The Man in the Iron Mask (1998)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The man in the iron mask |
| Original title | The Man in the Iron Mask |
| Country of production | United States , United Kingdom , France |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1998 |
| length | 133 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Randall Wallace |
| script | Randall Wallace |
| production |
Russell Smith , Randall Wallace |
| music | Nick Glennie-Smith |
| camera | Peter Suschitzky |
| cut | William Hoy |
| occupation | |
| |
The Man in the Iron Mask (Original title: The Man in the Iron Mask ) is a US-American-British-French coat-and-sword film from 1998 . Directed led Randall Wallace , who is also the writer wrote. The leading roles are played by Leonardo DiCaprio , Jeremy Irons , John Malkovich , Gérard Depardieu and Gabriel Byrne .
action
The story takes place in France under the rule of King Louis XIV. The king is depraved and unscrupulous. While his people are starving, he celebrates festivals and surrounds himself with beautiful women. As a result, there are revolts and attacks on his life, but the commandant of the Musketeers of the Guard , d'Artagnan , can just thwart them. The musketeers Athos, Porthos and Aramis are no longer active and have various occupations.
The king falls in love with Christine, who is already as good as engaged and therefore rejects the king. Ludwig solves the problem by having Christine's lover ordered to the front line in the war, so that the latter falls. Thereupon the king makes Christine his mistress .
This approach is the drop that brings the barrel to overflow for Athos, Porthos and Aramis: Christine's fiancé was Athos' only son, who now had to die due to the unscrupulousness of the king. The three meet with d'Artagnan and try to persuade him to overthrow the king with them. As the king's security chief, D'Artagnan finds himself in a loyalty conflict, the extent of which only becomes apparent during the course of the film. For the time being, he only explains that he believes that everyone, including Ludwig, can change and that he does not want to break his oath to protect the king.
So Athos, Porthos and Aramis set off alone. Her plan is to put Ludwig's twin brother on the throne in place of the king. Only a few people (including Aramis) know that this brother exists. The three musketeers free the young Philippe, who has lived a miserable existence in prison for six years under an iron mask. They quickly teach him courtly manners and exchange him for Ludwig at a masked ball. However, his compassionate demeanor and gentle manner make Philippe so strikingly different from his brother that d'Artagnan quickly becomes suspicious and the plan is exposed. The three musketeers escape, but Philippe is captured again. D'Artagnan only now learns that his king has a twin brother and together with the queen mother Anna asks for Philippe's life. Ludwig lets Philippe put the mask back on, fully aware that such a punishment for his brother is worse than death. Through this cruel treatment, Ludwig finally loses d'Artagnan's loyalty: he gives Athos, Porthos and Aramis a hint as to when they can free Philippe. A conversation between d'Artagnan and Queen Anna then makes it clear that they are secret lovers - and Ludwig and Philippe d'Artagnan's sons.
Ludwig, however, suspects that d'Artagnan is turning away from him and lets him watch. When d'Artagnan sets out to help his friends liberate Philip, the king follows him with musketeers.
There is a big showdown in prison: the five friends are surrounded and cannot leave the prison. Ludwig offers d'Artagnan to spare his life in gratitude for his loyal service if he surrenders, but d'Artagnan refuses. He explains to the astonished Philippe that he could give up his king, but not his son. The four musketeers impress their opponents with their courage and skills, whereupon they fire blindly and do not seriously injure any of the musketeers. Ludwig then furiously tries to kill Philippe with his dagger, d'Artagnan throws himself in between and dies. D'Artagnan's deputy, admirer and successor is so shocked by this murder that he helps the musketeers exchange brothers. Thus Ludwig is exchanged for Philippe one more time, but this time for good.
The film ends with d'Artagnan's funeral and the note that Louis XIV brought peace and prosperity to his people.
Reviews
The film has a 33% review by Rotten Tomatoes , based on 36 movie reviews.
In the magazine Cinema 04/1998 the film was described as "powerless", in TV Spielfilm 08/1998 as "old-fashioned".
“Another film adaptation of the adventurous novel by Alexandre Dumas, which entertains routinely, but ultimately remains without any particular inspiration in terms of content and design. Even the numerous stars appearing do not give the otherwise disappointing film any shine. "
Awards
The film won the Bogey Award . Gérard Depardieu was nominated for the European Film Award . Nick Glennie-Smith won the Film & Television Music Award from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers . DiCaprio had the rather dubious honor of being awarded the Golden Raspberry in the category of the worst screen couple.
The German Film and Media Evaluation FBW in Wiesbaden awarded the film the title valuable.
background
The film is based on the novel Le Vicomte de Bragelonne by Alexandre Dumas . It was filmed in 1923 , 1929 , 1939 , 1977 and 1979 . Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's subsidiary United Artists loaned this film and produced it through its own subsidiary United Artists Corporation Ltd.
The figure skater Alexei Konstantinowitsch Jagudin won the gold medal at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games for a freestyle, which he ran to excerpts from the soundtrack by Nick Glennie-Smith .
See also
literature
- Alexandre Dumas : The Man in the Iron Mask. Roman (original title: Le Vicomte de Bragelonne ). From the French by Edmund Th. Kauer. 2nd Edition. Aufbau-Taschenbuch-Verlag (AtV), Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-7466-1392-2 .
Web links
- The Man in the Iron Mask in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The Man in the Iron Mask in the online film database
- The Man in the Iron Mask at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ Certificate of Release for The Man in the Iron Mask . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , February 2010 (PDF; test number: 79 380 V).
- ↑ Reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
- ↑ Dirk Jasper FilmLexikon: The Man in the Iron Mask ( Memento of the original from February 19, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ The Man in the Iron Mask. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed October 26, 2017 .
