The Man in the Iron Mask Page #13

We see in FLASHBACK Louis wearing his new crown, plotting.

ARAMIS' VOICE

A priest, even a Pope, he could kill

without hesitation, but he was

afraid to kill you, for his whole

claim to power rests on the sanctity

of royal blood. So he had you

hidden in a way that only a monster

could devise. I know, for it was I

who took you to prison, and the Iron

Mask. Someday I will ask your

forgiveness. But not until we have

restored to you what is yours.

We are in present time again. All eyes are on Phillippe.

PHILLIPPE:

Restored...?

ARAMIS:

We will replace Louis with

Phillippe. No one but the King

himself -- and now we -- knows

Phillippe even exists. All we have

to do is switch them.

ATHOS:

Switch?! That is your plan? It is

ludicrous!

ARAMIS:

I have it all worked out.

ATHOS:

Physical resemblance is but one

small thing! Louis has an

arrogance, a manner --

ARAMIS:

Those can be adopted --

ATHOS:

And people close to him, who --

ARAMIS:

Do you think I have not considered

that? I have a plan -- and you may

rest assured that it is brilliant!

ATHOS:

It is not just our lives you risk

with this conceit of yours! It is

Phillippe's as well!

ARAMIS:

Yes, and he has a choice!

Aramis stops thundering at Athos, and turns to Phillippe.

ARAMIS:

What about it, Phillippe?! All that

time in prison, all that time you

suffered, was it for nothing?! You

memorized the entire Bible, or so

your priest told me! An act of

survival, of defiance, of courage!

Your years within the mask have

given you reserves of strength that

others could not imagine. Your home

was a dungeon and now you may be a

king, if you have the heart to make

it so! Do you have the heart?

Phillippe stands shakily, and faces them.

PHILLIPPE:

I will try.

Phillippe walks -- nearly wanders -- from the room.

ARAMIS:

You see? A king.

Athos, with a glare at Aramis, follows Phillippe.

EXT. MANOR HOUSE GARDENS - DAY

The gardens are sun drenched, bursting with the beauty of a

French summer. Athos finds Phillippe there, sitting alone.

ATHOS:

Recent hours have been a shock.

PHILLIPPE:

Perhaps not as much as you might

imagine. When tutors answered every

question except those about who I

was. When I was imprisoned in a way

no other man had ever been, I knew

there was something different about

me. But a king...

ATHOS:

Phillippe... there is something I

hope you understand. Terrible

cruelty has been used against you.

And... you must understand that you

did nothing to deserve it.

PHILLIPPE:

There is... wrath... in me. I have

learned to hide it. Those years in

the cell, I dreamed that freedom

would someday just happen, the way

the mask happened. Now I am free.

And with each free breath I feel the

growing desire to make someone

suffer for all I lost. Look at

this, all this that for ten years I

could not see! What if I become a

king -- a king no different from my

brother?

ATHOS:

The desire for vengeance... can be a

poison.

PHILLIPPE:

What is its antidote?

ATHOS:

I suppose... it is to remember there

are many people who have never been

in a prison, who pass such beauty

every day, and never see it.

Phillippe reaches to a flower, plucks it, and smells it. He

looks around at the beauty of the garden, taking it all in.

Athos looks around too; then Athos realizes Phillippe is no

longer looking at the garden, but at him.

PHILLIPPE:

You look so sad. Is it something I

have done?

ATHOS:

It is something I have done -- or

did not do.

PHILLIPPE:

What is that?

ATHOS:

I did not share beauty with

someone... who is no longer here for

me to share beauty with.

Before Phillippe can pursue this, Athos turns businesslike.

ATHOS:

We have much to do, we'd best get

started. Now suppose you were to

walk into a garden, as a king...

INT. MANOR HOUSE DINING ROOM - NIGHT

Aramis is having dinner; he calls toward the kitchen.

ARAMIS:

More wine!

Athos enters and sags into a chair, his energy spent.

ARAMIS:

How is he?

ATHOS:

Resting, he's had a long day.

Aramis --

ARAMIS:

(calling out)

More wine!!

ATHOS:

You must reconsider this plan.

Phillippe is like a child, he --

ARAMIS:

You can do it.

ATHOS:

In a year, maybe two, I could teach

him enough to --

ARAMIS:

Three days.

ATHOS:

Three days??!!

ARAMIS:

The King is having a ball, a

masquerade ball. It is the perfect

opportunity and perhaps our only

one. At any time Phillippe could be

discovered, and what then? Remember

France. Remember the poor.

Remember Raoul. More wine!! Where

are those serving girls...?

EXT. CHATEAU - NIGHT

As Aramis and Athos are downstairs arguing, we PAN UP to the

window of a candlelit bedroom...

INT. CHATEAU BEDROOM - NIGHT

We PAN from the window to the bed... where Porthos is making

love -- or trying to. We see his huge, bare, broad back,

blotting out all view of his partner. He grunts, then roles

over in despair -- revealing not one but three serving girls

lying beneath him, jammed side-by-side like firewood, all

nearly smothered by Porthos' bulk.

PORTHOS:

It's no use. My sword is bent.

SERVING WOMAN:

It'll be all right. You're just

taking a while to get started.

PORTHOS:

No, it's dead. I am useless.

Porthos heaves himself out of bed.

EXT. CHATEAU - NIGHT

While Aramis and Athos are visible through the window,

arguing and gesturing, Porthos -- still naked -- walks across

the moonlit courtyard, to the barn.

INT. DINING ROOM - NIGHT

ATHOS:

Phillippe -- he's very bright, he's

perceptive, but he is in such

turmoil --

ARAMIS:

You grow fond of him. That's good.

ATHOS:

Don't play God with me, Aramis I --

Athos interrupts himself as he glimpses the naked Porthos

moving across the courtyard toward the barn.

ARAMIS:

Go on.

ATHOS:

But -- what is Porthos doing?

ARAMIS:

Going into the barn naked -- or so

it appears.

We INTERCUT Porthos in the barn with Aramis and Athos in the

house...

IN THE BARN:

Porthos, alone within the barn, finds a thick plow rope and

fashions a noose.

IN THE HOUSE:

ARAMIS:

Now. You were saying?

ATHOS:

But -- what is he doing?

ARAMIS:

About to hang himself, I should

think.

IN THE BARN:

Porthos throws one end of the rope over the central beam of

the barn, and ties the other end off. He shoves a milking

stool up below the noose, climbs onto it, and fits the noose

around his neck. NOTE: When we see him in full view it is

only from behind -- and this angle is a sight to behold.

IN THE HOUSE:

Aramis' detachment only aggravates Athos' excitement.

ATHOS:

Hang himself?!

ARAMIS:

He's threatened to do it, it's been

building up in him for months.

ATHOS:

We must stop him!

ARAMIS:

Come now, Athos, if Porthos is

determined to end his life, then he

will certainly manage to find the

opportunity.

ATHOS:

But -- but --

Athos jumps up and makes for the door -- but Aramis' hooded

helpers, at a signal from Aramis, bar his way.

IN THE BARN:

Porthos, grave with drama, utters his last words...

PORTHOS:

A'dieu, cruel life! Farewell to

useless Porthos!

He steps off the stool.

His great weight drops. The rope snaps taught. The beam it

is tied to snaps like a twig -- right in the place where it

has been sawn nearly in half already.

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