to find it. Teabing believes that the Priory of Sion has broken its vow to reveal the secret of the Grail to the world at the appointed time. He plans to steal the Grail documents and reveal them to the world himself, ruining the church, which he blames for the event. It was he who informed Silas that Langdon and Sophie Neveu were at his chateau. He did not seize the keystone from them himself because he did not want to reveal his identity. He summoned Silas to seize the keystone in his house, but himself thwarted Silas, in order to gain Langdon and Sophie's further help with decoding the cryptex. Subsequently, the police raid the house, having followed the tracking device in the truck Langdon had stolen while escaping from the bank. Teabing led Neveu and Langdon to the Temple Church in London, knowing full well that it was a dead end, in order to stage the hostage scene with Rémy and thereby obtain the keystone without revealing his real plot to Langdon and Neveu.
To erase all knowledge of his work, Teabing kills Rémy by giving him cognac laced with peanut powder, knowing Rémy has a deadly allergy to peanuts. Thus, Rémy dies of an anaphylactic shock. Teabing also anonymously tells the police that Silas is hiding in the London headquarters of Opus Dei.
In a showdown with Teabing in Westminster Abbey, Langdon secretly opens the second cryptex and removes its contents before destroying it in front of Teabing. Teabing is arrested and led away while fruitlessly begging Langdon to tell him the contents of the second cryptex and the secret location of the Grail.
Bezu Fache finds out that Neveu and Langdon are innocent after Bishop Aringarosa contacts him privately to confess. Fache then cancels the warrants for the arrest of Neveu and Langdon.
Silas accidentally shoots Aringarosa outside the London headquarters of Opus Dei while fleeing from the police. Realizing his terrible error and that he has been duped, Aringarosa tells Bezu Fache to give the bearer bonds in his briefcase to the families of the murdered leaders of the Priory of Sion. Silas dies from his fatal wounds.
The final message inside the second keystone actually does not refer to Rosslyn Chapel, although the Grail was indeed once buried there, below the Star of David on the floor (the two interlocking triangles are the "blade" and "chalice," i.e., male and female symbols).
The docent in Rosslyn Chapel is Sophie's long-lost brother. Sophie had been told as a child that he was killed with her parents and grandmother in a car accident.
The guardian of Rosslyn Chapel, Marie Chauvel, is Sophie's long-lost grandmother, and the wife of Jacques Saunière. She is the woman who participated in the sex ritual with Jacques Saunière. It is revealed that Sophie is a descendant of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene. The Priory of Sion hid her identity to protect her from possible threats to her life.
Even though all four of the leaders of the Priory of Sion are killed, the secret is not lost, since there is still a contingency plan (never revealed) that will keep the organization and its secret alive.
The real meaning of the last message is that the Grail is buried beneath the small pyramid (i.e., the "blade," a male symbol) directly below the inverted glass pyramid of the Louvre (i.e., the "chalice," a female symbol, which Langdon and Sophie ironically almost crashed into while making their original escape from Bezu Fache). It also lies beneath the "Rose Line," which is similar to "Rosslyn." Langdon figures out this final piece to the puzzle in the last pages of the book, but he does not appear inclined to tell anyone about this. See La Pyramide Inversée for further discussion.
Characters
These are the principal characters that drive the plot. Some have names that are puns, anagrams or hidden clues:
* Robert Langdon
* Jacques Saunière
* Sophie Neveu
* Bezu Fache
* Silas
* Manuel Aringarosa
* André Vernet
* Leigh Teabing
* Rémy Legaludec
* Jérôme Collet
* Marie Chauvel Saint-Clair
* Pamela Gettum
Secret of the Holy Grail
Detail of The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci
In the novel Leigh Teabing explains to Sophie Neveu that the figure at the right hand of Jesus in Leonardo da Vinci's painting of "The Last Supper" is not the apostle John, but actually Mary Magdalene. In the novel, Magdalene was the wife of Jesus Christ and was pregnant with his child when Jesus was crucified. Leigh Teabing says that the absence of a chalice in Leonardo's painting means Leonardo knew that Mary Magdalene was the actual Holy Grail and the bearer of Jesus' blood in the form of the child she was carrying. Leigh Teabing goes on to explain that this idea is supported by the shape of the letter "V" that is formed by the bodily positions of Jesus and Mary, as "V" is the symbol for the sacred feminine. The absence of the Apostle John in the painting is explained by knowing that John is also referred to as "the Disciple Jesus loved", code for Mary Magdalene. The book also notes that the color scheme of their garments are inverted: Jesus wears a red blouse with royal blue cape; John/Mary wears a royal blue blouse with red cape — perhaps symbolizing two bonded halves of marriage.
