The Man in the Iron Mask (1998 film)

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For other uses, see Man in the Iron Mask (disambiguation).
The Man in the Iron Mask

The Theatrical Poster for The Man in the Iron Mask
Directed by Randall Wallace
Produced by Russell Smith
Randall Wallace
Written by Alexandre Dumas, père (Novel)
Randall Wallace
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio
Jeremy Irons
John Malkovich
Gabriel Byrne
Gérard Depardieu
Anne Parillaud
Judith Godreche
Music by Nick Glennie-Smith
Cinematography Peter Suschitzky
Editing by William Hoy
Distributed by United Artists
Release date(s) March 13, 1998
Running time 132 min
Country UK/USA
Language English
Gross revenue Domestic: $56,968,902
Worldwide: $182,968,902
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

The Man in the Iron Mask (1998) is a film directed by Randall Wallace, and is an unofficial sequel to The Three Musketeers (1993 film) : it uses characters from Alexandre Dumas' D'Artagnan Romances, and is very loosely adapted from some plot elements of The Vicomte de Bragelonne. The movie centers on the aging Musketeers Athos, Porthos, Aramis and D'Artagnan and the reign of King Louis XIV of France. It attempts to explain the mystery of the Man in the Iron Mask, using a plot most similar to the 1939 film. Although a critical failure,[1] it is notable for nearly ending Titanic's four month stay at the summit of the US box office.[2]


Contents

[edit] Plot

France is under the reign of warmonger King Louis XIV (Leonardo DiCaprio), who is running the country into the ground with his unpopular wars. When starving peasants in Paris start to revolt, he responds by sending them rotten food (although he later orders his chief advisor, played by Hugh Laurie, executed for this) Louis bides his time by seducing a parade of women. The legendary 4 musketeers have retired from their posts: Aramis (Jeremy Irons) is now an aging priest; Porthos (Gérard Depardieu) bides his time by getting drunk and sleeping with young women; Athos (John Malkovich) has a son named Raoul (pronounced "Reul" in the film) who is just back from the war and ready to marry the girl he loves, Christine Bellefort (Judith Godreche). At a festival, the two lovers are greeted by an older D'Artagnan (Gabriel Byrne) and wished luck, but just before Raoul can propose, Louis' eyes fall on Christine. He arranges to have Raoul killed by sending him back to the front lines.

In the wake of Raoul's death, Aramis plots to overthrow Louis with the help of his old comrades. Only Athos and Porthos agree to the plan; D'Artangan refuses to betray his oath of alligance to the King. The remaining three musketeers sneak into the Bastille to free a mysterious prisoner: a man in an iron mask. They take the man to a safe house in the village and unmask him: he is Philippe (also Leonardo DiCaprio), the identical twin of King Louis. While he looks indistinguishable from his brother, Philippe is vastly more compassionate. Aramis reveals that he was sent away by his father to prevent his twin sons from bickering over the throne and tearing France apart. Louis was too superstitious to have his brother killed; instead, he devised a way to keep him hidden: the iron mask. Aramis was the one who took Philippe away to be imprisoned, an act which has haunted him ever since.

Louis succeeds in seducing Christine, claiming that he ordered Raoul to be placed far from the battlefront. Eventually, Christine gives in to Louis' sexual advances. Later, Christine receives a letter from Raoul, predicting his death and the events that would follow, as if he knew what Louis' intentions were.

Athos, Porthos and Aramis teach Philippe how to act like royalty, so he may replace Louis as King. Together they attempt to abduct Louis during a fancy dress ball, replacing him with Philippe in the confusion. Unfortunately, Philippe's good nature gives him away; he spares Christine's life after she storms in and calls him a lying murderer. D'Artagnan realizes something is amiss and forcibly escorts Phillipe outside. They arrive at the docks just as Athos, Porthos and Aramis are about to sail to the Bastille with Louis tied up. The men collectively decide to make a trade for the brothers' lives; however, Philippe is re-captured in the ensuing struggle.

D'Artagnan meets with Queen Anne, and it becomes clear that at some point they had a secret affair which resulted in the births of twins: Louis and Philippe. Philippe is once again placed within his iron mask and thrown into the Bastille. In the meantime, Christine is found hanging from her bedroom window; after leaving a note for her sister, she killed herself.

Athos, Porthos and Aramis brush off their old uniforms from their days of glory and (with D'Artagnan's help this time) break in and escape with Philippe. Louis, foreseeing what would happen, has prepared an ambush. However, the narrowness of the corridor prevents the guards from overwhelming the musketeers with their numbers. D'Artagnan finally has enough of Louis' orders and steps in to defend Phillipe. He explains that he is the twins' father, and that it was out of fatherly devotion that he served Louis, not loyalty. As the 4 musketeers charge at Louis' front line, the soldiers are so stunned by their bravery that they shut their eyes before firing their muskets, perhaps intending to miss deliberately. The smoke clears to see the Musketeers still standing; all of their shots, barring a few flesh wounds, have missed.

