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igenlodeI watched the finale of "Twenty Years After" (no crib, no subtitles) and I loved it! I have to say I'm pretty sure this is extremely non-canonical -- surely, surely in Dumas Mordaunt doesn't survive Athos' dagger? -- but then this is why we watch the film adaptation before rereading the book :-)
If only I'd been able to speak Russian, how my heart would have soared to see this come out back in 1992, because it was *exactly* the type of content that had filled my dreams since childhood, just as "Pirates of the Caribbean" would send me into joyous fandom in 2003. (Come to think of it, the irony is that I'm pretty sure I was actually learning Russian in 1992, and moreover fell in love with a historical drama or two in the language lab... but this is definitely not the sort of content that my teachers were likely to have offered us, I feel! And it wouldn't carry nearly the same force in isolation; like the original novel, it depends heavily upon the relationships and plot points established in its predecessor, and the fact that we are already invested in the characters and the way things were, which is what makes the changes poignant.)
I had a sudden impulse to embark upon the remaining section well after midnight (not without precedent -- for some reason this appears to be when my resistance is lowest!), and as there was only half an hour left this didn't seem an entirely inadvisable idea ;-) The main issues were, as usual, that I struggle with the more complicated dialogue bits (which is why I had such difficulty with The prisoner of the chateau d'If, I think, because the plot in that is almost all conveyed through intricate dialogue), and that I simply can't *see* who is who and what is supposed to be happening when action scenes are shot in the gloom. It's harder to get invested in a fight when you're not clear who is winning and which of the characters you ought to be inwardly cheering on!
After the characters kidnap Mazarin (canon, although not quite by this method), with Athos inside the coach with the prisoner and the disguised d'Artagnan and Porthos riding as 'guards' on the outside, they are almost immediately stopped by a posse in musketeer(?) uniforms, which turns out to be a rescue party not only led by Aramis, but featuring d'Artagnan's landlady (and pretty mistress) Madeleine in a musketeer's surcoat and riding along with the men! Their reunion is joyous; she slaps his face :-p (Since he had left her without so much as a word for months, I take it she was getting seriously worried as to what had happened to him...)
Madame de Chevreuse allows herself to address Raoul as "my son", and he, having of course no idea that this mark of affection could have a literal meaning, tells her that he doesn't deserve such an honour... unfortunately they are overheard, and by none other than de Jussac. Who proceeds to pass on information about Raoul to a Mordaunt who is looking huddled and unhealthy, but very much alive :-(
Mazarin, presumably realising that he has now been captured by the Fronde (the device on those blue surcoats really doesn't look like the normal musketeer uniform to me...), concedes that they have now succeeded in forcing 'the Italian' out of France, but that d'Artagnan and Porthos (who is busy eagerly putting some trousers back on :-D) have forfeited the rewards he had promised them as a result. But Aramis the strategist informs him that on the contrary he is to remain as chief minister (apparently for the sake of France Mazarin is considered irreplaceable). All he has to do is sign a couple of agreements which Aramis has brought with him... having presumably intended to ambush the Cardinal all along, the reunion with the escaping prisoners thus being a pleasant surprise rather than a premature outcome of the rescue party?
D'Artagnan applies a little extra pressure with a discreet reminder of Mazarin's private treasure hoard beneath the orangery, and the Cardinal caves in and agrees to sign -- with Madeleine and her pistols to accompany him in the coach, while d'Artagnan sets off for the Louvre to get a corresponding signature out of the Queen. "Looking like that?" Madeleine teases him, pointing to his shaggy beard... but not to worry, she has brought his razors. "Whatever would you do without me, d'Artagnan?" :-)
There is a lovely lyrical variation on the famous "Poka-poka-poka" tune playing as background to most of this, a little dancing flute melody that lightens the mood and subliminally assures us that everything is on our heroes' side. D'Artagnan has duly shaved before calling on the Queen, but for some reason hasn't gone back to his original clean-shaven-with moustache appearance -- he has chosen to retain a Van Dyke tuft for the rest of the film (and a *lot* of moustache, though that may be Boyarsky's own!)
I would guess that the scene between d'Artagnan and Anne of Austria is probably taken pretty much straight from canon, quite possibly the only part that is, although at least that means I should be able to get help from the 'crib' on what exactly is being said here. But plot-wise, even if I can't make out all the arguments being used, it's reasonably clear; he forces her, partly by threats and partly by protestations of loyalty, into signing the documents relating to himself and Porthos, who have been ungratefully treated, not least in terms of the debt she owes them for their service twenty years ago and their unquestioning silence on the subject ever since (and the background music here is the theme from the first film of her scene with Buckingham: 'не сказала "да", милорд -- вы не сказали "нет"...') She balks, however, at having to sign the treaty with the Fronde, and does so only in return for the sake of her lover Mazarin, before succumbing to tears of humiliation.