According to the novel, the secrets of the Holy Grail, as kept by the Priory of Sion are as follows:
* The Holy Grail is not a physical chalice, but a woman, namely Mary Magdalene, who carried the bloodline of Christ.
* The Old French expression for the Holy Grail, San gréal, actually is a play on Sang réal, which literally means "royal blood" in Old French.
* The Grail relics consist of the documents that testify to the bloodline, as well as the actual bones of Mary Magdalene.
* The Grail relics of Mary Magdalene were hidden by the Priory of Sion in a secret crypt, perhaps beneath Rosslyn Chapel.
* The Church has suppressed the truth about Mary Magdalene and the Jesus bloodline for 2000 years. This is principally because they fear the power of the sacred feminine in and of itself and because this would challenge the primacy of Saint Peter as an apostle. More than that, it would prove that Jesus was human, and therefore not divine.
* Mary Magdalene was of royal descent (through the Jewish House of Benjamin) and was the wife of Jesus, of the House of David. That she was a prostitute was slander invented by the Church to obscure their true relationship. At the time of the Crucifixion, she was pregnant. After the Crucifixion, she fled to Gaul, where she was sheltered by the Jews of Marseille. She gave birth to a daughter, named Sarah. The bloodline of Jesus and Mary Magdalene became the Merovingian dynasty of France.
* The existence of the bloodline was the secret that was contained in the documents discovered by the Crusaders after they conquered Jerusalem in 1099 (see Kingdom of Jerusalem). The Priory of Sion and the Knights Templar were organized to keep the secret.
The secrets of the Grail are connected, according to the novel, to Leonardo Da Vinci's work as follows:
* Leonardo was a member of the Priory of Sion and knew the secret of the Grail. The secret is in fact revealed in The Last Supper, in which no actual chalice is present at the table. The figure seated next to Christ is not a man, but a woman, his wife Mary Magdalene. Most reproductions of the work are from a later alteration that obscured her obvious female characteristics.
* The androgyny of the Mona Lisa reflects the sacred union of male and female implied in the holy union of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. Such parity between the cosmic forces of masculine and feminine has long been a deep threat to the established power of the Church. The name Mona Lisa is actually an anagram for "Amon L'Isa", referring to the father and mother gods of Ancient Egyptian religion (namely Amun and Isis).
A number of different authors also speculate about the possibility of Jesus becoming a father. There are at least three children attributed to him, a daughter Tamar, born before the Crucifixion, and two sons Jesus (the Jesus Justus from the New Testament) and Josephes, both born after the Resurrection. Although their names are now part of the common culture of conspiracy writers, only two decades ago, when The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail was written, the names were not mentioned. The royal descents that lie at the heart of The Da Vinci Code mystery centre on the family of Josephes, who is supposed to be the grandfather of Aminadab del Graal, first of the "Fisher Kings". However the genealogies that are quoted in Grail lore appear to record too few generations, with children regularly being born to fathers in their 40s.
Reception
Brown's novel was a major success in 2004 and was outsold only by J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It won Book Sense's 2004 Book of the Year Award in the Adult Fiction category. It spawned a number of offspring works and drew positive reviews from The New York Times, People,[citation needed] and The Washington Post.[citation needed] Additionally, The Da Vinci Code has inspired a number of novels very similar to it, including Raymond Khoury's The Last Templar and Steve Berry's The Templar Legacy.[citation needed] In a 2008 survey of more than 15,000 Australian readers, the book came in fourth in a list of the 101 best books ever written.
The book was not generally well received by critics, however, and it has been the subject of numerous negative appraisals concerning its literary value and its portrayal of history. Its writing and historical accuracy were reviewed scathingly by The New Yorker, The New York Times, and Salon.com, among others.
Criticism
Main article: Inaccuracies in The Da Vinci Code
Historical inaccuracies
The book generated criticism when it was first published, due to its inaccurate description of core aspects of Christianity, the history of the Catholic Church, and descriptions of European art, history, and architecture. The book has received mostly negative reviews from Catholic and other Christian communities.