An enraged Louis lunges toward Philippe and tries to stab him on his own. D'Artagnan jumps in between them, saving Philippe and receiving Louis' dagger. Philippe, enraged, knocks Louis down and attempts to strangle him to death, but D'Artagnan, with his dying breaths, begs Philippe to spare Louis. Philippe embraces his father for the first and last time before he dies, commenting that D'Artagnan was the one wearing a mask in the end. Lieutenant Andre (D'Artagnan's right-hand man), furious at Louis for killing his mentor, sides with the musketeers over his King. By the time another battalion assembles outside the prison, the musketeers have swapped Philippe's clothes for Louis'. Posing as his brother, Phillipe orders the guards to take the man in the iron mask away to a place where no one can hear his insane rantings.

The next day, Philippe, Athos, Porthos, Aramis and Queen Anne attend D'Artagnan's funeral, in which the three musketeers are finally redeemed. Phillippe introduces them as his royal council and truest friends. With Louis (who received a royal pardon) now exiled to a country house, France is now at peace under the reign of Philippe.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Soundtrack

The Man in the Iron Mask (Original Soundtrack)
Soundtrack by Nick Glennie-Smith
Released March 10, 1998 (1998-03-10)
Genre soundtrack
Length 50:34
Label Milan Records
Professional reviews
All Music Guide 4/5 stars link
Nick Glennie-Smith chronology
Home Alone 3
(1997)		 The Man in the Iron Mask
(1998)		 The Lion King II: Simba's Pride
(1998)

Music for this film was written by english composer Nick Glennie-Smith. It's also famous because of the appearance in the 2002 Winter Olympic games, where figure skater Alexei Yagudin became a gold medalist. He won with the program The Man in the Iron Mask, based on the movie soundtrack.[3]

  1. Surrounded
  2. Heart Of A King
  3. The Pig Chase
  4. The Ascension
  5. King For A King
  6. The Moon Beckons
  7. The Masked Ball
  8. A Taste Of Something
  9. Kissy Kissie
  10. Training To Be King
  11. The Rose
  12. All Will Be Well
  13. All For One
  14. Greatest Mystery Of Life
  15. Raoul And Christine
  16. It Is A Trap
  17. Angry Athos
  18. Raoul's Letter
  19. The Palace
  20. Raoul's Death
  21. Queen Approaches

[edit] Differences between versions

The novel and the filmed versions of the tale have some differences in how they portray the Royal Twins and in how they present the plot to switch them.

In Dumas' The Vicomte de Bragelonne, although the plot to replace King Louis XIV with his twin brother is foiled, the twin brother is initially depicted as a much more sympathetic character than the King. However, in the last part of the novel, the king is portrayed as an intelligent, more mature and slightly misunderstood man who in fact deserves the throne. In the 1929 silent version starring Douglas Fairbanks as d'Artagnan, the King is depicted favorably and the twin brother is depicted as a pawn in an evil plot, so the plot being foiled by d'Artagnan and his Three Musketeer friends seems more appropriate.

But in the 1998 version, the King is depicted very negatively while his twin brother is portrayed with considerable sympathy, with the plot to switch the two brothers being presented as an attempt to save France from a bad king by replacing him with the one man in France who has an equal claim. d'Artagnan finds himself torn between loyalty to his King and loyalty to his Three Musketeer friends; the way in which this conflict is resolved provides much of the dramatic tension in this version.

Furthermore, it is revealed that d'Artagnan himself is the actual father of the twins, as well as being dedicated to the interests of France. His paternal feelings therefore complicate his dilemma, as he hopes that his son will one day prove himself worthy of his role in life, admitting at the end that it is only when meeting Phillippe that he felt true pride as a father.

[edit] Historical and literary inaccuracies

All historical persons and events depicted in the film are heavily fictionalized, even more than in Dumas' original works. Historical blunders also abound:

  • A portrait of Louis XV can be seen in Louis XIV's apartments: the film takes place about half a century before Louis XIV's great-grandson and successor was even born.
  • The fact that Louis XIV, after being replaced by his own twin brother, was remembered as France's most generous king, is generally viewed as hilarious by French audiences. Louis XIV is considered by the French general public as an authoritarian, heartless king, if a political genius.
  • D'Artagnan's death is inconsistent with the actual character's biography: the real d'Artagnan died in battle more than ten years later, as depicted in The Vicomte de Bragelonne.
  • Louis XIV had, in real life, a brother called Philippe: the actual Philippe of Orléans, who is not depicted in the film, was not, however, the King's twin brother.

The film is also inconsistent in its treatment of Alexandre Dumas' fictional universe: the plot implies that d'Artagnan was Anne of Austria's lover (and hence the father of Louis XIV and of his twin brother), while none of Dumas's works even remotely implied such a relationship.

The character of Christine is comparable to Louise de la Vallière, a mistress of Louis XIV's who, in Dumas's novel, is also loved by both the young king and Raoul. Her name change may have been so as not to create confusion between 'Louise' and 'Louis'.

[edit] Production notes

  • In this version, the "man in the iron mask" is introduced as prisoner number 64389000 based on the number related to his namesake found at the Bastille.

[edit] References

  1. ^ The Man in the Iron Mask at rottentomatoes.com
  2. ^ 1998 Boxoffice
  3. ^ See his costume for this program at www.olympic.org

4. Box Office Mojo Weekend Charts for 1998, weekend 1 to 52. Retrieved 2007-09-04

[edit] External links

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