And those tears are more than d'Artagnan, who really is loyal, can bear. He presses the signed documents back into her hand and offers to free Mazarin without conditions, returning her the famous diamond ring that she had once given him as reward (and he had eventually retrieved from Mazarin's possession); all debts are paid between them. And *that* gesture finally touches the heart of the Queen, who has long since come to regard him for his knowledge of her past not as her loyal knight, but a threat. She stammers out the excuse "Wait -- I didn't know [it was] you" and bestows everything upon him with her blessing, including permission to kiss her hand as he had done that once on the night of the ball and the diamond studs. Her other hand: "and so that the right hand should not be less generous than the left, take this new ring in memory of me" (although she has trouble finding anywhere on his hand small enough for her own ring to fit; it just makes it over the first joint of his little finger ;-)
That one phrase, incidentally, I'm pretty sure I do recognise, despite retaining no conscious memory of how the original novel ends -- save the canon knowledge that Porthos eventually does become a Baron and d'Artagnan gets his promotion, plus an accidental spoiler for this story to the effect that Rochefort gets abruptly killed off in the last chapter :-(
On his way out of the palace d'Artagnan runs into Jussac, with their traditional disappointed greeting of "So you're still alive?", and Jussac is genuinely glad to hear of his promotion ("about time"). "Believe me, though fate made us enemies, I always admired you and your friends, monsieur" -- and after a moment's astonishment, d'Artagnan responds warmly "And I, you", and invites him to join them that evening. "What, all four of you and the young Vicomte?" "It will be just the 'old guard'," d'Artagnan assures him, and they shake on it "as a sign of friendship". "I'll be waiting for you..."
And Madeleine and d'Artagnan proceed to disport themselves in the Cardinal's coach as soon as the latter has left it, since apparently she can't wait any longer to celebrate their reunion (and to be fair, d'Artagnan is evidently far from averse to the idea!) Except that this proves to be a fatal delay, because Jussac has proceeded to go straight to Mordaunt to help him plan harm to Raoul, left alone that evening... and that betrayal hurt :-( I really thought that it was honest appreciation offered by an honourable enemy, but if de Jussac hesitates at all before making his choice, it's only for an instant. He is taking money from Mordaunt.
Which means that by the time d'Artagnan finally makes it back to his (canonical) attic bedroom (immédiatement au-dessus de la gouttière et au-dessous du toit), bubbling over with victory, women and wine, the other three greet him there with very long faces indeed, and an ultimatum they have been sent.
Raoul has been taken, and will be killed if they do not come unarmed to the rendezvous. And Athos cannot ask this of his friends: "If we do not go, we will have murdered Raoul. If we go armed, we will lose our honour. And if we go unarmed, we will lose our lives. May you be damned, Mordaunt" -- and that is not an oath such as those thrown out by Porthos and d'Artagnan, but a toneless and steady invocation.
The answer is a single wordless gesture from each, the old sign of friendship (which is *far* more effective in these films than the traditional 'raising of swords'), and a small arsenal of weapons laid down, one upon another. "One for all," d'Artagnan tells Athos, "and all for one": for Athos. And they leave, sombre, with Mordaunt's drowning theme playing in the background.
Enter Madeleine, who had come up the stairs with d'Artagnan and been sent away at the start. She slips into the room to read the ultimatum, sees the abandoned weapons, and understands. And makes a visible decision...
The rendezvous is at an old mill, where Jussac and his men are waiting outside. Athos and the others enter, and the door is closed and fastened up behind them (anachronistically with screws, by the looks of it!)
Raoul is tied up high above the ground (?with a noose around his neck?), and cries out that they should not have come for his sake, but Athos rejoins quietly that he, Raoul, would have done the same.
Mordaunt orders them to drop their cloaks in order to prove that they really have no weapons, and we see more armed men keeping guard upstairs; they are completely at his mercy whenever he chooses to act. "You thought I was dead, messieurs, but I cannot die until my mission has been accomplished..." *incomprehensible threats regarding Raoul*
He takes up a pistol and prepares to fire. "I want each of you to know why you are to die..." *incomprehensible individual accusations* "...but first of all to die will be d'Artagnan."
