History Film / TheManInTheIronMask

* EvilJesuit: Zig-zagged. The Jesuits (who unlike in history seem to be depicted as mostly laypeople instead of clerics) are treated by Louis XIV as dissidents and rebels, and he immediately identifies the man who nearly manages to assassinate him as one, but they're critics of his reign on moral grounds and Aramis is secretly their leader.

The year is 1662. Gone are Cardinal Richelieu (died 1642) and Louis XIII of France (died 1643). France is ruled by UsefulNotes/LouisXIV ([=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.

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 he owns, though his impotence causes him great suffering. Athos married and had a son while he raised as single father following the death of his wife. His beloved son Raoul (Creator/PeterSarsgaard) 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 stable of 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.

* EvilJesuit: The man who nearly manages to assassinate Louis XIV is identified as a Jesuit by Louis.

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

* AmbiguousDisorder: Does the king have narcissistic personality disorder, or is he just spoiled?

* DeathSeeker: D'Artagnan guesses Athos's [[spoiler:foolish and rage-fueled attack on the Musketeer barracks was to try and get himself killed out of grief over Raoul's death]].

* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] because the firing squad were Musketeers and we see them deliberately missing. They are firing at not only their own captain, but probably the most famous men in all France besides the king himself. Leading directly to...

* 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 waging war, never changing his ways - as well as persecuting religious minorities such as the Huguenots and Jansenists - and the utter ''mess'' he left France in is often considered to be one of the ultimate causes of the French Revolution. (It makes more sense that this should be understood as an alternative history/fairytale, not a mistake, per se; a sort of "if our dear heroes had been there, they could have saved the other prince and we would have known peace and prosperity!")
** At no point is it made clear that the Jesuits are a religious order of priests and brothers, properly known as the Society of Jesus. Aramis, their head, identifies himself as the "General of the Order of Jesuits", while the correct term is "Superior General of the Society of Jesus". Besides Aramis, the other Jesuits in the film don't wear clerical clothing, so it makes them look like a cabal akin to the Assassins or Templars in ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'' - especially since a Jesuit (or suspected Jesuit) in disguise tries to kill Louis.
** Far from being an underground and persecuted sect, the Society of Jesus was one of the most influential Christian congregations in the Early Modern Period, running numerous schools and universities. While the Jesuits admittedly did face suppression in many parts of the world -- particularly England in the 1500s-1600s, where the Jesuits ''were'' forced underground and heavily persecuted -- for the rest of the world this didn't happen until the ''eighteenth'' century. Furthermore, in real life Louis never had any problems with the Jesuits; he was actually influenced by them in the latter half of his reign, and he had a Jesuit confessor. He ''did,'' however, order the persecution of the Huguenots and Jansenists, both of which ''were'' persecuted theological movements in France (the Jesuits were the latters' rivals within Catholicism, in fact).
** Louis XIV really had [[http://en.chateauversailles.fr/discover/history/monsieur-brother-louis-xiv a brother named Philippe]], but that's where the similarity ends. Philippe wasn't Louis's twin brother and his life had never been a secret.
** Louis XIV is depicted as unmarried, but in 1662 when the film is set, he'd already been married for two years.
** Contrary to the HellholePrison depicted here (and to be fair, in most every other depictions), the real Bastille prison was mostly used to house aristocrats and other upper-class prisoners, and most of them had a LuxuryPrisonSuite, not the dank filth encrusted cells like in the film.

* YourCheatingHeart: [[spoiler:Queen Anne]] is revealed to have had an affair with [[spoiler:D'Artagnan]]. As a result of this, both [[spoiler:Louis and Philippe]] were actually sired by him and not the late king.

* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Despite living in a dungeon with little to no light, having no way to clean his teeth, probably not having bathed for the entirety of his sentence, and being given just enough food and water to keep him alive for the last six years, Phillippe looks remarkably healthy when the mask comes off.

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

** Louis XIV's chamber has a hanging portrait... of Louis XV, Louis XIV's ''great-grandson.''
* AntiInterferenceLockUp: Louis XIV, the King of France, has his identical twin brother Phillipe locked up so he can't take the throne. He forces Phillipe to wear the title iron mask so no one will recognize him.

** 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 waging war, never changing his ways - as well as persecuting religious minorities such as the Huguenots and Jansenists - and the utter ''mess'' he left France in is generally considered to be one of the ultimate causes of the French Revolution. It makes more sense that this should be understood as an alternative history/fairytale, not a mistake, per se. A sort of "if our dear heroes had been there, they could have saved the other prince and we would have known peace and prosperity!"

** Far from being an underground and persecuted sect, the Society of Jesus was one of the most influential Christian congregations in the Early Modern Period, running numerous schools and universities. While the Jesuits admittedly did face suppression in many parts of the world -- particularly England in the 1500s-1600s, where the Jesuits ''were'' underground and persecuted -- for the rest of the world this didn't happen until the ''eighteenth'' century. What's more, in real life Louis ''never had any problems'' with the Jesuits; he was actually influenced by them in the latter half of his reign, and he had a Jesuit confessor. He ''did,'' however, order the persecution of the Huguenots and Jansenists, both of which ''were'' persecuted theological movements in France (the Jesuits were the latters' rivals within Catholicism in fact).

* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Christine, when she finds out about Louis' UriahGambit and can't bear to live any longer in the power of the man who killed her fiancee.]]

* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler:Lieutenant Andre is so disgusted by Louis's behavior, and down right ''furious'' at his murder of D'Artagnan, that he happily goes along with the switcheroo of imprisoning Louis in the mask at the end.]]

