1998 - Adventure/Action - 2h 12m
Director: Randall Wallace
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jeremy Irons, John Malkovich, Gérard Depardieu, Gabriel Byrne, Anne Parillaud, Judith Godrèche
In France of 1662, the arrogant and selfish King Louis XIV Reigns, but his way of governing the nation is preceded by an aggressive and bellicose policy. In the city the people starve to death, unleashing various revolts against their king, who instead of helping them supplies them with rotten food, aggravating the situation even more. In the city also live the Three Musketeers, now disbanded from time immemorial and each of them engaged in a new job, but soon our heroes will have to make common strength to face the policy of the king and expose a dark secret.
The film is based on the novel The Viscount of Bragelonne, the third and final chapter of the cycle of Musketeers, written by Alexandre Dumas (father) in 1848, which was a great success throughout the nation and the world. The character also antagonistic is precisely the one who was the greatest ruler of France or Louis XIV known by all as The Sun King, able to rule for 72 years, bringing back the nation among the most powerful in the world; that is why seeing a story where the king is evil and arrogant was difficult to see, because it does not reflect perfectly what was the real king of France, who despite his flaws and criticism was still a great ruler.
Certainly describing him as a tyrant in charge of wealth and beautiful women, and unable to manage his people was narrated in such a way as to intrigue the audience who would have seen the film or who had even read Dumas's novel, and knowing the French novelist's prowess for adventure stories and that hint of mystery helped to appreciate him more. What was true was that the King really had a brother named Philip who was also known as Philip Duke of Orléans, great admirer of his brother helping him improve France; in the novel, the two brothers were separated at birth, at the behest of his father due to not see the struggles between the brothers for the heir to the throne, and so he was crowned Louis, and Philip was made to disappear, but sixteen years later the brother has been the discovery of the non-death of his twin decided to do it locked up in the dungeons of the Bastille, wearing an iron mask.
Leonardo DiCaprio in the double guise of King Louis XIV and his twin Philip
The way of representing in a manner so little the life of the prisoners inside the prison, not the I very much enjoyed, the Bastille is represented as a normal prison, but on a small island in the middle of the sea, what's not exact but it's not a particularly admirable, especially for the history of this country. And I can also understand that in a novel The whole truth is not told, but certain things like in this case about the famous French prison symbol of what was then the beginning of the French Revolution in 1789 and what brought to France of the time, was absolutely not to be done. I shared instead the part of Leonardo DiCaprio in the double role of the twin brothers Luigi and Filippo, two completely different behaviors and two destinies so close; have the past 6 years in a prison wearing a mask and never see the light of the sun is a horrible thing to go through, but the way they are described, the two twins is to note, in my opinion, too much of criticism towards the proof of the Italian-american actor, who came from the great success of the year before the blockbuster Titanic, which confirmed it as an actor, becoming even more known to the public.
For DiCaprio, it was not a easy part, also to confirm the role saw only a year before and did not receive criticism, certainly not one of the best parts interpreted but still a good proof that deserved to be made; his acting in the part of the king, lover of beautiful women and riches, but especially the part of his brother's good mood that he finds himself freed and ready to become king was not easy, his way of making the plaintiff has no limits by putting us always every time the soul and the blood, and to build on the years of success that continues to this hour. Certainly the young DiCaprio had excellent shoulders to focus on as 4 actors of great character that helped him to settle in the part. We are talking about the Three Musketeers, to interpret them great personalities of the cinema: starting precisely from Jeremy Irons, an actor who does not need notes, his part of Aramis, who left the sword became a priest and head of the Jesuits, the bitter enemies of the King. Probably the most cultured and quiet character of the team who encourages others in the mission to free Philip and Exchange him with his twin; Irons has on his side the great sense of courage and experience that led him to convince his two friends. The two actors I'm going to describe have nothing to envy, namely Gérard Depardieu and John Malkovich, two monsters of cinema who interpret Portos and Athos. The first dedicated to beautiful women who after leaving the sword has done nothing but eat, drink and have sex, feels old and remains the funniest character in the film even if burping and farting is not really a guaranteed fun, certainly his character is very overshadowed by the rest of the team. Something different for Athos, who has become a musician, he will lose his son Raoul (Peter Sarsgaard), sent to die at the front by the king after setting his eyes on his girlfriend Christine who will become his mistress. It will be precisely the pain of Athos to convince him in the suicide mission of Aramis, not one of the best tests of Malkovich that of serious and strange characters he has done, but this is far from it also because his figure convinces in part.
D ' Artagnan
The fourth most beloved Musketeer is D'artagnan (Gabriel Byrne), the only one who after the farewell to his team has remained faithful to the king becoming head of the Royal Musketeers; he has a secret relationship with Queen mother Anne of Austria (Anne Parillaud), mother of the twin Kings, and the only victim of the film also because he has not lost hope in seeing his son taken away. Back to D'artagnan, in my opinion one of the versions the views of the musketeer of the most beloved, this is the one that convinced me the most because it reflects the true essence of not only the novel that describes the man as the only one of the four members of the team that abandoned the role, but also because it remains with Aramis the one who never gives up, or at least that reflects the true values of the musketeer. It must also be said that he is the only one convinced that the king can become the real ruler that France is looking for and having sworn allegiance to him he does not want to hear about the project of his old comrades-in-arms, but will only have to reconsider at the end.
The three Muskeeters
A D'artagnan very different from the usual, we are always used to seeing both him and the other three members all young and seeing them now adults and vaccinated is quite different; I can certainly confirm that the Northern Irish actor was able to play him to the best of his qualities, we will discover then that in reality he is the real father of the sovereign twins and this makes even more curiosity to see the film. Critical of the fact that there is very little action, and only in the final part of the film we can see the three moschiettieri at work, and this has much influence on the final judgment of the film, too many dialogues certainly important for the story, but a film of this genre was supposed to contain many sword fights and less words. Probably the director Randall Wallace, remembered by most moviegoers as the screenwriter of Braveheart-Fearless Heart, and here at his first directing, could have done better given his previous colleagues who directed various versions of Dumas's novel with flaws and merits, wanting very much to mirror the novel.
This is not to say that it has broken or worked badly, indeed, as the first film ever behind the camera, has done much better than his other colleagues, but there are those various expedients, or let's define them the errors that I mentioned before that have had an impact on the entire film, it is still a great success and grossed according to the information of more than 180 million dollars all over the world. The various places remain beautiful even with a different Bastille and a palace of Versailles not shown but replaced by other castles that despite the beauty do not reflect the beauty of the palace and center of the crown power; between wonderful open spaces and French villages that I admired. Speaking of the soundtrack composed by the Englishman Nick Glennie-Smith, who brought solemn and battle music especially during the fights of the Musketeers; strong melodies that focus a lot on the period that France was living but also on the kingship of Louis XIV himself, not missing also melodies of melancholy in seeing Philip left to rot in prison for years waiting for his release. In a nutshell, a film of great enthusiasm that still shows how much history, even if fictionalized, has affected everyone's culture.
by Giacomo Fantini Rating: 3,22 of 5
25 April 2021
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