The Man in the Iron Mask (1998 film)

The Man in the Iron Mask is a 1998 American action drama film directed, produced, and written by Randall Wallace, and starring Leonardo DiCaprio in a dual role as the title character and villain, Jeremy Irons as Aramis, John Malkovich as Athos, Gerard Depardieu as Porthos, and Gabriel Byrne as D'Artagnan. The picture uses characters from Alexandre Dumas's D'Artagnan Romances and is very loosely adapted from some plot elements of The Vicomte de Bragelonne.

The film centers on the aging four musketeers, Athos, Porthos, Aramis, and D'Artagnan, during the reign of King Louis XIV and attempts to explain the mystery of the Man in the Iron Mask, using a plot more closely related to the flamboyant 1929 version starring Douglas Fairbanks, The Iron Mask, and the 1939 version directed by James Whale, than to the original Dumas book. Like the 1998 version, the two aforementioned adaptations were also released through United Artists.

Plot
In 1662, the Kingdom of France faces bankruptcy from King Louis XIV's wars against the Dutch Republic, which has left the country's agriculture impeded by a heavy tax burden and forced the citizens to live on rotten food. Though the country appears to be on the verge of a revolution, Louis continues to spend his time preparing for war and seducing countless women. The three musketeers have gone their separate ways; Aramis is now an aging priest, Porthos has become a philandering drunk, and Athos is retired and living with his only son, Raoul, who aspires to join the Musketeers. Only D'Artagnan has remained with the Musketeers, now serving as their Captain.

At a festival, Aramis learns that the Jesuit order has declared Louis's wars unjust and the source of public hunger and outrage. Louis personally instructs Aramis to secretly hunt down and kill the Jesuit leader. Also in attendance are Raoul and his fiancée, Christine Bellefort. Louis immediately sets his sights on Christine, but faithful to Raoul, she resists his affections. A Jesuit assassin attempts to kill Louis but is killed by D'Artagnan instead. Louis immediately plots to seduce Christine by having Raoul sent to the battlefront. D'Artagnan visits Athos to warn him of the danger Raoul faces. But then Raoul arrives and informs his father he has been recalled to his regiment because he believes Louis desires Christine. Raoul nevertheless resolves to go because he will not risk making Christine a widow nor consider himself a coward. Athos angrily warns D'Artagnan that if Raoul is harmed, then Louis will become his enemy. D'Artagnan tells Athos he will personally speak to Louis about Raoul.

An angry crowd from Paris attacks the Musketeers when they are fed rotten food, but D'Artagnan calms the crowd and says he will personally speak to Louis about public hunger. Louis assures D'Artagnan he will deal with the matter, and that Raoul will return soon from the war. Instead, Louis orders his chief adviser Pierre executed for distributing the rotten food (despite the fact that Louis earlier ordered him to do so), and orders that all rioters are to be shot from now on. Raoul joins the war and is killed at the battlefront by cannon fire. Upon learning of his son's death, Athos attempts to kill Louis but is stopped by D'Artagnan, and goes into exile. Louis invites Christine to the royal palace and coerces her into sex by pretending to care for her mourning and by promising to have his personal doctor treat her sick mother and sister and has them sent to recover at his country estate.

Aramis summons Porthos, Athos and D'Artagnan for a secret meeting in which he reveals that he himself is the Jesuits' leader and has a plan to depose Louis. Athos and Porthos agree, but D'Artagnan refuses to cooperate citing his oath of honor cannot be removed or betrayed. Athos angrily confronts D'Artagnan over his devotion and loyalty to Louis, but D'Artagnan still refuses to join their plot. Athos brands him a traitor and threatens him with death should they ever meet again.

The three musketeers enter a remote prison and smuggle out an unnamed prisoner in an iron mask, taking him to the countryside, where Aramis reveals that he is Philippe, Louis's identical twin brother. Aramis reveals that the night Louis was born, his mother, Queen Anne, gave birth to twins. Louis XIII, hoping to avoid dynastic warfare between his sons, sent Philippe away to live in the countryside with no knowledge of his true identity. On his deathbed, Louis XIII revealed Philippe's existence to Anne and Louis. Anne, having been told by her priest that Philippe had died at birth, then wished to restore Philippe's birthright. But Louis, now king and too superstitious to have his brother killed, had Philippe imprisoned instead in the iron mask to keep his identity secret, something Aramis reluctantly carried out. Aramis's plan is now to redeem himself and save France by replacing Louis with Philippe. The musketeers begin training Philippe to act and behave like Louis, while Athos develops fatherly feelings for him.

