The Man in the Iron Mask (1998 film): Difference between revisions

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The year is 1662. Gone are Cardinal Richelieu (died 1642) and Louis XIII of France (died 1643). France is ruled by Louis XIV (DiCaprio), son of his predecessor. He is a militarist who is already bankrupting the country with unpopular wars. Privately, Louis follows a hedonistic lifestyle and keeps many mistresses. Meanwhile, the peasants of Paris are starving and a food riot begins. Louis XIV commands one of his advisors to send rotten food to the rioters. The riot stops, the people get sick and the advisor is executed for "his" crime.

So, what has happened to the Musketeers? Aramis (Irons), Athos (Malkovich) and Porthos (Depardieu) have retired from service. Aramis is now a Jesuit priest. Porthos spends much of his free time frequenting brothels. Athos has become a single father. His son Raoul (Peter Sarsgaard) currently serves in the French Army. Only D'Artagnan (Byrne) is still in the service of the King. However their peaceful life ends abruptly. Raoul is about to marry Christine (Judith Godreche), a woman who Louis wants to add to his mistresses, so Louis gets Raoul killed in an [[The Uriah Gambit|Uriah Gambit]], leaving Louis free to seduce Christine. Louis also orders the assassination of whoever is the secret leader of the French Jesuits, which happens to be Aramis. Now both Aramis and Athos have reasons to hate Louis. They recruit Porthos in a plot against Louis.

 

 

The film was a box office hit. Its worldwide gross estimated to US$182,968,902. While a great hit in the international market, it fared poorly in the United States one, where it only earned about 57 million and was the 37th most successful film of its year. Even then, it is estimated to have been far more popular with girls and women under 25 years old. Critically it was found lacking, particularly due to major deviations from its source novel and a number of anachronisms.

{{tropelist}}

* [[Aluminum Christmas Trees]]: Many viewers probably laughed at the "anachronistic" fountains on the grounds of the French royal palace. Truth is, not only were they real, but they're also [[Older Than They Think]]: the [[wikipedia:Alhambra|Alhambra]] in Granada, Spain, (constructed in the 14th century) has fountains powered not by electricity, but by gravity, with an aqueduct that brings water from the uphill Darro river.

* [[Bungled Suicide]]: At some point, Porthos gets depressed and believes he has nothing to go on living for. He kisses the tavern girls goodbye and goes into the barn to hang himself. Naked. We hear a big thud, and Porthos swearing. Aramis knew Porthos would try to commit suicide and sawed through the beam.

** Then the barn collapsed on Porthos, since Aramis sawed the wrong beam.

* [[The Cavalier Years]]: Obviously.

* [[Clingy Costume]]: The titular mask is hard to remove, very much by design.

* [[Fate Worse Than Death]]: Philippe begs Louis to kill him rather than sending him back to prison.

* [[Hey, It's That Guy!]]: Oh look, [[House MD]] is one of Louis' courtiers!

* [[Hired to Hunt Yourself]]: The Jesuits are actively opposing the king, so he decides to put a man in charge of finding their general and killing him. Of course, he chooses one of his close allies: Aramis, who turns out to be the Jesuit general.

* [[Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy]]: justified because the firing squad were Musketeers and we see them deliberately missing.

* {{spoiler|[[Luke, I Am Your Father]]: D'Artagnan is the real father of Louis and Philippe}}.

* [[Masquerade Ball]]: Figures prominently in the attempt to replace Louis with Philippe. With the added bonus that the hidden twin had spent his entire life wearing a heavy iron mask, which he flashes to the king from under the decorative gold one to freak him out.

* [[Meaningless Meaningful Words]]: In reply to a perfectly sensible lament of Queen Anne, Aramis came out with a memorable bit of important-sounding nonsense.

'''Aramis:''' "No! That mask was Louis' creation. Now we have a chance to make a miracle. To strip all masks away forever." }}

** Considering the extent of his plan is to replace the nasty-creep brother on the throne with his nice-guy brother, that last statement makes absolutely no sense.

* [[No Celebrities Were Harmed]]: The character of "Christine" is supposed to be a historical figure: Louise de La Vallière (1644-1710), the chief mistress of Louis XIV of France from 1661 to 1667. The character is clearly identified in the novel but renamed in the film.

** Probably, the scriptwriters thought that having a relationship between characters named Louis and Louise would be [[Viewers are Morons|too confusing for the viewers]].

* [[Papa Wolf]]: Athos, leading to his attempted [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]].

* [[Playing Against Type]]: Leo as the utterly despicable and possibly psychopathic Louis.

* [[Sanctuary of Solitude]]: Anne of Austria does this.

** Not to mention that {{spoiler|the woman he planned to seduce figures out his plot and decides to commit suicide rather than live with him.}}

* [[Weird Moon]]: Just after he's been freed from the prison for the first time, Philippe can't sleep and ends up at the window gazing at the full moon that he had struggled to hard to see while in prison. The moon is ''huge''. Doubles as a [[Melancholy Moon]] given the poignancy of the emotions in the scene.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Films of the 1990s]]