And at that moment we see Madeleine crawling her way behind the guards watching in the gallery. Mordaunt levels his gun, deliberately -- and Madeleine simply *pushes* her opponents at knee-level, and they crash down. She cries out to d'Artagnan... and Mordaunt fires his prepared shot instead into this unexpected new threat, as everyone moves at once. Athos rushes to try to free Raoul. Madeleine crumples as d'Artagnan tries to catch her. Porthos lunges for the barred door. Mordaunt grabs a weapon from one of his fallen henchmen(?), and a general melee in the half-light ensues, as d'Artagnan jumps up from beside Madeleine's motionless body and goes after him with grim determination. Hanging sacks of flour and various trapdoors are everywhere. At one point d'Artagnan is duelling Mordaunt with a pitchfork; at another someone is choking someone else (it eventually turns out to be d'Artagnan choking Mordaunt) with a chain. Athos is struck down before he can finish untying Raoul. Aramis appears to have ensconced himself in a corner and puts in judicious interventions at the most effective moment. Meanwhile de Jussac is placidly smoking his pipe outside...
A body comes dangling down from above. It's Mordaunt.
Porthos wants to give him a coup de grace to make sure, but Aramis forestalls him: "This time, he's dead. The dead can't be killed." (No, Porthos, do it! Make certain!)
And just as I'd feared, the moment the two of them turn away, the 'body' starts struggling to free itself from the hook... and the wounded Mordaunt manages to smash open the door to alert Jussac and his men and bring in reinforcements. Aramis appears to be duelling Jussac, but it turns out to be the freed Raoul when Athos downs Jussac with a pistol and d'Artagnan rushes in to protect the boy (both Aramis and Raoul are fairish-haired and wearing blue/mauve, and I honestly can't tell who is who in the gloom :-( )
And the wounded Jussac inexplicably exclaims "this one is mine", and lunges into the shadows... apparently impaling Mordaunt, his employer, who staggers forwards, groaning, to fall face-downward with the blade sticking out of his back. (But is he really dead this time?!)
D'Artagnan has returned to the body of Madeleine, but just as he dashes tears from his eyes, she stirs, and whispers "I won't die until you marry me, d'Artagnan". At which point he looks round -- for the Abbé d'Herblay? -- and then smiles. "Which means you're going to live forever, then": his canon reaction to that particular suggestion :-P
The very indignant 'corpse' sits up and slaps his face ;-)
And we get the 'love theme' ("what am I without you?") from the end of the soundtrack recording as the two of them fall back in the straw, laughing, and the others gather round.
(Hah! and I *knew* it! The film is shipping Athos together with Madame de Chevreuse, as they smile and talk quietly together behind the music, then kiss... and you know what? It's not canon, but I thoroughly endorse it for these two in this universe :-D)
D'Artagnan and a recovered Madeleine are happily making love (and trying not very successfully to get dressed) while quarrelling, probably over the question of marriage ;-p
And then after the end of the song, we see the four friends outside Madeleine's hotel and taking their leave: Aramis has an invitation from his mistress, Madame de Longueville, Athos is going back to the simple country life at Bragelonne, and Porthos wants d'Artagnan to resign his service under Mazarin and come and stay on his estates: "We'll grow old and remember our friends together." But d'Artagnan (with Madeleine on his arm) demurs: "No, Baron, I still have certain business in Paris -- I want to become a Marshal of France!" He tries to tempt Porthos in turn to remain: "You'll become a Duke." But Porthos just wants to rub his new status into the noses of his old neighbours.
D'Artagnan orders Madeleine to prepare him a new room in her hotel, one suitable for inhabitation by the Captain of the King's Musketeers... but to keep the old attic bedroom which they have so often shared. "You never know when it may come in useful" :-p
Then he calls them all back. "My friends -- we'll meet again. Without fail we shall meet again": echo of the famous lines from the ride to Calais, and from the finale of the first film, where they vow to meet again "in twenty years' time" (uncannily accurate, given that nobody at that time could possibly have known that a sequel would be shot after such a long delay -- and that in the story the friends could not possibly have known that they would not see each other again sooner. Presumably it was a nod to the title of the known Dumas sequel!)
"But when?" "In a year's time?" Aramis suggests. "In twenty years?"
"Or ten?" suggests Athos (and since the third film of the trilogy would come out the following year [edit: according to Wikipedia, the two were shot together, but not released for several years], this time the allusion was no doubt planned for a production they already knew they were going to make.)
"The important thing," d'Artagnan says firmly, "is that we shall meet again." And they embrace.