At a masquerade ball, the musketeers lure Louis to his quarters and subdue him, dressing Philippe in his clothes while taking Louis to the dungeons. D'Artagnan uncovers the ruse, after Christine accuses Philippe with evidence of Louis's role in Raoul's death and is not rebuffed. He forcibly escorts Philippe to the dungeons and they confront the musketeers before they can take Louis to the Bastille. They trade twins, but Philippe is captured before the musketeers escape. D'Artagnan is shocked to learn who Philippe is and begs Louis not to kill him, as does Anne. Louis refuses, but after Philippe pleads with Louis to kill him rather than put him back in the mask, Louis decides to send Philippe to the Bastille and have the mask placed on him again, cynically stating Philippe will "wear the mask until [he] love[s] it...and die in it". He orders D'Artagnan to bring him the severed heads of Athos, Porthos and Aramis or Louis will have his head. Meanwhile, Christine commits suicide by hanging herself outside Louis's bedroom window out of grief and remorse.

D'Artagnan contacts his friends for help in rescuing Philippe from the Bastille. Louis, who suspected D'Artagnan would help his friends, ambushes them at the prison. Though he offers D'Artagnan clemency in exchange for surrender, D'Artagnan refuses, privately revealing to Philippe and his friends that Louis and Philippe are actually his sons from an affair with the Queen. He also reveals he never knew Philippe existed, and never felt pride as a father until now. They charge one final time at Louis and his men and are fired upon; their bravery compels the soldiers to close their eyes before firing and all miss. Louis attempts to stab Philippe but wounds D'Artagnan fatally. Philippe attacks Louis but stops when D'Artagnan reminds him that Louis is his brother. Athos asks D'Artagnan's forgiveness, realizing his loyalty to Louis was out of fatherly devotion to his son, the same fatherly devotion Athos had to his son Raoul. D'Artagnan dies in his friends' arms.

D'Artagnan's top lieutenant, Andre, angered by his mentor's death, swears his men to secrecy and orders them out of the prison, siding with Philippe. He and the Musketeers switch the twins' places again. Philippe orders Louis locked away and fed by a deaf mute, placing him in the iron mask, but to be treated well, and then names Athos, Porthos and Aramis as his royal counsel. A small funeral is held for D'Artagnan, where Philippe admits to Athos that he has come to love him like a father, which Athos reciprocates. Philippe later issues Louis a royal pardon and sends him to live peacefully in the countryside visited often by Anne, and goes on to become one of France's greatest kings. The tombstone of D'Artagnan has an iron mask imprint chiseled upon it by his friends (Philippe saying earlier that due to his secret, D'Artagnan was the real man in the iron mask).

Cast

 * Leonardo DiCaprio as Philippe Bourbon/King Louis XIV
 * Jeremy Irons as Aramis
 * John Malkovich as Athos
 * Gérard Depardieu as Porthos
 * Gabriel Byrne as D'Artagnan
 * Anne Parillaud as Queen Anne of Austria
 * Judith Godrèche as Christine Bellefort
 * Peter Sarsgaard as Raoul, son of Athos
 * Edward Atterton as Lieutenant Andre
 * Hugh Laurie as Pierre, Advisor to King Louis XIV
 * David Lowe as Advisor to King Louis XIV

Production
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. Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte is the stand in for all the scenes that are supposed to be Versailles, although in the book, the switch between Louis and Philippe happens at Vaux-le-Vicomte. Vaux-le-Vicomte, the prototype for Versailles, was historically built for Nicolas Fouquet, Superintendent of Finances for Louis XlV.

In some versions, the switch takes place at a real and actual event the "fête de Vaux" (17 August 1661), a famous party for the unveiling of the new château. The party was attended by Louis XlV, who realized that the king's own palace was seen as inferior to the new château of his non-royal finance minister. The famous fête led to the downfall of Fouquet and the building of Versailles.

