Over-all for why this pairing ruins the film's quality as an independent film:
This pairing doesn't have a place in this film's story as long as those other relationships that truly belong into it, exsist. And it's no wonder since Anne Rice didn't write Lestat to have such a relationship with Jesse or anyone else. In other words they try to force something into a story where that something just simply won't fit in and then it all turn out into an extremely nonsense ending scene. This pairing doesn't work in any way, has no chemistry, she's not his type at all and still the film's end suggest they end up together and that he leaves with her and seemingly forgets about the man he had obsessed about finding all through the film.
Even the producer of the film says it's unlikely that Lestat'd fall for Jesse. Then throws in "fate or circumstances" & "in a way he would never have predicted" - so admits there's no chemistry nor realistic storyline. Thus the film couldn't end like that in any emotional logic. The circumstances, really Marius and him they'd bring together (father-son) And fate is always a card used when logic fails. They fucked up but can't admit it. But at least they don't try to claim he'd actually love her.
And the source for that is on Warner Bros's Queen of the Damned website's F.A.Q.
Over-all for why this pairing ruins this film as an adaptation:
They wrote even the original script to be basically all about Lestat&Jesse "love" story which doesn't exsist in the source material. And as if that wasn't enough, this pairing dismisses too many, too significant true relationships and facts.
In-depth for why this pairing ruins the film a an independent film:
As said, this film is clearly all about that relationship and yet they didn't even make it's chemistry and storyline work.
I know Lestat is different personality in this film from what he is in the books. But it doesn't automatically mean that the film Jesse and the film Lestat would make a good and working couple.
The only personality features they have in common seem to be that they're both stubborn and irresponsible & somewhat arrogant. Not much to build the "love story of the century" on.
Lestat doesn't even show interest in her - he notices her & saves her life in the first place
only because she happens to mention Marius's name, (who's Lestat's father-figure who he has missed for 200 years), claiming to know the man. And when Lestat finds out she lied, he clearly intents to kill her. And in that scene before that moment, all Lestat ever did was mock her. And in the end insulted her with "Don't worry Jesse. Your kind never satisfies my thirst."
The two don't even talk too much to each others and when they do, it's clearly annoyed and disgusted reactions from Lestat's side. Just look at his facial expressions, listen to his voice.
As said even though this film's Lestat's partly different from what he is in the books, he's not THAT much different, and as she's rather stalky (as in following Lestat around uninvited and unwanted), bitchy (listen to her tones and some lines) and too dumb / nosey / careless for her own good (as in going to a vampire night club without anything to defend herself with and pushing on to be made a vampire while being in full health.) Lestat's careless and irresponsible in the bratty way. He causes himself trouble to get (Marius's) attention - not to try and get something that's not good for him unlike Jesse does. Lestat's deep and artistic soul and even if the original script Jesse happens to have some depth into her too, it doesn't really make up for being stalky, obsessive, bitchy and too dumb for her own good. This film's Jesse just doesn't seem anything like his kind of persona would be love-interested in and as lampood in the above part, in the official version that is the film, he clearly wasn't. And that's realistic - I mean why would such a soul as Lestat fall for and want to spend eternity with someone who reads other people's journals, doesn't know when to leave someone alone, talks in bitchy tones and doesn't know how to stay alive? And added to all that she dismissed his heartfelt and wise words about mortality's perciousness in other words didn't care about his feelings and opinions.
I admit Jesse does seem to understand Lestat to a degree and she may care about him but that doesn't make her the right one for Lestat. To be the right one for someone takse ALSO chamistry, which they don't have what-so-ever AND being the right one takes respect towards the other person and Jesse obviously doesn't respect Lestat's privacy nor his opinions. Yet suddenly in the end hand in hand they walk smiling... I wonder who blackmailed him into doing so. They're not enough alike, and they certainly are not soulmates.
The fact Jesse's a human and that he finds humanity and mortality beautiful like he said to her, isn't enough - as it had nothing to do practiculary with her as personality and he must have met in his 200 years tons of human girls who were also his type unlike Jesse. The only thing he found interesting and beautiful in Jesse was her mortality generally, so had he turned her into a vampire that would've been lost and nothing in her would've fascinated him anymore. There's another reason to say it makes no sense that he even turned her in the end.
Jesse offended and annoyed Lestat all along and nothing more, and as pointed out earlier, Lestat saved Jesse's life only to find out if she knows Marius like she said and intended to kill her when found out she didn't. And he tells he had called out for Marius many times ever since they parted, and many, many other scenes and moments show well how much Lestat obsesses about Marius to return and how much he loves the man.
And regardless of all that - the film ends with Lestat leaving with Jesse instead of staying with Marius. That's complete, utter nonsense and completely destroys the storyline in all it's illoginess and unrealisticness. In short; ruins the film.
In-depth for why this pairing ruins the film as an adaptation:
In the book's ending After Akasha was destroyed Lestat remains in-doors, writing his book "Queen of the Damned" and mourning Akasha's fate. He did stand on the good guys' side in her destruction but she had captured his heart so it wasn't easy for him.
BUT in the movie's ending Lestat doesn't seem to care about Akasha the least bit, though not exactly about Jesse either. I could see the reason why he didn't wish to kill Jesse was because he wasn't on Akasha's side (which is true to the books, fortunately.) Well, that WOULD be a realistic reason for it but I bet they were aiming at theif so-called love story.