Many critics say that Brown should have done much more research before publishing this book. On February 22, 2004, an article titled "The Last Word: The Da Vinci Con" appeared in the New York Times by writer Laura Miller. Miller attacks the Da Vinci Code on multiple levels, referring to it as "based on a notorious hoax", "rank nonsense", and "bogus." She points out how heavily the book is based on the fabrications of Pierre Plantard (the Priory of Sion did not exist until Plantard created it) who in 1953 was arrested and convicted of fraud.
Critics accuse Brown of distorting and fabricating history. For example, Marcia Ford wrote:
Regardless of whether you agree with Brown's conclusions, it's clear that his history is largely fanciful, which means he and his publisher have violated a long-held if unspoken agreement with the reader: Fiction that purports to present historical facts should be researched as carefully as a nonfiction book would be.
Richard Abanes wrote:
The most flagrant aspect … is not that Dan Brown disagrees with Christianity but that he utterly warps it in order to disagree with it … to the point of completely rewriting a vast number of historical events. And making the matter worse has been Brown's willingness to pass off his distortions as ‘facts' with which innumerable scholars and historians agree.
The book opens with the claim by Dan Brown that "The Priory of Sion — a European secret society founded in 1099 — is a real organization". The Priory of Sion itself was actually a hoax created in 1956 by a Mr. Pierre Plantard. The author also claims that "all descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents … and secret rituals in this novel are accurate"; but this claim is disputed by almost all academic scholars in the fields the book discusses.
Numerous works have been published that explain in detail why any claim to accuracy is difficult to substantiate, while two lawsuits have been brought alleging plagiarism in The Da Vinci Code. The first suit for copyright infringement was filed in February 2006 in a British court by the authors of The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, a purportedly nonfiction account of Mary Magdalene's role as the wife of Jesus of Nazareth and the mother of his child, was found in Dan Brown's favor. No verdict has yet been rendered on a second suit, filed in August of the same year, in the United States by Jack Dunn, the author of The Vatican Boys.
A third author, Lewis Perdue, alleged that Brown plagiarized from two of his novels, The Da Vinci Legacy, originally published in 1983, and Daughter of God, originally published in the year 2000. He sought to block distribution of the book and film. However, Judge George Daniels of the US District Court in New York ruled against Perdue in 2005, saying that "A reasonable average lay observer would not conclude that The Da Vinci Code is substantially similar to Daughter of God" and that "Any slightly similar elements are on the level of generalised or otherwise unprotectable ideas." Perdue appealed, the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the original decision, saying Mr. Perdue's arguments were "without merit".
Dan Brown himself dilutes the suggestion of some of the more controversial aspects being fact on his web site: "The "FACT" page makes no statement whatsoever about any of the ancient theories discussed by fictional characters. Interpreting those ideas is left to the reader". However, it also says that "these real elements are interpreted and debated by fictional characters", "it is my belief that some of the theories discussed by these characters may have merit." and "the secret behind The Da Vinci Code was too well documented and significant for me to dismiss." Brown's ambiguity on the matter continues to fuel debate over the factual content of the novel.
Brown's earlier statements about the accuracy of the historical information in his book, however, were far more strident. In 2003, while promoting his novel, he was asked in interviews what parts of the history in his novel actually happened. He replied "Absolutely all of it." In a 2003 interview with CNN's Martin Savidge he was again asked how much of the historical background was true. He replied, "99% is true ... the background is all true". Asked by Elizabeth Vargas in an ABC News special if the book would have been different if he had written it as non-fiction he replied, "I don't think it would have." More recently Brown has avoided interviews and has been rather more circumspect about the accuracy of his claims in his few public statements. He has also, however, never retracted any of his earlier assertions that the history in the novel is accurate, despite substantial academic criticism of his claims.
In 2005, UK TV personality Tony Robinson edited and narrated a detailed rebuttal of the main arguments of Dan Brown and those of Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln, "The Real Da Vinci Code", shown on British TV Channel 4. The program featured lengthy interviews with many of the main protagonists cited by Brown as "absolute fact" in The Da Vinci Code. Arnaud de Sède, son of Gérard de Sède, stated categorically that his father and Plantard had made up the existence of the Prieuré de Sion, the cornerstone of the Jesus bloodline theory - to quote Arnaud de Sede in the program, "frankly, it was piffle". The program also cast severe doubt on the Rosslyn Chapel association with the Grail and on other related stories like the alleged landing of Mary Magdalene in France.