* 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 Louis and allows him to retire to the country in comfortable exile, utterly proving himself the better man.

* UriahGambit: King Louis XIV, upon finding out that Christine is already engaged to Raoul, sends Raoul to the front lines to die in battle. Though the plan succeeds, it also backfires since it gains Louis the utter enmity of Raoul's father, one of the legendary Three Musketeers. (And ultimately he doesn't get to enjoy what he wanted either, because [[spoiler:Christine is completely miserable with being his mistress, eventually finds out the truth, confronts him - or the man she thinks is him - with her knowledge, and finally commits suicide out of despair]].)

* AnachronismStew: Part of the action takes place in the Palace of Versailles. While the palace construction did start in 1661, the initial building phase finished in 1664. That means that it is way too early for the King to move in.

* PreferableImpersonator: The Three Musketeers hope to replace Louis IX with his secret twin Philippe/the Man in the Iron mask, hoping he pulls this off over [[RoyalBrat Louis IX]]. [[spoiler:Ultimately he does, and proves one of France's greatest kings]].

* MobBossSuitFitting: In the scene where Louis XIV is introduced, a taylor is altering the king's suit.

* WeUsedToBeFriends: Athos and D'Artagnan's friendship falls apart when D'Artagnan stays loyal to Louis [[spoiler: even after his arranging Raoul's murder to get his hands on Christine. They reconcile at the end before D'Artagnan dies, Athos having realised his old friend only served his corrupt and evil king out of paternal loyalty]].

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 he owns, though his impotence causes him great suffering. Athos married and had a son while he raised as single father following the death of his wife. His beloved son Raoul (Creator/PeterSarsgaard) 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.

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 he owns, though his impotence causes him great suffering. Athos has become a single father. His son Raoul (Creator/PeterSarsgaard) 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.

* RevisedEnding: The book was meant to contemplate the end of the Romantic era and was pretty much a DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Athos dies of grief over his son, Porthos dies when his strength gives out during the escape plan, the plan to substitute Philippe for Louis fails and ''results'' in Philippe going into the mask in prison (he'd simply been exiled before), D'Artagnan spends the rest of his life serving Louis and Aramis uses his political clout as a Jesuit to obtain pardon and become Louis' implicitly corrupt advisor.]] The Hollywood ending applied to the film was almost exactly the opposite of the book.

** 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 waging war, never changing his ways - as well as persecuting religious minorities such as the Huguenots and Jansenists - and the utter ''mess'' he left France in is generally considered to be one of the ultimate causes of the French Revolution.
*** It makes more sense that this should be understood as an alternative history/fairytale, not a mistake, per se. A sort of "if our dear heroes had been there, they could have saved the other prince and we would have known peace and prosperity!"

*** Far from being an underground and persecuted sect, the Society of Jesus was one of the most influential Christian congregations in the Early Modern Period, running numerous schools and universities. While the Jesuits admittedly did face suppression in many parts of the world -- particularly England in the 1500s-1600s, where the Jesuits ''were'' underground and persecuted -- for the rest of the world this didn't happen until the ''eighteenth'' century.
*** What's more, in real life Louis ''never had any problems'' with the Jesuits; he was actually influenced by them in the latter half of his reign, and he had a Jesuit confessor. He ''did,'' however, order the persecution of the Huguenots and Jansenists, both of which ''were'' persecuted theological movements in France.

* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Louis. ''Nobody'' likes him, and with good reason. D'artagnan is loyal to him [[spoiler: simply because he's actually his son]].

* AluminumChristmasTrees: 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 OlderThanTheyThink: the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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.

** Contrary to the HellholePrison depicted here (and to be fair, in most every other despictions), the real Bastile prison was mostly used to house aristocrats and other upper-class prisoners, and most of them had a LuxuryPrisonSuite, not the dank filth encrusted cells like in the film.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: [[spoiler: After he mortally wounded D'artagnan, a livid Phillipe is all set to slice Louis in half, though D'Artagnan pleads that he spare his brother in his dying breath. He complies...and instead puts him in the mask and coldly sentences him to be locked in the dungeons for the rest of his life. The epilogue claims he eventually swayed from that too and let Louis live in the country in secret.]]

-->'''Aramis''': I'm a genious, not an engineer!

* DeathSeeker: D'Artagnan guesses Athos's [[spoiler:foolish and rage-fuelled attack on the Musketeer barracks was to try and get himself killed out of grief over Raoul's death]].

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: The character of "Christine" is based on 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 too confusing for the viewers. Which ended up giving the film a love triangle between [[ThePhantomOfTheOpera wide-eyed Christine, all-around good guy Raoul and a villainous third party (who ends up) wearing a mask.]]

* ShoutOut: The young lovers Raoul and Christine share the names of the main characters of ''ThePhantomOfTheOpera'', though Christine was named Louise in the novel, as she was based on an actual mistress of Louis XIV.

** -->'''Aramis''': I'm a genious, not an engineer!

''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''. [[AdaptationOverdosed One of many adaptations,]] the film was the first directed by Randall Wallace, previously known for writing ''Film/{{Braveheart}}''. The main stars were Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio, Creator/JeremyIrons, Creator/JohnMalkovich, Creator/GabrielByrne, Creator/GerardDepardieu 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''. [[AdaptationOverdosed One of many adaptations,]] the film was the first directed by Creator/RandallWallace, previously known for writing ''Film/{{Braveheart}}''. The main stars were Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio, Creator/JeremyIrons, Creator/JohnMalkovich, Creator/GabrielByrne, Creator/GerardDepardieu and Anne Parillaud.