In the book's ending there's no Jesse with Lestat in any way but there's a discussion between Lestat and Marius where it's revealed through Lestat's literal words directly to Marius that he couldn't even think of leaving Marius, not for very long anyway. And Marius at one point firmly forbids Lestat from meddling with the Talamasca.
BUT in the movie's ending In the very end Lestat and Jesse walk out from Talamasca house, hand in hand, smiling happily as if they were in love, and Marius walks into the Talamasca, and they leave us assuming Marius was to turn David Talbot into a vampire. And as lampood above, Lestat would never leave Marius for long, and that Marius would not meddle with Talamasca as he wouldn't allow Lestat to do so either. And the whole picture makes it seem as if Lestat changed from a brat to grown-up person and "love saved him". Gosh. Lestat would NEVER change, which is made very clear in the book's ending with the final Lestat & Louis scene, and note - LOUIS, NOT Jesse, and in the books it clearly was only Marius, who could affect his bratness in a positive.
All this makes the film's ending version so totally f***ed up. And endings are the most important parts of a story.
I know they changed the storylines and characters radically all along but all the other stuff in the film didn't make it necessary to change the ending that radically and having at least the ending right, could've made this film much more appreciatable as an adaptation.
And as said, I think it's clear that, their Lestat & Jesse paring caused them to do the change.
Here's even more in-depth reason for why this relationship is fake all the way; the original script also tries to make Lestat into a totally lonely indiividual and Jesse into "the only person who really knows and understands Lestat and loves him for who he is", the one that "Lestat desires".
When in fact Marius (with who Lestat has a pure father-son relationship) was the only person who really knew Lestat and understood him - Marius was the one Lestat desired to have by his side.
Marius is the person that comforts him, the one he couldn't even think of leaving, according to his own words, so I'm not analysing it out of nowhere. What that does make me think is that the loving father is more precious to Lestat than anything else.
Jesse's personality: she's stalky, bitchy, obsessive and too-dumb-for-her-own-good & tried to inmpress him with all her in-depth analyzing on his inner life. (Most of that is reasoned earlier in thsi article.)
X Knowing and understanding Lestat: Jesse cheated. She read his in-depth, heartfelt thoughts from his journal and then analyzed them.
Doing that doesn't have you really know a person because it's still just words on paper, no matter how much written from the heart. You have to live with the person, and you have to watch their life, their behavour methods, their undertakings, you have to really talk with them - all this for a long time and for real.
Jesse did none of that, so Jesse could not have known who Lestat truly is and thus also not exactly either love him for that.
Marius's personality: wise, gentle, compassionate, loving, patient and deep, and he wasn't obsessive to make Lestat do something or talk about things he clearly wished not to.
He gave Lestat space, yet was always there for him when he really needed. Even though Lestat doesn't love Marius romantically, the point is he does love him. And if this is the kind of persoanlity Lestat generally taken loves, something like Jesse couldn't stir his love of any tone not to mention make him want to share eternity with her.
Even though the film version of Marius isn't too purely all that because they f****ed him up by combining his personality with Magnus, who is Lestat's maker in the books - they still shhowed Lestat was VERY much bound to him emotionally and wanted Marius into his life and not Jesse. As said Lestat told he called out for Marius many times since they parted, he noticed and saved Jesse only because she mentioned Marius, he intended to kill her when found out she doesn't know Marius, and the way Lestat looks at Marius in the first moments of the reunion scene... and the deeply touched look in Lestat's eyes when he looks at Marius who had just leapt on the stage to protect him.
Not to mention how Lestat obviously forgets all his worries after that moment. This film's Lestat LOVED this film's Marius and clearly Marius was the one Lestat wanted. You see, regardless of the film Marius giving a random, shallow reason for choosing Lestat, it obviously had come clear to Lestat that, that reason wasn't true. But that Marius had for one thing wanted to be his father. If Lestat had been left in the impression that Marius wouldn't want him but only for some random reason, Lestat couldn't have grown to love the man so deeply. But he had, so obviously the time had shown Lestat why Marius truly chose him and formed extremely strong love and bond between them.
X Knowing and understanding Lestat: Marius never read all about Lestat and then claimed to know and understand him and all that stuff.
Marius watched him, he lived with him and he listened to him, had long conversations and all that stuff. He genuinely loved Lestat for who he is, he knew and understood Lestat and he had all the valid base to do so. Because HE was meant for Lestat.
They f-ed up the true father-son relationship and it's strength and extreme significance to Lestat and replaced it with clearly forced, fake mortal-immortal romance and tried to make it into what the father-son relationship was in significance. The official vision; the film, does this too, only the original script shows the abuse clearly.
SO, the original script makes this pairing even worse with all it's desperate efforts to pair them for "the love story of the century", while they just clearly do not fit together and the "relationship" has no genuine base to begin with (hence, Jesse cheated and became obsessive stalker.)
They're trying to paint them as lovers clearly just because Jesse needed to become a vampire and Lestat happens to be one and they wanted a cliche love story between a mortal and a vampire. And they miserabley failed in doing so as well as an independent story as an adaptation.
All of this and so much more I take to a lot more in-depth on my Never Yours - Lestat & Jesse Hate Site
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