An encounter between Mazarin and d'Artagnan on the stairs in the palace, where the Cardinal is evidently standing upon his dignity: he repeatedly requires the Captain to kiss his ring of office. But d'Artagnan simply regards the departing Mazarin, raises an eyebrow, shrugs, and grins, running lightly up the stairs :-)
And then we have the final titles, with the four riding slowly out towards the camera -- d'Artagnan seeing his friends to the gates of the city? -- and the famous theme song playing. It's actually a new recording/arrangement this time, I think, being notably without Aramis' high notes :-p
At this point my face was stiff from smiling in almost continuous affection throughout the last five minutes or so -- starting with the unexpected survival of Madeleine, whom given cinematic precedent I was certain they had killed off, for pathos and in order to provide d'Artagnan with motivation for revenge while freeing him up from any inconvenient domestic commitments... But I was delighted to see those two instead settling down together in their combative definitely-not-marriage; d'Artagnan deserves a woman who can come to the rescue occasionally and tease him light-heartedly in bed, even if he is absolutely not going to let himself be hen-pecked ;-p
The Rasputin-like Mordaunt is genuinely terrifying in his ability to get up and stagger on.
If Raoul's respective middle-aged parents actually fall for one another, I feel that this may cause continuity problems later on, but right now I'm all for it so far as the characters are concerned ;-)
The four friends all being prepared to sacrifice themselves for the sake of Athos' love for Raoul is a classic moment, even if presumably not canonical -- I'm basically assuming *none* of this finale can be from canon, but it's a lot more heart-warming than I remember Dumas permitting, and I loved it!
A lot of the comments on the video seem to be complaining about (a) how dark the lighting on the film is and (b) how low-quality the footage is. I'm glad the first issue isn't just me, but since I'm watching it on a tiny low-quality screen I am fortunately not aware of the second :-p
Apparently they had serious problems getting any funding to make it after the collapse of the Soviet state film system, and the director basically had to fund most of it out of his own pocket -- it was a real labour of love (and that may also explain why it took such a long time to get the editing and post-dubbing finished for release :-O)
N.B. At this point YouTube has clearly decided that I am Russian, because not only is it no longer offering to translate the comments into English, thus making my life far harder, but it has now started offering to translate comments on English-language videos into Russian for me...ooops!
Objectively speaking... is this film as good (and as delightful) as the first film? Probably not entirely. It doesn't have the same bounce and 'cult' appeal, and it's certainly not a musical version in the same sense -- the characters don't sing -- but the soundtrack songs are by the same composer, and while there are only a few of them by comparison they are pretty good; in fact, listening to the songs beforehand and liking them was one of the factors that induced me into attempting to watch the film in the first place :-)
Did it give me emotional 'feels', despite the language barrier? Very definitely. Is it accurate to the original novel? Yes, in many places amazingly so, bearing in mind the enormous amount of (very skilfully done) compression required to fit a six-hundred-page novel full of politics into even a four-part TV adventure series. I can see why some people might say they prefer this sequel to the original series, because it *is* a lot darker and less obviously joyously over-the-top.
Was it worth taking the risk and effort of trying to watch it unsubtitled? Yes, a hundred times yes :-) (Though I certainly didn't expect to end up writing fan-fiction for the Dumas novel as a side-effect of watching the Russian film... and it *is* for the events of the original novel and not the 'Soviet Musketeers', although I put a conscious nod to Valentin Smirnitsky in my Porthos-fic by giving the character a beard, which isn't mentioned in the book :-p)
The level of the dialogue is a bit beyond my abilities, but not absolutely so; in this episode, for example, there were only a few passages at all where I was missing large chunks of it, and (as witness above!) I had very little difficulty following the details of the plot without foreknowledge and without even Russian subtitles. Where the ideas involved are more complex and/or the audio is fuzzier, then I do struggle (as in the famous argument in the Place Royale, which I still can't really follow without the book to hand).
Shall I be watching the 'third film', "The Secret of Queen Anne"? Yes, very probably... although not in the immediate future, I feel, as I'm quite exhausted from this one (and haven't even done the 'work' on the final section, though I doubt there is much plot that I'm missing).
How they managed to get the entire plot of three novels (The Vicomte de Bragelonne, Louise de la Valliere, and The Man in the Iron Mask) into a two-part TV serial I cannot for the life of me imagine, although I suppose if you leave out all the material about the court love affairs that don't impact on the unfortunate Raoul, and all the political intrigue, and just cut it down to Raoul, Louise, Louis XIV and the Philippe business you can probably shorten it a lot. After all, according to the IMDb there have been multiple feature-length adaptations of "The Man in the Iron Mask", including one in the 1930s with Louis Hayward and one in the 1970s with Jenny Agutter as Louise as well as one in the 1990s with Leonardo di Caprio (but both episodes put together are only 2 1/2 hours, and they've got the mysterious camel scene to include that gets picked to represent the film when mentioned, and is definitely not any part of the book[s]!)
