The Man in the Iron Mask Page #12

D'ARTAGNAN

Anne...! I know... I know that to

love you is treason against France.

But not to love you... is treason

against my heart.

ANNE:

Then we will both die traitors,

d'Artagnan.

With those whispered words hanging in the air, she enters her

room. And d'Artagnan moves alone, back to his.

INT. MICHELLE'S BEDROOM - NIGHT

The King is trying to make love with Michelle -- but she

isn't responding. He stops, exasperated.

LOUIS:

What is wrong?

She says nothing. He tries kissing her again.

LOUIS:

What is wrong?!

She begins weeping uncontrollably, and turns from him.

MICHELLE:

Raoul... Oh, Raoul...

LOUIS:

Listen, my darling... Raoul was

a... a good friend. And now he is

dead and that is very sad but --

MICHELLE:

We'll burn in hell. Both of us.

The King stands; he's had enough of this.

LOUIS:

No, my love. You will burn in hell,

for your sins. But I will not --

for I am King. My position is

ordained by God.

He snatches the gold coverlet from her bed to cover his naked

body and stalks to his stairway; the embroidered coverlet

trails behind him like a regal train in a royal procession.

Leaving her weeping, he moves down into...

INT. THE KING'S BEDCHAMBER - NIGHT

The King angrily stalks around his bedroom, too agitated to

sleep. He grabs food from the table by the window, and

starts to pop a grape into his mouth when he stops. He sees

something out the window; it stops him dead cold.

It is a man, standing in the gardens, wearing an iron mask.

LOUIS:

D'Artagnan! Guards!

EXT. GARDENS - OUTSIDE THE KING'S WINDOW - NIGHT

The apparition ducks into the shadows.

INT. PALACE - D'ARTAGNAN'S ROOM - NIGHT

D'Artagnan is sitting on his cot thinking of all that has

just happened when he hears the king's shouts of alarm.

LOUIS' VOICE

Help!

In an instant d'Artagnan is reacting, snatching up his sword

and racing out into the corridor, toward the King's room.

INT. CORRIDOR - NIGHT

The guards outside the King's room find the door latched from

within, and they don't know what to do... D'Artagnan, running

up, never slows down; he crashes into the doors.

INT. THE KING'S BEDCHAMBER - NIGHT

The King whirls as the doors explode inward and d'Artagnan

barrels through.

LOUIS:

Out there! Look! Out there! He --

The garden is empty.

D'ARTAGNAN

I just left the garden, it was

empty. What did you see?

LOUIS:

It... was nothing. A nightmare,

nothing more. Go away, I --

D'Artagnan guides his guards out, but glances back to see the

King, ashamed and worried. D'Artagnan tells his men --

D'ARTAGNAN

Check the garden.

EXT. GARDEN - OUTSIDE THE KING'S WINDOW - NIGHT

An old Jesuit priest slips back into the garden chapel where

the nuns have returned to pray. He kneels at a back pew,

tucking the iron mask deep within his robes. The young

Musketeers who move through the garden glance into the

chapel, see only the normal piety, and move on. The old

priest crosses himself, bows his head, and smiles.

CUT TO:

CLOSE - PHILLIPPE'S EYES, THROUGH THE SLITS OF THE MASK

They are frightened. As we PULL BACK we see the Iron Mask,

in an OVERHEAD POV... Phillippe is lying on his back, his

head resting on an anvil. Athos stands close by, lending

support; Aramis and Porthos look on. A blacksmith stands

over Phillippe. He positions the point of his chisel against

the lock of the mask. It takes several ringing hammer blows

-- which we experience from a POV WITHIN THE MASK -- before

the lock breaks.

Athos, as gently as he can, pries open the iron mask.

PHILLIPPE'S FACE

is a wretched sight, overgrown with a matted tangle of hair

and beard, and with a deathly pallor.

Phillippe sits up, lifting his head out of the mask. He

looks at the Musketeers, watching them for their reactions.

At first they are frozen; then there is recognition, awe.

Phillippe sees a cooling bucket beside the forge, and looks

down into THE SURFACE OF THE WATER, at his REFLECTION.

PORTHOS:

Aramis! Athos! He looks exactly

like... exactly like...

ARAMIS:

I will answer all your questions.

But first soap, water, and a razor.

INT. THE MANOR HOUSE'S MAIN DINING ROOM - DAY

Aramis and Porthos are sitting at the table when Athos ushers

in --

PHILLIPPE, CLEANED UP

The change in him is remarkable, and his face so identical to

the King's that Porthos actually jumps. Phillippe takes a

seat opposite Aramis, and looks around, wary, vulnerable.

ARAMIS:

Yes. Identical.

Aramis' eyes are aflame as he looks across at Phillippe.

ARAMIS:

The greatest secret of life is who

we truly are. Now I must give you

that secret, which has been kept

from you your whole life. It began

on the night when Louis was born.

PORTHOS:

I remember that night. D'Artagnan

was drunk, the only time I've seen

him that way. The three of us were

reveling, remember, Athos?

ARAMIS:

But I was on duty...

IN FLASHBACK...

We see the shadowy Musketeer we saw in the opening, moving up

the dark steps of the palace. We see now it was Aramis.

ARAMIS' VOICE

I was summoned to the royal

apartments. Arrange a carriage,

they told me, and wait by the door

of the stables.

INTERCUT FLASHBACK

We see images of that night, as we saw in the opening.

ARAMIS' VOICE

They brought a baby from the back of

the palace, into the black carriage

I had waiting. They had given the

driver instructions about where it

was, and I was ordered to make the

whole journey with the blinds of the

carriage drawn.

In the flashback we see the young Musketeer Aramis, his face

shielded in shadow, handing a living bundle over to someone

at one of the back doors of a large country house.

ARAMIS' VOICE

I carried that baby into the

countryside, to a chateau, like this

one. And there I left him.

ARAMIS IN THE PRESENT

ARAMIS:

I have never forgotten that night,

or what I carried.

PORTHOS:

I don't understand. What does this

have to do with...? You carried a

baby somewhere, it's unusual, but --

ARAMIS:

Not just a baby, Porthos. I carried

the child of the king.

PORTHOS:

The child of the king is... the

king. Louis!

ARAMIS:

No, not Louis!

PORTHOS:

Athos, do you understand this? He

confuses me --

ARAMIS:

I carried the king's child! The

queen had twins that night, and one

of them was sent away, in secret!

PORTHOS:

But why?

ARAMIS:

Because the old king had a twin as

well, and through his whole reign

his brother fought him for the

throne. Then he had two heirs, not

just sons but twins. So he decided

that one be put away, as if he never

existed. You, Phillippe.

Phillippe is pale... We DISSOLVE TO a flashback of

Phillippe's early education in the country house.

ARAMIS' VOICE

The old king ordered you be educated

and well treated, but your identity

kept from you and all those around

you.

The FLASHBACK moves to the palace, matching the narration --

ARAMIS' VOICE

On his death bed, he revealed your

existence to Louis and your mother.

Your mother had been told by her own

priest that you had died at birth.

Somehow she blamed herself for ever

believing it, and she wished to

restore your birthright. But now

Louis was king.

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