The Man in the Iron Mask 1998

The Man in the Iron Mask is a 1998 adventure film directed, produced, and written by Randall Wallace, and starring Leonardo DiCaprio in a dual role as the title character and villain, and Gabriel Byrne as d'Artagnan. It uses characters from Alexandre Dumas' 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 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 more closely related to 1929 Fairbanks' version, The Iron Mask, and the 1939 version by James Whale than the original Dumas book.
        France is under the reign of the militaristic King Louis XIV, who is bankrupting the country with his unpopular wars. When starving peasants in Paris start rioting for food, he responds by ordering his chief adviser Pierre, to send them rotten food—although he later orders Pierre executed for this and all rioters shot dead. Meanwhile, the king wallows in hedonistic luxury and seduces a parade of women. The legendary three musketeers have retired from their posts: Aramis is now a priest of the Jesuits; Porthos is a frequent visitor to Parisian brothels; Athos has a son named Raoul who has just returned from the war and signifies his application to join the musketeers, like his father who once served with pride and honor. Meanwhile, Athos gives Raoul his wife's ring, saying that the only lady worthy to wear it is the one that Raoul loves. This is Christine Bellefort, to whom Raoul intends to propose. At a festival, the two lovers are greeted by an older D'Artagnan, who is still in the service of the King as Captain of the Musketeers, striving to retain the esprit de corps of the old days. D'Artagnan wishes Raoul and Christine luck, but just before Raoul can propose, the king's eyes fall on Christine. He arranges for Raoul to be returned to combat, where he is killed by the Dutch cannons while leading ground troops in an attack en-masse. The news of his son's death reaches Athos, who, in a fit of rage, proceeds to the king's palace to seek vengeance. He injures two musketeers before D'Artagnan overpowers him on the Palace grounds. This puts a severe strain on Athos's friendship with D'Artagnan, whom he now sees as a traitor for siding with his son's killer.
In the wake of Raoul's death, Louis invites Christine to the palace where she sleeps with him, grateful for the medical assistance his doctors have given to her mother and sister. When Louis orders Aramis to find and execute the secret leader of the Jesuit order, Aramis sets in motion a plot to overthrow the king with the help of his old comrades, for this secret leader is none other than Aramis himself. Only Athos and Porthos agree to the plan; D'Artagnan refuses to betray his oath of honor and allegiance to the king. The three former Musketeers sneak into an island prison and arrange the escape of a mysterious prisoner: a man in an iron mask. They replace him with a corpse in a matching iron mask and, pretending it is plague ridden, burn it so the guards will not know the face behind the iron mask. They take the young man to a safe house in the countryside and unmask him: he is Philippe, the identical twin of King Louis. While he is identical to his brother, Philippe is compassionate and gentle. Aramis reveals that Philippe was sent away by his father, King Louis XIII, without anyone knowing he was alive and ordering Philippe's true identity kept from him, to save France from dynastic warfare. Louis and his mother learned of Philippe's existence when Louis XIII was on his deathbed. Anne wanted to restore her son's birthright to him. But Louis was determined to keep power, yet too superstitious to have his own brother murdered. So instead, he devised a way to keep him hidden: the iron mask. Aramis, at time still serving as a musketeer and clad in black uniform, the only thing Philippe remembers, was the one who took him away to prison, an act which has haunted him ever since.
Initial release: March 13, 1998 (USA, Canada)
Director: Randall Wallace
Story by: Alexandre Dumas
Screenplay: Randall Wallace
Awards: Razzie Award for Worst Screen Couple/Ensemble, Bogey Award, ASCAP Film and Television Music Award for Top Box Office Films