If only I'd been able to speak Russian, how my heart would have soared to see this come out back in 1992, because it was *exactly* the type of content that had filled my dreams since childhood, just as "Pirates of the Caribbean" would send me into joyous fandom in 2003. (Come to think of it, the irony is that I'm pretty sure I was actually learning Russian in 1992, and moreover fell in love with a historical drama or two in the language lab... but this is definitely not the sort of content that my teachers were likely to have offered us, I feel! And it wouldn't carry nearly the same force in isolation; like the original novel, it depends heavily upon the relationships and plot points established in its predecessor, and the fact that we are already invested in the characters and the way things were, which is what makes the changes poignant.)
I had a sudden impulse to embark upon the remaining section well after midnight (not without precedent -- for some reason this appears to be when my resistance is lowest!), and as there was only half an hour left this didn't seem an entirely inadvisable idea ;-) The main issues were, as usual, that I struggle with the more complicated dialogue bits (which is why I had such difficulty with The prisoner of the chateau d'If, I think, because the plot in that is almost all conveyed through intricate dialogue), and that I simply can't *see* who is who and what is supposed to be happening when action scenes are shot in the gloom. It's harder to get invested in a fight when you're not clear who is winning and which of the characters you ought to be inwardly cheering on!
After the characters kidnap Mazarin (canon, although not quite by this method), with Athos inside the coach with the prisoner and the disguised d'Artagnan and Porthos riding as 'guards' on the outside, they are almost immediately stopped by a posse in musketeer(?) uniforms, which turns out to be a rescue party not only led by Aramis, but featuring d'Artagnan's landlady (and pretty mistress) Madeleine in a musketeer's surcoat and riding along with the men! Their reunion is joyous; she slaps his face :-p (Since he had left her without so much as a word for months, I take it she was getting seriously worried as to what had happened to him...)
Madame de Chevreuse allows herself to address Raoul as "my son", and he, having of course no idea that this mark of affection could have a literal meaning, tells her that he doesn't deserve such an honour... unfortunately they are overheard, and by none other than de Jussac. Who proceeds to pass on information about Raoul to a Mordaunt who is looking huddled and unhealthy, but very much alive :-(
Mazarin, presumably realising that he has now been captured by the Fronde (the device on those blue surcoats really doesn't look like the normal musketeer uniform to me...), concedes that they have now succeeded in forcing 'the Italian' out of France, but that d'Artagnan and Porthos (who is busy eagerly putting some trousers back on :-D) have forfeited the rewards he had promised them as a result. But Aramis the strategist informs him that on the contrary he is to remain as chief minister (apparently for the sake of France Mazarin is considered irreplaceable). All he has to do is sign a couple of agreements which Aramis has brought with him... having presumably intended to ambush the Cardinal all along, the reunion with the escaping prisoners thus being a pleasant surprise rather than a premature outcome of the rescue party?
D'Artagnan applies a little extra pressure with a discreet reminder of Mazarin's private treasure hoard beneath the orangery, and the Cardinal caves in and agrees to sign -- with Madeleine and her pistols to accompany him in the coach, while d'Artagnan sets off for the Louvre to get a corresponding signature out of the Queen. "Looking like that?" Madeleine teases him, pointing to his shaggy beard... but not to worry, she has brought his razors. "Whatever would you do without me, d'Artagnan?" :-)
There is a lovely lyrical variation on the famous "Poka-poka-poka" tune playing as background to most of this, a little dancing flute melody that lightens the mood and subliminally assures us that everything is on our heroes' side. D'Artagnan has duly shaved before calling on the Queen, but for some reason hasn't gone back to his original clean-shaven-with moustache appearance -- he has chosen to retain a Van Dyke tuft for the rest of the film (and a *lot* of moustache, though that may be Boyarsky's own!)
I would guess that the scene between d'Artagnan and Anne of Austria is probably taken pretty much straight from canon, quite possibly the only part that is, although at least that means I should be able to get help from the 'crib' on what exactly is being said here. But plot-wise, even if I can't make out all the arguments being used, it's reasonably clear; he forces her, partly by threats and partly by protestations of loyalty, into signing the documents relating to himself and Porthos, who have been ungratefully treated, not least in terms of the debt she owes them for their service twenty years ago and their unquestioning silence on the subject ever since (and the background music here is the theme from the first film of her scene with Buckingham: 'не сказала "да", милорд -- вы не сказали "нет"...') She balks, however, at having to sign the treaty with the Fronde, and does so only in return for the sake of her lover Mazarin, before succumbing to tears of humiliation.
