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The Da Vinci Code - 18 mistakes

The Da Vinci Code movie mistakes

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Factual error: In the book Teabing is a die hard British patriot, yet he refers to the sport of soccer. NO Englishman would use the word soccer for the game of football. [People keep trying to correct this - you've really got to accept it. It's nothing to do with Teabing being older - soccer may have been used in the very early days of the game, but the governing body of the sport in the UK is the Football Association, formed in 1863, demonstrating how that was the accepted word for the sport even then (otherwise it would be the Soccer Association). Likewise the international governing body, FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association), formed in 1904 - no mention of the word soccer there either. And it won't be him changing it for Langdon's benefit, considering a) Langdon's intelligent enough to know what he means, and b) he's so determinedly English about everything else.]

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Factual error: Even though Biggin Hill is in the county of Kent, the Kent Police Constabulary aren't in command, because it's in in the London borough of Bromley, hence the police force in command would be the London Metropolitan Police.

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Factual error: During the car chase in Paris, Langdon and Sophie head for Champs-Élysées to get to the American embassy before they turn for the train station Gare Saint-Lazare. Since the embassy in question is located at the north of Champs-Élysées near the Louvre that means they actually have already passed by the embassy while supposedly en route to it. This has been corrected in the French version but not in the English.

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Factual error: Teabing tells Remy to park on the House Guards Parade where it offers wonderful views of Big Ben and the House of Parliament. No it doesn't. Downing Street and the Ministry of Defence would block the view. Plus he can see the Temple Church from across the lawns and the pond. This is in the wrong direction. If he's looking across the park from where he's parked he would be able to see Buckingham Palace. There are a lot of buildings in between Teabing's position and the Temple, and there are no parks between the two.

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Continuity: During Robert and Sophie's escape from the Louvre they head toward the Gare Saint-Lazare when they realise the American embassy has been cut off by police. However, in the very next chapter they arrive at the Gare du Nord, a completely different station.

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Factual error: The Louvre does not have iron gates installed as security measures, unlike what is mentioned in the first chapter.

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Factual error: Silas has severe albinism. He should be legally blind. People with even mild albinism have impaired vision due to lack of retinal pigmentation. There is no way Silas would be able to fire a gun over a distance with any accuracy, or drive a car, yet he does both these things. There is never a hint or comment anywhere about his poor vision.

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Factual error: At Temple Church, the altar boy mentions that "Father" Knowles isn't due for a couple of hours. Temple Church is an oddity, because the person in charge of it is not called Father or Reverend, but Master.

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Factual error: The book makes the point that Jesus would have to have been married, since it was extremely unusual for Jewish men in their thirties not to be married at that time. This is completely false, it was no more uncommon than it is today. In fact, out of the twelve apostles, only Peter had a wife.

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Factual error: The large glass pyramid at the Louvre consists of 673 glass squares, not 666.

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Continuity: In the car the Swiss Guard says he visited the Pantheon with his wife, despite it saying earlier in the book that Swiss Guards must be unmarried.

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Other: Langdon and Teabing make a point of how John the Apostle looks female in the painting The Last Supper, and claim that it shows that it was not John at all depicted by Mary Magdalene. During Da Vinci's time it was actually common to portray John with long hair and no beard as he was thought to have been quite young when he became an apostle. Furthermore, Da Vinci painted The Last Supper using a new type of paint, which unfortunately did not stand the test of time very well. After only a little more than half a century most of the color had faded and the painting had to be restored. Any female traits in John's face may be the result of whoever restored the painting, not Da Vinci himself.

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Factual error: When Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu arrive at Leigh Teabing's estate in chapter 52 there is a reference to the right-hand side of the vehicle being the passenger's side everywhere in Europe except England. This is incorrect, as it is the driver's side in the whole of the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) as well as in the Republic of Ireland.

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Factual error: The floor in front of the Mona Lisa in the book is described as being black-and-white parquet. In reality, it is hardwood, as are most of the floors and hallways in the Louvre. Further, the Mona Lisa isn't located at the end of a long hallway; it is in a smallish room which branches off the side of a long hallway, along with several other paintings.

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Continuity: Robert Langdon has a lot of problems with the manual gearbox of the car that they're driving. However, in the book "Angels and Demons" he doesn't have any problems with a car he's driving in Rome. Although this could have been an automatic, you should realize that such cars (especially older ones) are not very common in Europe.

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Factual error: At the beginning of the book, it explains how Silas escaped from a French prison in Andorra. Andorra is an independent country and does not hold any French or Spanish prison.

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Factual error: There is no hand on the Last Supper painting which doesn't belong to anyone. The hand holding the knife is the hand of Simon.

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Factual error: The book claims that early Christian texts which support the grail theory of "the Da Vinci Code", such as the Gospel According to Philip, were left out of the Bible because they prove the marriage between Christ and Mary Magdalene. These texts were in fact not included in the Bible, but the reason was that they were written after the 1st century and thus not as reliable. They certainly prove nothing of Christ's marriage, as a source from his own time saying that he was unmarried is far more credible than one dating more than 100 years after his death claiming that he was.

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