Differences between versions
The novel and the filmed versions of the tale have some differences in how they portray the royal twins and the plot to switch them.

In Alexandre Dumas's The Vicomte de Bragelonne, although the plot to replace King Louis XIV with his twin brother is foiled, the twin 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 - and the Musketeers themselves are split, Aramis (with assistance from Porthos, who is ignorant and easily duped) siding with the prisoner, D'Artagnan with King Louis, and Athos retiring from politics entirely. D'Artagnan, foiling the plot of the others, is tasked with capturing his friends, who have taken refuge in a fortress in Bretony: he resigns his command, knowing that he will be arrested and his subordinate will open fire anyway. Without D'Artagnan's command and his tactical knowledge of his friends-turned-foes, Aramis's fortress refuge is taken by the king's men but at great loss of life, while Porthos dies in a heroic last stand and Aramis escapes to take political asylum in Spain (and later return as a member of the Spanish embassage, to ensure their neutrality should France and Holland come to blows.) D'Artagnan explains himself to the King, and is pardoned and restored to his position, and told that if he wants the final promotion he was on the point of earning, he had better go and win it on a foreign field: in the later war against Holland, he is finally awarded promotion to the supreme command, only to be killed while reading the notice of his promotion at the siege of Maastricht.

In the 1929 silent version, The Iron Mask starring Douglas Fairbanks as D'Artagnan, the King is depicted favorably and the twin brother as a pawn in an evil plot whose thwarting by D'Artagnan and his companions seems more appropriate.

In the 1998 film, the King is depicted negatively while his twin brother is sympathetically portrayed. D'Artagnan's loyalties are torn between his King and his three Musketeer friends. He is also revealed as the father of the twins, as well as being dedicated to the interests of France.

Finally the 1998 film shows a clear inspiration from the biblical story of King David and Uriah in dealing with Raoul's fate, which lacks in the novel.

Historical inaccuracies
Many historical persons and events depicted in the film are heavily fictionalized, as declared in an opening narration.
 * A portrait of Louis XV can be seen in Louis XIV's apartments. Louis XV was the great-grandson and successor of Louis XIV. He was born in 1710, and the events of the film take place about half a century before his birth.
 * D'Artagnan's death is inconsistent with biographic fact. The character is based on Charles de Batz-Castelmore d'Artagnan, a captain of the Musketeers of the Guard, who was killed in battle during the Siege of Maastricht (1673) - an event that concludes the Dumas novels, in which D'Artagnan is killed while reading the long-awaited notice of his promotion to the supreme command.
 * Louis XIV had a real-life brother, Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, who is not depicted in the film and was not the King's twin. Louis XIV was born in 1638. Philippe I was his younger brother, born in 1640. Philippe was the founder of the House of Orléans, a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon. He appears in the original Dumas novels - as a foppish, probably homosexual dandy - but is not involved in the Iron Mask plot on either side, getting little more than a reference that he is the only brother Louis is prepared to acknowledge.
 * Set in 1662, the film portrays the king as unmarried. The historical Louis XIV married his first wife Maria Theresa of Spain in 1660. They remained married until her death in 1683.
 * Notwithstanding the peace and prosperity alluded to at the film's conclusion, Louis XIV spent most of the remainder of his reign at war.

Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 33% based on 40 reviews. The site's critical consensus states: "Leonardo DiCaprio plays dual roles with diminishing returns in The Man in the Iron Mask, a cheesy rendition of the Musketeers' epilogue that bears all the pageantry of Alexandre Dumas' text, but none of its romantic panache." On Metacritic it has a score of 48% based on 18 reviews.

Accolades
The film was nominated for the Best Original Score for an Adventure Film by the International Film Music Critics Award (IFMCA).

Depardieu was nominated for the European Film Academy Achievement in World Cinema Award for his role as Porthos. DiCaprio won a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Screen Couple for his interactions as twins in the film.

Soundtrack
Music for this film was written by English composer Nick Glennie-Smith. Figure skater Alexei Yagudin became a gold medalist skating to this music in the 2002 Winter Olympics. He won with the program The Man in the Iron Mask, based on the movie soundtrack.


 * 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"