History Film / TheManInTheIronMask

* HotMom: Anne of Austria is played by 38-year-old Anne Parillaud. She is better known for playing ''Film/{{Nikita}}''.

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 temporarily, the people get sick and the advisor is executed for "his" crime.

* IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim: Or rather, If You Imprison Him In An Iron Mask For The Rest Of His Life, You Will Be Just Like Him. Phillipe ultimately pardons Louise and allows him to retire to the country in comfortable exile, utterly proving himself the better man.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: 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.

*** I actually believe this should be understood as an alternative history/fairytale, not a mistake per se.

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. Enraged by receiving rotten food, starving people march to the gates of Louis' palace, and the guards prepare to fire. D'Artagnan prevents a massacre from occurring, winning over the crowd with his popularity and promise to speak with Louis over the matter. He also thwarts an assassination attempt on Louis by a man who exhorts "feed your people." However things change 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 a [[TheUriahGambit 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 Man in the Iron Mask''''' is a 1998 film adaptation of ''[[Literature/TheThreeMusketeers The Vicomte De Bragelonne]]'' (1847-1850) by Creator/AlexandreDumas. The original serial novel was a sequel to ''Literature/TheThreeMusketeers''. The film was the first directed by Creator/RandallWallace, previously known for writing ''Film/{{Braveheart}}''. The main stars were Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio, Creator/JeremyIrons, JohnMalkovich, Gabriel Byrne, Creator/GerardDepardieu and Anne Parillaud.

'''''The Man in the Iron Mask''''' is a 1998 film adaptation of ''[[Literature/TheThreeMusketeers The Vicomte De Bragelonne]]'' (1847-1850) by Creator/AlexandreDumas. The original serial novel was a sequel to ''Literature/TheThreeMusketeers''. The film was the first directed by Creator/RandallWallace, previously known for writing ''Film/{{Braveheart}}''. The main stars were Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio, JeremyIrons, JohnMalkovich, Gabriel Byrne, Creator/GerardDepardieu and Anne Parillaud.

* FakeNationality: The film features an eclectic array of fake Frenchmen. Most notable were Englishman Jeremy Irons as Aramis, Irishman Gabriel Byrne as D'Artagnan, American John Malkovich as Athos, American Peter Sarsgaard as his son, and American Leonardo [=DiCaprio=] as King Louis XIV, none of whom particularly bothered to disguise their country of origin. This was made particularly noticeable by having an actual Frenchman, Gerard Depardieu, round out the cast. Anne Parillaud, who is a native Parisian, plays Anne of Austria. Who despite her designation was from Spain. Judith Godreche (Christine) is the only other French actor.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: By putting Philippe on the throne, they most likely averted the French Revolution in their timeline, in which case they have lost the Enlightenment, Robespierre, the changing of the social classes in history and Napoleon's conquest.
** There was more than one Enlightenment, it's possible that by avoiding the Revolution the same result was achieved with much less blood.

'''''The Man in the Iron Mask''''' is a 1998 film adaptation of ''Literature/TheVicomteDeBragelonne'' (1847-1850) by Creator/AlexandreDumas. The original serial novel was a sequel to ''Literature/TheThreeMusketeers''. The film was the first directed by Creator/RandallWallace, previously known for writing ''Film/{{Braveheart}}''. The main stars were Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio, JeremyIrons, JohnMalkovich, Gabriel Byrne, Creator/GerardDepardieu and Anne Parillaud.

* ShoutOut: The young lovers Raoul and Christine are named after the main characters of ''ThePhantomOfTheOpera''.

'''''The Man in the Iron Mask''''' is a 1998 film adaptation of ''Literature/TheVicomteDeBragelonne'' (1847-1850) by Creator/AlexandreDumas. The original serial novel was a sequel to ''Literature/TheThreeMusketeers''. The film was the first directed by Creator/RandallWallace, previously known for writing ''Film/{{Braveheart}}''. The main stars were Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio, JeremyIrons, JohnMalkovich, Gabriel Byrne, Gerard Depardieu and Anne Parillaud.

'''''The Man in the Iron Mask''''' is a 1998 film adaptation of ''Literature/TheVicomteDeBragelonne'' (1847-1850) by Creator/AlexandreDumas. The original serial novel was a sequel to ''Literature/TheThreeMusketeers''. The film was the first directed by Creator/RandallWallace, previously known for writing ''Film/{{Braveheart}}''. The main stars were LeonardoDiCaprio, JeremyIrons, JohnMalkovich, Gabriel Byrne, Gerard Depardieu and Anne Parillaud.

* HeyItsThatGuy: Oh look, Series/{{House}} is one of Louis' courtiers!
-->'''TheNostalgiaChick''': "Well fine, I'm going to play a lovable old curmudgeon on Fox."

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 [[TheUriahGambit 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.

Aramis is aware that Louis has a twin brother. Said brother Philippe ([=DiCaprio=] again) is the titular ManInTheIronMask, kept prisoner to prevent him from claiming the throne. He is gentler and more compassionate than Louis. Their plot involves releasing Philippe and having him impersonate Louis, effectively replacing the King with a new one. They will have to face D'Artagnan, still loyal to Louis. They will also have to learn a secret Anne of Austria (Parillaud), widow of Louis XIII and mother of the boys, has kept for herself.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: The ending narration says that Louis XIV brought his country and his subjects prosperity and peace. In real life, Louis spent most of his reign with waging wars.

* FakeNationality: The film features an eclectic array of fake Frenchmen. Most notable were Englishman Jeremy Irons as Aramis, Irishman Gabriel Byrne as D'Artagnan, American John Malkovich as Athos, American Peter Sarsgaard as his son, and American Leonardo [=DiCaprio=] as King Louis XIV, none of whom particularly bothered to disguise their country of origin. This was made particularly noticeable by having an actual Frenchman, Gerard Depardieu, round out the cast. Anne Parillaud, who is a native Parisian, plays Anne of Austria. Who despite her designation was from Spain.

* HiredToHuntYourself: 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.

* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: justified because the firing squad were Musketeers and we see them deliberately missing.

* MasqueradeBall: 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.

* MelancholyMoon: Shortly after his first escape from prison, Philippe is unable to sleep and spends time gazing at the [[WeirdMoon full moon]]. Not only is overcome by the beauty of the moon he had been unable to fully witness while in prison, but he's also burdened by the sheer weight of responsibility and expectations demanded of him by his rescuers.

* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: Some characters sport JustAStupidAccent with more or less success, while Leonardo [=DiCaprio=] doesn't seem to even try while playing the ''King of France''. Gerard Depardieu's actual French accent puts the lie to everyone else, though.

* WeirdMoon: 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 MelancholyMoon given the poignancy of the emotions in the scene.

* DidNotDoTheResearch: The ending narration says that Louis XIV brought his country and his subjects prosperity and peace. In real life, Louis spent most of his reign with waging wars.
** Possibly TheyJustDidntCare.
** it's actually [[{{fridgebrilliance}} Philippe]] who was the King who brought his subjects prosperity not Louis, the Man in the Iron Mask is an AlternateReality where Louis was a twin, and by putting Philippe on the throne averted all that Louis did, which was [[{{chessmaster}} Aramis']] plan all along.
** of course in which case, they have likely averted the French Revolution, and as such many philosphies and political ideologies of today were not created, including the Enlightenment and the French supporting Napoleon's explorations, image a world that Napoleon had not discovered...

* {{Narm}}

* Narm