Portrayal of early Christianity
According to The Da Vinci Code, the Roman Emperor Constantine I suppressed Gnosticism because it portrayed Jesus as purely human. The novel's argument is as follows. Constantine wanted Christianity to act as a unifying religion for the Roman Empire. He thought Christianity would appeal to pagans only if it featured a demigod similar to pagan heroes. According to the Gnostic Gospels, Jesus was merely a human prophet, not a demigod. Therefore, to change Jesus' image, Constantine destroyed the Gnostic Gospels and promoted the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, which portray Jesus as divine or semidivine.
In fact, Gnosticism did not portray Jesus as merely human. Some Gnostic writings do depict Jesus interacting with his disciples in a wholly human way, one example being the Gospel of Mary,[citation needed] but the general Gnostic depiction of Jesus is not clear-cut. Many Gnostic writings depict Christ as purely divine, his human body being a mere illusion (see Docetism). Some Gnostic sects saw Christ this way because they regarded matter as evil, and therefore believed that a divine spirit would never have taken on a material body. The Da Vinci Code also portrays the Council of Nicaea's decision to recognize the fully human and divine aspects of Christ as being a close vote, while some authors dispute this.
Literary criticism
The novel has also attracted criticism in literary circles for its alleged lack of artistic or literary merit and its allegedly stereotyped portrayal of British and French characters.
Salman Rushdie claimed during a lecture, "Do not start me on 'The Da Vinci Code,' A novel so bad that it gives bad novels a bad name."
Stephen Fry has referred to Brown's writings as "complete loose stool-water" and "arse gravy of the worst kind." In a live chat on June 14, 2006, he clarified, "I just loathe all those book[s] about the Holy Grail and Masons and Catholic conspiracies and all that botty-dribble. I mean, there's so much more that's interesting and exciting in art and in history. It plays to the worst and laziest in humanity, the desire to think the worst of the past and the desire to feel superior to it in some fatuous way."
In his 2005 University of Maine Commencement Address, best-selling author Stephen King put Dan Brown's work and "Jokes for the John" on the same level, calling such literature the "intellectual equivalent of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese." The New York Times, while reviewing the movie based on the book, called the book "Dan Brown's best-selling primer on how not to write an English sentence". The New Yorker reviewer Anthony Lane refers to it as "unmitigated junk" and decries "the crumbling coarseness of the style." Linguist Geoffrey Pullum and others posted several entries critical of Dan Brown's writing, at Language Log, calling Brown one of the "worst prose stylists in the history of literature" and saying Brown's "writing is not just bad; it is staggeringly, clumsily, thoughtlessly, almost ingeniously bad." Roger Ebert described it as a "potboiler written with little grace and style," although he did say it did "supply an intriguing plot." In his review of the film National Treasure, he wrote: "I should read a potboiler like The Da Vinci Code every once in a while, just to remind myself that life is too short to read books like The Da Vinci Code."
Parodies
2005
The book was parodied by Adam Roberts with The Va Dinci Cod, and by Toby Clements with The Asti Spumante Code.
A telemovie spin-off of the Australian television series Kath & Kim parodied the film version as Da Kath and Kim Code in late 2005.
2006
The BBC program Dead Ringers parodied the Da Vinci Code, calling it the Da Rolf Harris Code.
Popular South African political cartoonist Zapiro published a book collection of his strips entitled Da Zuma Code, which parodies the former deputy president Jacob Zuma.
2007
The book was parodied in the South Park episode "Fantastic Easter Special" and Robert Rankin's novel The Da-da-de-da-da Code.
The characters Lucy and Silas are parodied in the film Epic Movie. The movie starts with a scene similar to the opening of The Da Vinci Code, with Silas chasing the orphan Lucy, a parody of Sophie Neveu, in a museum. Throughout the movie, Silas speaks in Latin. However, the translations for his speech are intentionally false for the sake of parody (e.g. Silas says "Et tu, Brute?" to Aslo, when the film translates it as "I'm Rick James, bitch!").
