The Man in the Iron Mask is a 1998 American action drama film written, directed, and produced by Randall Wallace. It stars Leonardo
| The Man in the Iron Mask | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Randall Wallace |
| Screenplay by | Randall Wallace |
| Based on | The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later by Alexandre Dumas |
| Produced by | Randall Wallace Russell Smith |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Peter Suschitzky |
| Edited by | William Hoy |
| Music by | Nick Glennie-Smith |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | MGM Distribution Co. |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 132 minutes |
| Country | United States[1] |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $35 million[2] |
| Box office | $182.9 million[3] |
DiCaprio in a dual role as the title character and the villain, Jeremy Irons as Aramis, John Malkovich as Athos, Gérard Depardieu as Porthos, and Gabriel Byrne as D'Artagnan.[4] Some characters are from Alexandre Dumas's D'Artagnan Romances and some plot elements are very loosely adapted from his 1847-1850 novel The Vicomte de Bragelonne. This was Leonardo DiCaprio's first film following the success of Titanic (1997).
The film centers on the aging four musketeers, Athos, Porthos, Aramis, and D'Artagnan, during the reign of King Louis XIV. It explores the mystery of the Man in the Iron Mask, with a plot closer 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. The film received mixed reviews but was a financial success, grossing $183 million worldwide against a budget of $35 million.
Plot
In 1662, the Kingdom of France is near bankruptcy as a result of King Louis XIV's lavish lifestyle and wars against the Dutch, which has left the country's agriculture impeded by a heavy tax burden and forces the citizens to live on rotten food. Though the country appears on the verge of 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 murder Louis but is killed by D'Artagnan. Louis immediately plots to seduce Christine by having Raoul sent to the battlefront. Despite realizing Louis's intentions, Raoul nevertheless resolves to go because he will not risk making Christine a widow nor consider himself a coward. Athos, angrily claiming that D'Artagnan knows nothing of being a father, promises vengeance against Louis if Raoul is harmed.
An angry crowd from Paris attacks the Musketeers when they are fed rotten food, but D'Artagnan calms them by promising to personally speak with Louis about the matter. Louis instead has his chief adviser executed for distributing the rotten food (which Louis told him to do in the first place) and orders that all rioters are to be shot from now on. Raoul 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 promising to have his personal doctor treat her sick mother and sister, sending them 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 maintains that his oath of honor can not 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 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 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. Louis, now king and too superstitious to have his brother killed, had Philippe imprisoned instead in the iron mask to keep his identity secret, which 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 publicly confronts 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 as they attempt to smuggle Louis out of the castle. In the subsequent fight, Philippe is captured while the musketeers escape. D'Artagnan is shocked to learn who Philippe is and begs an infuriated Louis to show mercy, as does Anne. Philippe pleads for death rather than being put him back in the mask, which convinces Louis to return Philippe to the Bastille, stating Philippe will wear the mask until he loves it. He orders D'Artagnan to hunt down Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, or be killed himself. Meanwhile, a guilt-ridden Christine commits suicide by hanging herself outside Louis's bedroom window.
D'Artagnan contacts his friends for help in rescuing Philippe from the Bastille. Louis, who anticipated this, lays a trap with the Musketeers. Though he offers D'Artagnan clemency in exchange for surrender, D'Artagnan refuses, 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 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 mortally wounds D'Artagnan. Philippe attacks Louis but stops when D'Artagnan reminds him that Louis is his brother. Athos asks D'Artagnan's forgiveness, realizing D'Artagnan's 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. They switch the twins' places again; Philippe orders that Louis be locked away, placing the iron mask on his head, and names Athos, Porthos, and Aramis as his royal counsel. A funeral is held for D'Artagnan, and 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, going 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, proclaiming that due to his secret, he was the real man in the iron mask.
Cast
- Leonardo DiCaprio as Philippe Bourbon / King Louis XIV
- Jeremy Irons as Aramis. Irons also serves as the film's 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
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.[5] 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.[citation needed]
Reception
Box office
The film grossed $17 million on its opening weekend in second place behind Titanic, another film starring Leonardo DiCaprio. It eventually grossed $56 million at the domestic box office, and $126 million in international receipts, for a total of $183 million worldwide.
