The Man in the Iron Mask (1998 film)

The Kingdom of France faces bankruptcy from King Louis XIV's wars against the Dutch and the citizens are living on rotten food. Though the country moves toward revolution, Louis spends his time preparing the war and seducing countless women. The three musketeers have gone their separate ways. Aramis is now an aging priest, Porthos is a womanizing drunkard and Athos is living with his only son, Raoul, who aspires to join the musketeers. D'Artagnan stayed in the musketeers and is now the captain.

At a festival, Louis sets his eyes on Christine Bellefort, Raoul's fiancée, and immediately plots to be rid of Raoul by sending him to the battlefront, where he is killed by cannon fire. Aware that Louis orchestrated his son's death, Athos renounces his allegiance to the king and goes into exile. After an assassination attempt on Louis by the Jesuit order is foiled by D'Artagnan, Louis instructs Aramis to hunt down and kill their leader. In response, Aramis summons Porthos, Athos and D'Artagnan for a secret meeting in which he reveals a plan to depose Louis. Athos and Porthos agree, but D'Artagnan refuses. Athos brands him a traitor and threatens him with death should they ever meet again. Meanwhile, Louis seduces Christine, but she continues to suspect his part in Raoul's death.

The musketeers enter the Île Sainte-Marguerite prison and free an unnamed prisoner in an iron mask, taking him to the countryside, where Aramis reveals that he is Philippe, Louis' identical twin brother. Aramis explains that the night Louis was born, his mother, Queen Anne, actually gave birth to twins. Louis XIII, hoping to avoid dynastic warfare between his sons, sent Philippe away to live in the countryside while naming Louis XIV as his heir. After Louis XIII died, Anne revealed Philippe's existence to Louis XIV, who was too superstitious to have his brother killed but had him imprisoned in the iron mask to keep his identity secret, something Aramis carried out. Aramis's plan now is 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, however, sees through the ruse, after Christine accuses Philippe with evidence of Louis's role in Raoul's death and is not punished. 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. Though Louis is prepared to kill Philippe, D'Artagnan begs him not to. Philippe bluffs that he is more afraid of the prison than death itself, which convinces Louis to imprison Philippe in the Bastille. Christine commits suicide out of grief.

D'Artagnan contacts the musketeers for help in rescuing Philippe from the Bastille. Louis, who suspected an attempt, ambushes them at the prison. Though he offers D'Artagnan clemency in exchange for surrender, D'Artagnan refuses, privately revealing to his friends that he is Louis and Philippe's true father from an affair with the Queen, the true reason for his loyalty to Louis. 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 and he dies in his friends' arms. Philippe almost strangles Louis to death but is convinced, by D'Artagnan's dying words, to show his brother mercy. D'Artagnan's top lieutenant, Andre, angered by his mentor's death, swears his men to secrecy and sides with Philippe. They switch the twins' places again and Philippe orders Louis locked away, naming Athos, Porthos and Aramis as his closest advisors.

A small funeral is held for D'Artagnan and Philippe admits to Athos that he has come to love him like a father, which Athos reciprocates. He issues Louis a royal pardon and sends him to live peacefully in the countryside, and goes on to become one of France's greatest kings.

• Leonardo DiCaprio as Philippe Bourbon/King Louis XIV
• Jeremy Irons as Aramis and Narrator
• 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, D'Artagnan's second in command
• Hugh Laurie as Pierre, Advisor to King Louis XIV
• David Lowe as Advisor to King Louis XIV

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. The Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte acts as the primary residence of the king as Versailles was still early in its construction and years away from Louis establishing residence there.

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.

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, having 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.

Soundtrack

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	link
Filmtracks	link

Music for this film was written by the English composer Nick Glennie-Smith. The 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.[7]

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"

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