And those tears are more than d'Artagnan, who really is loyal, can bear. He presses the signed documents back into her hand and offers to free Mazarin without conditions, returning her the famous diamond ring that she had once given him as reward (and he had eventually retrieved from Mazarin's possession); all debts are paid between them. And *that* gesture finally touches the heart of the Queen, who has long since come to regard him for his knowledge of her past not as her loyal knight, but a threat. She stammers out the excuse "Wait -- I didn't know [it was] you" and bestows everything upon him with her blessing, including permission to kiss her hand as he had done that once on the night of the ball and the diamond studs. Her other hand: "and so that the right hand should not be less generous than the left, take this new ring in memory of me" (although she has trouble finding anywhere on his hand small enough for her own ring to fit; it just makes it over the first joint of his little finger ;-)
That one phrase, incidentally, I'm pretty sure I do recognise, despite retaining no conscious memory of how the original novel ends -- save the canon knowledge that Porthos eventually does become a Baron and d'Artagnan gets his promotion, plus an accidental spoiler for this story to the effect that Rochefort gets abruptly killed off in the last chapter :-(
On his way out of the palace d'Artagnan runs into Jussac, with their traditional disappointed greeting of "So you're still alive?", and Jussac is genuinely glad to hear of his promotion ("about time"). "Believe me, though fate made us enemies, I always admired you and your friends, monsieur" -- and after a moment's astonishment, d'Artagnan responds warmly "And I, you", and invites him to join them that evening. "What, all four of you and the young Vicomte?" "It will be just the 'old guard'," d'Artagnan assures him, and they shake on it "as a sign of friendship". "I'll be waiting for you..."
And Madeleine and d'Artagnan proceed to disport themselves in the Cardinal's coach as soon as the latter has left it, since apparently she can't wait any longer to celebrate their reunion (and to be fair, d'Artagnan is evidently far from averse to the idea!) Except that this proves to be a fatal delay, because Jussac has proceeded to go straight to Mordaunt to help him plan harm to Raoul, left alone that evening... and that betrayal hurt :-( I really thought that it was honest appreciation offered by an honourable enemy, but if de Jussac hesitates at all before making his choice, it's only for an instant. He is taking money from Mordaunt.
Which means that by the time d'Artagnan finally makes it back to his (canonical) attic bedroom (immédiatement au-dessus de la gouttière et au-dessous du toit), bubbling over with victory, women and wine, the other three greet him there with very long faces indeed, and an ultimatum they have been sent.
Raoul has been taken, and will be killed if they do not come unarmed to the rendezvous. And Athos cannot ask this of his friends: "If we do not go, we will have murdered Raoul. If we go armed, we will lose our honour. And if we go unarmed, we will lose our lives. May you be damned, Mordaunt" -- and that is not an oath such as those thrown out by Porthos and d'Artagnan, but a toneless and steady invocation.
The answer is a single wordless gesture from each, the old sign of friendship (which is *far* more effective in these films than the traditional 'raising of swords'), and a small arsenal of weapons laid down, one upon another. "One for all," d'Artagnan tells Athos, "and all for one": for Athos. And they leave, sombre, with Mordaunt's drowning theme playing in the background.
Enter Madeleine, who had come up the stairs with d'Artagnan and been sent away at the start. She slips into the room to read the ultimatum, sees the abandoned weapons, and understands. And makes a visible decision...
The rendezvous is at an old mill, where Jussac and his men are waiting outside. Athos and the others enter, and the door is closed and fastened up behind them (anachronistically with screws, by the looks of it!)
Raoul is tied up high above the ground (?with a noose around his neck?), and cries out that they should not have come for his sake, but Athos rejoins quietly that he, Raoul, would have done the same.
Mordaunt orders them to drop their cloaks in order to prove that they really have no weapons, and we see more armed men keeping guard upstairs; they are completely at his mercy whenever he chooses to act. "You thought I was dead, messieurs, but I cannot die until my mission has been accomplished..." *incomprehensible threats regarding Raoul*
He takes up a pistol and prepares to fire. "I want each of you to know why you are to die..." *incomprehensible individual accusations* "...but first of all to die will be d'Artagnan."
