MovieChat Forums > La Femme Musketeer (2004) Discussion > 'Artistic License' and Possible Spoiler

'Artistic License' and Possible Spoiler

posted 20 years ago by The7thDoctor
8 replies | jump to latest

I know I'm gonna get some heat about this, especially since I've yet to see it. However, I have read all three Musketeers books. Yes, there are three of them, they are "The Three Musketeers", "Twenty Years After", and "The Man in the Iron Mask". Here comes the spoiler: At the end of "The Man in the Iron Mask", D'Artagnan is about to receive his commission as Field Marshal. Just as he opens the case containing his riding crop, he gets a cannonball right in the chest.

I mention this only because from the descriptions I've read, they have D'Artagnan retired and living in the country. Now while that's what we'd all probably like for him to have done, it didn't happen that way in the books.

Yeah, I know, I'm probably being petty about it, and that's why this post is labeled "Artistic License". It's what happens whenever they "adapt", or make a film "based on the works of...".

[–] 20 years ago

[deleted]

[–] BijouBob8mm 20 years ago

LYosko1903 is correct in saying there are three books in the Musketeer saga, however MAN IN THE IRON mask is actually the last volume of the third book, which is rarely reprinted as a whole any longer. The COMPLETE musketeer saga by Dumas is

1. THE THREE MUSKETEERS
2. TWENTY YEARS AFTER
3. TEN YEARS LATER (published in 3 volumes as "La Comte de Bragelonne," "Louise de le Valliere," and "The Man in the Iron Mask.") You can, occasionally, find the complete TEN YEARS LATER (usually as the three separate volumes) at a local library. If memory serves, there is some overlap of material at the end of "Louise" and the beginning of "Iron Mask."

[–] Back-In-Time 20 years ago

Dumas wrote the books in the 1800s and the three musketeers as we know them lived in the 1600s. Dumas based his story largely on "memoirs" (later proven to be works of fiction about real people) The three musketeers and D'Artagnan did exist, but had different names in reality. Therefore, the fact that other stories had been written about them we can assume that these four gentlemen were quite well known in their day.

Ooh, and I'm glad someone mentioned ten years later, was just about to do that myself.

~Time

Marty, you're not thinking fourth dimensionally! ~ Doc Brown
TimeTraveler of Tortuga

[–] BijouBob8mm 20 years ago

True (regarding "The Memoirs of D'Artagnan," and other sources of inspiration for Dumas). TEN YEARS LATER does seem sadly neglected, except for the MAN IN THE IRON MASK section, these days. Would be nice to see an epic mini-series bring the entire Dumas Musketeer saga to life. So far, the closest thing seems to be Richard Lester's Musketeer trilogy (THE THREE MUSKETEERS, THE FOUR MUSKETEERS and the anti-climactic RETURN OF THE MUSKETEERS). Has anyone seen the Sophie Marceau film, REVENGE OF THE MUSKETEERS? She plays "D'Artagnan's Daughter" (the film's original French title).

[–] nataschavangessele 18 years ago

uhm i don't mean to be a b*tch but there are more then 3 books of the three musketeers. Alexandre Dumas wrote a lote more books about them and you missed a couple of his books in between. this is the correct list.
1. The Three Musketeers
2. Twenty Years After
3. The Vicomte de Bragelonne
4. Ten Years Later
5. Louise de la Valliere
6. The Man in the Iron Mask

As you can see you missed 3 books and you really should read them.

I agree with you though that this film is not realistic at all. from watching the first part i saw three young musketeers (Etienne, Gaston and antione) that are supposed to be the sons of Athos, Porthos and Aramis when it's know from the books only Athos had a son called Raoul.

I guess they just loosely based this on the books. as a sort of sequal to the three musketeers. We al know it isn't realistic though.

[–] The7thDoctor 18 years ago

I don't think you're being a b*tch about anything. That I missed 3 books in a series is a very important thing for me to know and I thank you for pointing it out.

I will definitely read them when I get the chance to find them. I also have to be in the mood to want to read them. In regards to that, I bought and read the other ones when I felt in the mood to read classic literature.

The early bird may get the worm, but it's the second mouse that gets the cheese.

[–] BijouBob8mm 17 years ago

No, not being a b*tch at all. Actually, we're BOTH right about how many musketeer books Dumas wrote. The last four books on your list

3. The Vicomte de Bragelonne
4. Ten Years Later
5. Louise de la Valliere
6. The Man in the Iron Mask

were originally intended to be one single epic, also called TEN YEARS LATER, but are often broken down and published as those volumes. (Depending on the publisher, there are two different ways of commonly breaking TEN YEARS LATER down; some split it into four volumes as listed above, whereas others release it as three books, usually VICOMTE DE BRAGELONNE, LOUISE DE LA VALLIERE and THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK.) At Christmas, one year, I came across a nice, leather-bound edition of IRON MASK which had a preface that went into detail on the publishing history of TEN YEARS LATER. (Which cleared up some confusion I had over why certain editions of those titles had more material than others. My first reading of it was a mix of a three-volume and four-volume release from different publishing houses.)

[–] mbaldav1 15 years ago

Dumas wrote only three books about the musketeers:

- The three musketeers (Les Trois Mousquetaires)(1844)
- Twenty years after (Ving Ans Après)(1845)
- The Vicomte de Bragelonne (Le Vicomte de Bragellone)(1848)

If you find other books about Musketeers like Man in the Iron Mask, Louise de la Valliere or Ten years after blame to the editors.