Szyfr Jana Matejki (Jan Matejko's Cipher) is a Polish parody by Dariusz Rekosz. Sequel Ko(s)miczna futryna: Szyfr Jana Matejki II (Co[s]mic Door-frame: Jan Matejko's Cipher II) was released in 2008. Main character is inspector Józef Świenty who tries to solve The Greatest Secret of Mankind (Największa Tajemnica Ludzkości) - parentage of Piast dynasty.
The book was parodied in the American Dad episode "Black Mystery Month". But instead Stan searches for the controversial truth that Mary Todd Lincoln created peanut butter, not George Washington Carver.
2008
In 2008, it was parodied in the second series of That Mitchell and Webb Look as "The Numberwang Code", a trailer for a fictional film based on a recurring sketch on the show.
Also in March 2008, the Irish blogger Twenty Major, parodied elements in his first book The Order of the Phoenix Park.
Inspiration and influences
The novel is part of the exploration of alternative religious history. Its principal source book is listed as per the court case, Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince's The Templar Revelation, as well as the books by Margaret Starbird. An earlier novel had already used the theme of a Jesus bloodline: The Dreamer of the Vine, by Liz Greene, published in 1980 (Richard Leigh's sister and Michael Baigent's girlfriend at that time). The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail (which is explicitly named, among several others, at the beginning of chapter 60), was stated by Dan Brown not to be amongst his primary research material for the book.
Having paid acknowledgement to the above books as sources of inspiration, Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code contains the overriding salient point in its plot: that the Merovingian kings of France were descendants from the bloodline of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene.
In reference to Richard Leigh and Michael Baigent (two of the authors of The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail), Brown named the principal Grail expert of his story "Leigh Teabing" (an anagram of "Baigent Leigh"). Brown confirmed this during the court case. In reply to the suggestion that Lincoln was also referenced, as he has medical problems resulting in a severe limp, like the character of Leigh Teabing, Brown stated he was unaware of Lincoln's illness and the correspondence was a coincidence. After losing before the High Court in July 12, 2006, Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh appealed, unsuccessfully, to the Court of Appeal.
Following the trial, it was found that the publicity had actually significantly boosted UK sales of The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail
There are also some striking similarities to 1996 video game Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars.
Release details
The book has been translated into over 40 languages, primarily in hardcover. Alternate formats include audio cassette, CD, and e-book. Most recently, a Trade Paperback edition was released March 2006 in conjunction with the film.
Major English-language (hardcover) editions include:
* (US) The Da Vinci Code, April 2003 (First edition), Doubleday, ISBN 0-385-50420-9.
* The Da Vinci Code, Special Illustrated Edition, November 2, 2004, Doubleday, ISBN 0-385-51375-5 (as of January 2006, has sold 576,000 copies).
* (UK) The Da Vinci Code, April 2004, Corgi Adult. ISBN 0-552-14951-9.
* (UK) The Da Vinci Code: The Illustrated Edition, October 2, 2004, Bantam Press. ISBN 0-593-05425-3.
* (US/Canada) The Da Vinci Code (Trade Paperback edition), March 2006, Anchor Books.
* On March 28, 2006, Anchor Books released 5 million paperback copies of the book, and Broadway Books released 200,000 paperback copies of The Da Vinci Code Special Illustrated Edition.
* On May 19, the day of the film's release, Doubleday and Broadway Books released The Da Vinci Code Illustrated Screenplay: Behind the Scenes of the Major Motion Picture, by screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, with the introductions by Ron Howard and Dan Brown. It included film stills, behind-the-scenes photos and the full script. There were 25,000 copies of the hardcover, and 200,000 of the paperback version.
Puzzles
Book jacket
Part of the advertising campaign for the novel was that the artwork in the American version of the bookjacket held various codes, and that the reader who solved them via the author's website would be given a prize. Several thousand people actually solved the codes, and one name was randomly chosen to be the winner, with the name announced on live television, Good Morning America, in early 2004. The prize was a trip to Paris.
The five hidden puzzles reveal:
* That the back of the book jacket conceals latitude and longitude coordinates, written in reverse, light red on dark red. Adding one degree to the latitude gives the coordinates of the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency in Northern Virginia, which is the location of a mysterious sculpture called Kryptos. The coordinates were taken from part of the decrypted text of part 2 of the sculpture (part 4 has never been solved). When Brown has been asked why the coordinates are one degree off, his reply has been, "The discrepancy is intentional".