And at that moment we see Madeleine crawling her way behind the guards watching in the gallery. Mordaunt levels his gun, deliberately -- and Madeleine simply *pushes* her opponents at knee-level, and they crash down. She cries out to d'Artagnan... and Mordaunt fires his prepared shot instead into this unexpected new threat, as everyone moves at once. Athos rushes to try to free Raoul. Madeleine crumples as d'Artagnan tries to catch her. Porthos lunges for the barred door. Mordaunt grabs a weapon from one of his fallen henchmen(?), and a general melee in the half-light ensues, as d'Artagnan jumps up from beside Madeleine's motionless body and goes after him with grim determination. Hanging sacks of flour and various trapdoors are everywhere. At one point d'Artagnan is duelling Mordaunt with a pitchfork; at another someone is choking someone else (it eventually turns out to be d'Artagnan choking Mordaunt) with a chain. Athos is struck down before he can finish untying Raoul. Aramis appears to have ensconced himself in a corner and puts in judicious interventions at the most effective moment. Meanwhile de Jussac is placidly smoking his pipe outside...
A body comes dangling down from above. It's Mordaunt.
Porthos wants to give him a coup de grace to make sure, but Aramis forestalls him: "This time, he's dead. The dead can't be killed." (No, Porthos, do it! Make certain!)
And just as I'd feared, the moment the two of them turn away, the 'body' starts struggling to free itself from the hook... and the wounded Mordaunt manages to smash open the door to alert Jussac and his men and bring in reinforcements. Aramis appears to be duelling Jussac, but it turns out to be the freed Raoul when Athos downs Jussac with a pistol and d'Artagnan rushes in to protect the boy (both Aramis and Raoul are fairish-haired and wearing blue/mauve, and I honestly can't tell who is who in the gloom :-( )
And the wounded Jussac inexplicably exclaims "this one is mine", and lunges into the shadows... apparently impaling Mordaunt, his employer, who staggers forwards, groaning, to fall face-downward with the blade sticking out of his back. (But is he really dead this time?!)
D'Artagnan has returned to the body of Madeleine, but just as he dashes tears from his eyes, she stirs, and whispers "I won't die until you marry me, d'Artagnan". At which point he looks round -- for the Abbé d'Herblay? -- and then smiles. "Which means you're going to live forever, then": his canon reaction to that particular suggestion :-P
The very indignant 'corpse' sits up and slaps his face ;-)
And we get the 'love theme' ("what am I without you?") from the end of the soundtrack recording as the two of them fall back in the straw, laughing, and the others gather round.
(Hah! and I *knew* it! The film is shipping Athos together with Madame de Chevreuse, as they smile and talk quietly together behind the music, then kiss... and you know what? It's not canon, but I thoroughly endorse it for these two in this universe :-D)
D'Artagnan and a recovered Madeleine are happily making love (and trying not very successfully to get dressed) while quarrelling, probably over the question of marriage ;-p
And then after the end of the song, we see the four friends outside Madeleine's hotel and taking their leave: Aramis has an invitation from his mistress, Madame de Longueville, Athos is going back to the simple country life at Bragelonne, and Porthos wants d'Artagnan to resign his service under Mazarin and come and stay on his estates: "We'll grow old and remember our friends together." But d'Artagnan (with Madeleine on his arm) demurs: "No, Baron, I still have certain business in Paris -- I want to become a Marshal of France!" He tries to tempt Porthos in turn to remain: "You'll become a Duke." But Porthos just wants to rub his new status into the noses of his old neighbours.
D'Artagnan orders Madeleine to prepare him a new room in her hotel, one suitable for inhabitation by the Captain of the King's Musketeers... but to keep the old attic bedroom which they have so often shared. "You never know when it may come in useful" :-p
Then he calls them all back. "My friends -- we'll meet again. Without fail we shall meet again": echo of the famous lines from the ride to Calais, and from the finale of the first film, where they vow to meet again "in twenty years' time" (uncannily accurate, given that nobody at that time could possibly have known that a sequel would be shot after such a long delay -- and that in the story the friends could not possibly have known that they would not see each other again sooner. Presumably it was a nod to the title of the known Dumas sequel!)
"But when?" "In a year's time?" Aramis suggests. "In twenty years?"
"Or ten?" suggests Athos (and since the third film of the trilogy would come out the following year [edit: according to Wikipedia, the two were shot together, but not released for several years], this time the allusion was no doubt planned for a production they already knew they were going to make.)
"The important thing," d'Artagnan says firmly, "is that we shall meet again." And they embrace.