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 32% with an average rating of 5.5/10, based on 41 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."[6] On Metacritic, it has a score of 48 out of 100 based on 18 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[7] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.[8][9]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave it 2.5 out of 4.[10] Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times wrote that while the "production values are not lacking", "Wallace, in his first try at directing, has been unable to unify the film’s disparate elements. There’s swordplay and tragedy, slapstick and romance, lots of DiCaprio for all those teenage girls--there’s everything but a consistent style. And events are handled so broadly it’s not surprising to learn that the director’s inspiration was the Classics Illustrated version of the Dumas novel he read as a youth."[5]
Accolades
The film was nominated for the Best Original Score for an Adventure Film by the International Film Music Critics Award (IFMCA).[11]
Depardieu was nominated for the European Film Academy Achievement in World Cinema Award for his role as Porthos.[12] DiCaprio won a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Screen Couple for his interactions as twins.[13]
Soundtrack
| The Man in the Iron Mask (Original Soundtrack) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by | ||||
| Released | March 10, 1998 | |||
| Genre | Soundtrack | |||
| Length | 50:34 | |||
| Label | Milan Records | |||
| Nick Glennie-Smith chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic[14] |   |
| Filmtracks[15] | |
The soundtrack was written by the English composer Nick Glennie-Smith.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Surrounded" | 3:48 |
| 2. | "Heart of a King" | 3:18 |
| 3. | "The Pig Chase" | 3:28 |
| 4. | "The Ascension" | 00:49 |
| 5. | "King for a King" | 6:21 |
| 6. | "The Moon Beckons" | 2:15 |
| 7. | "The Masked Ball" | 1:28 |
| 8. | "A Taste of Something" | 3:58 |
| 9. | "Kissy Kissie" | 2:07 |
| 10. | "Training to Be King" | 1:38 |
| 11. | "The Rose" | 2:20 |
| 12. | "All Will Be Well" | 1:06 |
| 13. | "All for One" | 4:39 |
| 14. | "Greatest Mystery of Life" | 1:49 |
| 15. | "Raoul and Christine" | 1:51 |
| 16. | "It is a Trap" | 2:45 |
| 17. | "Angry Athos" | 1:55 |
| 18. | "Raoul's Letter" | 1:00 |
| 19. | "The Palace" | 0:26 |
| 20. | "Raoul's Death" | 1:32 |
| 21. | "The Queen Approaches" | 1:51 |
| Total length: | 50:34 | |
References
- ^ "The Man in the Iron Mask". British Film Institute. London. Archived from the original on February 7, 2009. Retrieved November 10, 2012.
- ^ "The Man in the Iron Mask (1998) - Financial Information". The Numbers.
- ^ "The Man in the Iron Mask". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved December 18, 2022.
- ^ Olthuis, Andrew. "The Man in the Iron Mask". Allmovie. Retrieved November 10, 2012.
- ^ a b Turan, Kenneth (March 13, 1998). "All in a Masquerade". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on December 19, 2022. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
- ^ "The Man in the Iron Mask". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved January 4, 2023.
- ^ "The Man in the Iron Mask Awards". Metacritic. Retrieved January 4, 2023.
- ^ "Home". CinemaScore. Retrieved 2022-03-06.
- ^ "Critical Mass". Entertainment Weekly. March 27, 1998.
The Man in the Iron Mask MGM/UA B+ [CINEMASCORE Audiences across the U.S.]
- ^ Ebert, Roger (March 13, 1998). "The Man in the Iron Mask movie review (1998) | Roger Ebert". Chicago Sun-Times.
- ^ "1998 FMCJ Awards". International Film Music Critics Association. 18 October 2009. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
- ^ "The Man in the Iron Mask". European Film Awards. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
- ^ Pirnia, Garin (January 26, 2017). "12 Surprising Razzie Award Winners". Mental Floss. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
- ^ "The Man in the Iron Mask (Music from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)". AllMusic.
- ^ "The Man in the Iron Mask". FilmTracks. Retrieved August 28, 2022.
External links