* Bold letters are present on the book jacket. There is a secret message hidden in the text of the book flaps. The message: Is there no help for the widow's son (a reference to Freemasonry).
* The words "only WW knows" can be seen on the back cover. It is a phrase printed invertedly, in the torn part of the book cover. This too is a reference to part 2 of the Kryptos sculpture.
* A circle with numbers, between the Doubleday logo and the barcode, reveals a secret message. These are the chapter numbers where the initial letters are arranged in Caesar box format, revealing the code "E Pluribus Unum".
* There is reverse writing on the cover of the book, which is the riddle for the first cryptex.
Brown, both via his website and in person, has stated that the puzzles in the bookjacket give hints about the subject of his next novel, The Lost Symbol. This repeats a theme from his earlier novels. For example, Deception Point had an encrypted message that, when solved, said, "The Da Vinci Code will surface".
In the simplified Chinese version of The Da Vinci Code, the cover has a secret text; however, this text can be easily seen. It reads: "13-3-2-1-1-8-5 O, Draconian devil! Oh, Lame Saint! P.S. Find Robert Langdon." This is the multiply encrypted clue written in invisible ink next to the dead body in the museum, which kicks off the plot of the entire novel.
Pages
All of the puzzles listed below can be found within the page headers in the Mass Market US Paperback edition of The Da Vinci Code.
* Page 60: "Ankh Fendile" (anagram of "knife handle") in place of "Dan Brown"
* Page 95: "De Lancs" (anagram of "candles") in place of "Da Vinci"
* Page 138: "Das Brilli" (anagram of "billiards") in place of "Dan Brown"
* Page 141: "La Sufrete" (anagram of "true/false") in place of "Da Vinci"
* Page 155: "sos" in place of page number
* Page 192: "Reon Tigaldo" (anagram of "Golden Ratio") in place of "Dan Brown"
* Page 217: "De Ysosy" (anagram of "odyssey") in place of "Da Vinci"
* Page 262: "Mer Reve" (anagram of "Vermeer") in place of "Dan Brown"
* Page 322: page number replaced by three asterisks