An encounter between Mazarin and d'Artagnan on the stairs in the palace, where the Cardinal is evidently standing upon his dignity: he repeatedly requires the Captain to kiss his ring of office. But d'Artagnan simply regards the departing Mazarin, raises an eyebrow, shrugs, and grins, running lightly up the stairs :-)
And then we have the final titles, with the four riding slowly out towards the camera -- d'Artagnan seeing his friends to the gates of the city? -- and the famous theme song playing. It's actually a new recording/arrangement this time, I think, being notably without Aramis' high notes :-p
At this point my face was stiff from smiling in almost continuous affection throughout the last five minutes or so -- starting with the unexpected survival of Madeleine, whom given cinematic precedent I was certain they had killed off, for pathos and in order to provide d'Artagnan with motivation for revenge while freeing him up from any inconvenient domestic commitments... But I was delighted to see those two instead settling down together in their combative definitely-not-marriage; d'Artagnan deserves a woman who can come to the rescue occasionally and tease him light-heartedly in bed, even if he is absolutely not going to let himself be hen-pecked ;-p
The Rasputin-like Mordaunt is genuinely terrifying in his ability to get up and stagger on.
If Raoul's respective middle-aged parents actually fall for one another, I feel that this may cause continuity problems later on, but right now I'm all for it so far as the characters are concerned ;-)
The four friends all being prepared to sacrifice themselves for the sake of Athos' love for Raoul is a classic moment, even if presumably not canonical -- I'm basically assuming *none* of this finale can be from canon, but it's a lot more heart-warming than I remember Dumas permitting, and I loved it!
A lot of the comments on the video seem to be complaining about (a) how dark the lighting on the film is and (b) how low-quality the footage is. I'm glad the first issue isn't just me, but since I'm watching it on a tiny low-quality screen I am fortunately not aware of the second :-p
Apparently they had serious problems getting any funding to make it after the collapse of the Soviet state film system, and the director basically had to fund most of it out of his own pocket -- it was a real labour of love (and that may also explain why it took such a long time to get the editing and post-dubbing finished for release :-O)
N.B. At this point YouTube has clearly decided that I am Russian, because not only is it no longer offering to translate the comments into English, thus making my life far harder, but it has now started offering to translate comments on English-language videos into Russian for me...ooops!
Objectively speaking... is this film as good (and as delightful) as the first film? Probably not entirely. It doesn't have the same bounce and 'cult' appeal, and it's certainly not a musical version in the same sense -- the characters don't sing -- but the soundtrack songs are by the same composer, and while there are only a few of them by comparison they are pretty good; in fact, listening to the songs beforehand and liking them was one of the factors that induced me into attempting to watch the film in the first place :-)
Did it give me emotional 'feels', despite the language barrier? Very definitely. Is it accurate to the original novel? Yes, in many places amazingly so, bearing in mind the enormous amount of (very skilfully done) compression required to fit a six-hundred-page novel full of politics into even a four-part TV adventure series. I can see why some people might say they prefer this sequel to the original series, because it *is* a lot darker and less obviously joyously over-the-top.
Was it worth taking the risk and effort of trying to watch it unsubtitled? Yes, a hundred times yes :-) (Though I certainly didn't expect to end up writing fan-fiction for the Dumas novel as a side-effect of watching the Russian film... and it *is* for the events of the original novel and not the 'Soviet Musketeers', although I put a conscious nod to Valentin Smirnitsky in my Porthos-fic by giving the character a beard, which isn't mentioned in the book :-p)
The level of the dialogue is a bit beyond my abilities, but not absolutely so; in this episode, for example, there were only a few passages at all where I was missing large chunks of it, and (as witness above!) I had very little difficulty following the details of the plot without foreknowledge and without even Russian subtitles. Where the ideas involved are more complex and/or the audio is fuzzier, then I do struggle (as in the famous argument in the Place Royale, which I still can't really follow without the book to hand).
Shall I be watching the 'third film', "The Secret of Queen Anne"? Yes, very probably... although not in the immediate future, I feel, as I'm quite exhausted from this one (and haven't even done the 'work' on the final section, though I doubt there is much plot that I'm missing).
How they managed to get the entire plot of three novels (The Vicomte de Bragelonne, Louise de la Valliere, and The Man in the Iron Mask) into a two-part TV serial I cannot for the life of me imagine, although I suppose if you leave out all the material about the court love affairs that don't impact on the unfortunate Raoul, and all the political intrigue, and just cut it down to Raoul, Louise, Louis XIV and the Philippe business you can probably shorten it a lot. After all, according to the IMDb there have been multiple feature-length adaptations of "The Man in the Iron Mask", including one in the 1930s with Louis Hayward and one in the 1970s with Jenny Agutter as Louise as well as one in the 1990s with Leonardo di Caprio (but both episodes put together are only 2 1/2 hours, and they've got the mysterious camel scene to include that gets picked to represent the film when mentioned, and is definitely not any part of the book[s]!)