Also in the body text on page 138, the word "numbers" in the sentence "Tearing it open, she found four Paris phone numbers" is printed in a bold medieval typeface, instead of the typical serif typeface used throughout the rest of the book.
Film
Columbia Pictures adapted the novel to film, with a screenplay written by Akiva Goldsman, and Academy Award winner Ron Howard directing. The film was released on May 19, 2006, and stars Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon, Audrey Tautou as Sophie Neveu, and Sir Ian McKellen as Leigh Teabing. The film had an opening weekend gross of $77,073,388 and grossed $217,536,138 in 2006, making it the fifth highest grossing movie of 2006. The film did very well overseas, grossing over $758,239,852 worldwide. On November 14, 2006 the movie was released on DVD.
丹·布朗/著
丹·布朗的處女作——《數字城堡》是一部高科技驚險小說，《數字城堡》探討了公民隱私與國傢安全之間的矛盾。當年出版後旋即成為美國暢銷電子書第一名，長達15周之久。“信息時代的恐怖主義”是該書的一個主題。
在信息時代，各國間諜、恐怖分子開始通過互聯網傳遞情報，但是為了使電子郵件不被他人截獲，他們紛紛給自己的郵件加上了密碼。為了從網絡上獲得重要情報，世界上最為隱秘的情報部門——美國國傢安全局(NSA)斥巨資建造了一臺可以破解密碼的機器——萬能解密機。這臺超級電腦可以在極短的時間內迅速破解任何密碼，因而幫助NSA挫敗了無數恐怖分子的陰謀，避免了戰爭的爆發。儘管建造這個龐然大物的初衷是監視和破譯間諜和恐怖分子的電子郵件，但它同樣也能截獲所有普通人的私人電子郵件。這個世界已沒有隱私和秘密可言！出於對這種公然侵犯人類隱私的行為的不滿，國傢安全局前程序設計師遠誠友加推出了“數字城堡”，公開聲稱它是具有不可破解密碼的加密軟件，這個為“誰來監視這些監視者”而憂心的日本人嚮美國國傢安全局發起了挑戰。遠誠友加要求國傢安全局嚮世人宣佈萬能解密機的存在，否則他就采取特別行動。不幸的是，遠誠友加在西班牙意外死亡，而刻有口令的戒指卻神秘失蹤了。大學教授、語言學家戴維·貝剋不經意中捲入到國安局的特殊工作中，遭到一個神秘殺手的追殺，兩人鬥智鬥勇，玩起了貓捉老鼠的遊戲，足跡遍及塞維利亞的大街小巷。國安局的首席密碼破解專傢蘇珊·弗萊切是貝剋的未婚妻，就在貝剋被派去西班牙的時候，蘇珊被緊急召回總部。她的上司國安局副局長斯特拉思莫爾告訴蘇珊一個驚人的消息：
戰無不勝的超級電腦萬能解密機遇上了不可破解的密碼——數字城堡。斯特拉思莫爾讓蘇珊查出遠誠友加同夥的真實身份。隨後，蘇珊目睹了一個又一個令人震驚的秘密、謊言和背叛，她發現自己不僅是在為她的國傢而戰，而且是為了她的生命和她所愛的人而戰……
數字城堡全文閱讀
譯者序
楔子
第一章
第二章
第三章
第四章
第五章
第六章
第七章
第八章
第九章
第十章
第十一章
第十二章
第十三章
第十四章
第十五章
第十六章
第十七章
第十八章
第十九章
第二十章
第二十一章
第二十二章
第二十三章
第二十四章
第二十五章
第二十六章
第二十七章
第二十八章
第二十九章
第三十章
第三十一章
第三十二章
第三十三章
第三十四章
第三十五章
第三十六章
第三十七章
第三十八章
第三十九章
第四十章
第四十一章
第四十二章
第四十三章
第四十四章
第四十五章
第四十六章
第四十七章
（完）
丹·布朗的處女作——《數字城堡》是一部高科技驚險小說，《數字城堡》探討了公民隱私與國傢安全之間的矛盾。當年出版後旋即成為美國暢銷電子書第一名，長達15周之久。“信息時代的恐怖主義”是該書的一個主題。
在信息時代，各國間諜、恐怖分子開始通過互聯網傳遞情報，但是為了使電子郵件不被他人截獲，他們紛紛給自己的郵件加上了密碼。為了從網絡上獲得重要情報，世界上最為隱秘的情報部門——美國國傢安全局(NSA)斥巨資建造了一臺可以破解密碼的機器——萬能解密機。這臺超級電腦可以在極短的時間內迅速破解任何密碼，因而幫助NSA挫敗了無數恐怖分子的陰謀，避免了戰爭的爆發。儘管建造這個龐然大物的初衷是監視和破譯間諜和恐怖分子的電子郵件，但它同樣也能截獲所有普通人的私人電子郵件。這個世界已沒有隱私和秘密可言！出於對這種公然侵犯人類隱私的行為的不滿，國傢安全局前程序設計師遠誠友加推出了“數字城堡”，公開聲稱它是具有不可破解密碼的加密軟件，這個為“誰來監視這些監視者”而憂心的日本人嚮美國國傢安全局發起了挑戰。遠誠友加要求國傢安全局嚮世人宣佈萬能解密機的存在，否則他就采取特別行動。不幸的是，遠誠友加在西班牙意外死亡，而刻有口令的戒指卻神秘失蹤了。大學教授、語言學家戴維·貝剋不經意中捲入到國安局的特殊工作中，遭到一個神秘殺手的追殺，兩人鬥智鬥勇，玩起了貓捉老鼠的遊戲，足跡遍及塞維利亞的大街小巷。國安局的首席密碼破解專傢蘇珊·弗萊切是貝剋的未婚妻，就在貝剋被派去西班牙的時候，蘇珊被緊急召回總部。她的上司國安局副局長斯特拉思莫爾告訴蘇珊一個驚人的消息：
戰無不勝的超級電腦萬能解密機遇上了不可破解的密碼——數字城堡。斯特拉思莫爾讓蘇珊查出遠誠友加同夥的真實身份。隨後，蘇珊目睹了一個又一個令人震驚的秘密、謊言和背叛，她發現自己不僅是在為她的國傢而戰，而且是為了她的生命和她所愛的人而戰……
數字城堡全文閱讀
譯者序
楔子
第一章
第二章
第三章
第四章
第五章
第六章
第七章
第八章
第九章
第十章
第十一章
第十二章
第十三章
第十四章
第十五章
第十六章
第十七章
第十八章
第十九章
第二十章
第二十一章
第二十二章
第二十三章
第二十四章
第二十五章
第二十六章
第二十七章
第二十八章
第二十九章
第三十章
第三十一章
第三十二章
第三十三章
第三十四章
第三十五章
第三十六章
第三十七章
第三十八章
第三十九章
第四十章
第四十一章
第四十二章
第四十三章
第四十四章
第四十五章
第四十六章
第四十七章
（完）
作者：丹·布朗
丹·布朗攜《紐約時報》最暢銷懸疑驚悚小說再度登陸，《達·芬奇密碼》姊妹篇《天使與魔鬼》，一部你一旦拿起就再也無法放下的大師大作。
宗教與科學的激烈對抗，人性與神性的正面碰撞；一個古老神秘的地下組織——光照派，一種具有極大毀滅性的高科技武器——反物質，一項迫在眉睫、不可思議的任務……
天使與魔鬼全文閱讀
楔子
第一章
第二章
第三章
第四章
第五章
第六章
第七章
第八章
第九章
第十章
第十一章
第十二章
第十三章
第十四章
第十五章
第十六章
第十七章
第十八章
第十九章
第二十章
第二十一章
第二十二章
第二十三章
第二十四章
第二十五章
第二十六章
第二十七章
第二十八章
第二十九章
第三十章
第三十一章
第三十二章
第三十三章
第三十四章
第三十五章
第三十六
第三十七章
第三十八章
第三十九章
第四十章
第四十一章
第四十二章
第四十三章
第四十四章
第四十五章
第四十六章
第四十七章
第四十八章
第四十九章
第五十章
第五十一章
第五十二章
第五十三章
第五十四章
第五十五章
第五十六章
第五十七章
第五十八章
第五十九章
第六十章
第六十一章
第六十二章
第六十三章
第六十四章
第六十五章
第六十六章
第六十七章
第六十八章
第六十九章
第七十章
第七十一章
第七十二章
第七十三章
第七十四章
第七十五章
第七十六章
第七十七章
第七十八章
第七十九章
第八十章
第八十一章
第八十二章
第八十三章
第八十四章
第八十五章
第八十六章
第八十七章
第八十八章
第八十九章
第九十章
第九十一章
第九十二章
附錄：對稱字
丹·布朗攜《紐約時報》最暢銷懸疑驚悚小說再度登陸，《達·芬奇密碼》姊妹篇《天使與魔鬼》，一部你一旦拿起就再也無法放下的大師大作。
宗教與科學的激烈對抗，人性與神性的正面碰撞；一個古老神秘的地下組織——光照派，一種具有極大毀滅性的高科技武器——反物質，一項迫在眉睫、不可思議的任務……
天使與魔鬼全文閱讀
楔子
第一章
第二章
第三章
第四章
第五章
第六章
第七章
第八章
第九章
第十章
第十一章
第十二章
第十三章
第十四章
第十五章
第十六章
第十七章
第十八章
第十九章
第二十章
第二十一章
第二十二章
第二十三章
第二十四章
第二十五章
第二十六章
第二十七章
第二十八章
第二十九章
第三十章
第三十一章
第三十二章
第三十三章
第三十四章
第三十五章
第三十六
第三十七章
第三十八章
第三十九章
第四十章
第四十一章
第四十二章
第四十三章
第四十四章
第四十五章
第四十六章
第四十七章
第四十八章
第四十九章
第五十章
第五十一章
第五十二章
第五十三章
第五十四章
第五十五章
第五十六章
第五十七章
第五十八章
第五十九章
第六十章
第六十一章
第六十二章
第六十三章
第六十四章
第六十五章
第六十六章
第六十七章
第六十八章
第六十九章
第七十章
第七十一章
第七十二章
第七十三章
第七十四章
第七十五章
第七十六章
第七十七章
第七十八章
第七十九章
第八十章
第八十一章
第八十二章
第八十三章
第八十四章
第八十五章
第八十六章
第八十七章
第八十八章
第八十九章
第九十章
第九十一章
第九十二章
附錄：對稱字
作者: 丹·布朗 [美]
第一章
第二章
第三章
第四章
第五章
第六章
第七章
第八章
第九章
第十章
第十一章
第十二章
第十三章
尾聲
第一章
第二章
第三章
第四章
第五章
第六章
第七章
第八章
第九章
第十章
第十一章
第十二章
第十三章
尾聲