France is under the reign of a cruel and self-centered version of King Louis XIV (DiCaprio), who spends his time declaring a war against the Dutch, distributing rotten food to the rioting citizens of Paris, and with women attempting to seduce him so that they would become queen of France.The Three Musketeers have gone their own way at this point: Aramis (Jeremy Irons) is now an aging priest, Porthos (Depardieu) likes to spend his time drinking and hanging around with adoring women half his age and Athos (Malkovich) is retired and lives with his only son, Raoul (Sarsgaard), who is preparing to join the Musketeers. D'Artagnan (Byrne) is the only one who has remained in the Musketeers and is now the highly respected Captain.D'Artagnan comes by and informs Aramis that the King requests a meeting with him. The King's chief advisor informs Aramis that Louis is having problems with the Jesuits, who have declared Louis' wars are unjust and the source of the public's hunger (due to the agricultural sector being impeded by the heavy tax burden as a result of these wars). Aramis suggests the King speak to the Jesuits' leader but the chief advisor says the identity of the Jesuits' leader is kept secret. Louis privately orders Aramis to kill the secret leader of the Jesuits. Aramis accepts the mission saying, "When I discover the identity of this Jesuit rebel I will kill both him and the man who told me".It is the day of a huge festival at the palace, to which Raoul is escorting the woman he loves, Christine Bellefort (Judith GodrÃ¨che). He has just built up enough courage to propose to Christine with his late mother's ring. At the festival, the two lovers are greeted by D'Artagnan, who congratulates Raoul on being accepted into the Musketeers and wishes him luck. Soon after, King Louis sees Christine and becomes instantly attracted to her and obtains their names from his council of advisors. D'Artagnan tells Louis of his concerns for the King's safety due to the threats from the Jesuits.Before Raoul can profess his love and propose to her, Louis announces a contest in which all are to participate. He places a diamond necklace on a piglet (which has a horn strapped to its head, resembling a unicorn) and announces that the first one to catch the pig will get the prize. Raoul goes to win the necklace for Christine, but as she goes to watch Louis uses water fountains to lead her towards a secluded area. Louis tries to woo Christine, however, just as he is about to kiss her, a Jesuit assassin tries to kill the King. D'Artagnan, who has been silently keeping watch, sees this and saves Louis and Christine. Raoul then comes up and takes Christine away. Louis then arranges to have Raoul recalled up to serve in the army.D'Artagnan goes to see Athos to try and warn him of the King's eye on Christine, but before he can, Raoul comes home and gives his father back the engagement ring, stating that "he cannot marry her and make her a widow at the same time." Athos realizes the King's eye has fallen on Christine and angrily tells D'Artagnan that if Raoul is harmed in any way, Louis and any on his side will become his enemy.Unfortunately, Athos' friendship with D'Artagnan is shattered when Raoul is killed by the cannons on the battlefront. Driven by revenge and anger, Athos attempts to assassinate Louis, but is stopped at the gate by the guards. He manages to wound a few before D'Artagnan and the other Musketeers are able to stop him. D'Artagnan orders them to let Athos go home, but Athos still refers to D'Artagnan as a traitor.After hearing what happened, Aramis calls a secret meeting with Athos, Porthos, and D'Artagnan in an underground tomb. Aramis reveals Louis' order to kill the Jesuit leader, who is revealed to be Aramis himself. Aramis proposes a plot to overthrow Louis and asks his friends for their help. Athos and Porthos agree to help but D'Artagnan refuses saying he cannot violate his oath and betray the King he has sworn to protect and defend with his life. Aramis privately tells D'Artagnan he knows he carries a secret that is hurting him deeply. Aramis, Athos, and Porthos successfully free a mysterious young man in an iron mask from the Bastille.They take the man, Philippe, to a country house, where he recalls that he grew up in the country until one day a man in black imprisoned him in the Bastille and placed in the mask. Aramis reveals Philippe is the identical twin of Louis; on the night the twins were born, their father had Aramis take the younger baby away, because the king had known too much bloodshed among feuding royal heirs. Their mother, Queen Anne (Anne Parillaud), was told the younger son had died at birth. Later, when the King was on his death bed, he told Queen Anne and Louis of Philippe's existence. Louis, fearing that Philippe would try to take the throne, had Aramis lock Philippe in the iron mask. Although he looks the same as his cold-hearted brother, Philippe is kind, and he accepts the truth behind his past in addition to forgiving Aramis for locking him in the mask that imprisoned him for six years.Meanwhile, Louis succeeds in seducing Christine (Louis tells her that he ordered Raoul to a place far away from the battlefront, but that his orders were disobeyed by the general), and they eventually make love, but Christine later reveals that she was pretending to love him in order to get Louis' help for her mother and sister, who have pneumonia.Athos, Porthos and Aramis teach Philippe how to act like Louis so as to replace Louis with Philippe, and they attempt to abduct Louis and take him to the Bastille during a masked ball, replacing him with Philippe and putting him in Philippe's cell in the Bastille. They succeed at first, but Philippe's good manners give it away a bit, especially after he helps a fallen woman to her feet and spares Christine's life after she publicly calls him a lying murderer after having found out the truth about Raoul's death. D'Artagnan asks Philippe to escort him to the dungeons, and Philippe can't refuse. They arrive at the dungeons just as Athos, Porthos and Aramis are about to sail to the Bastille. They make a trade for the brothers' lives, but during their escape, Philippe is recaptured.D'Artagnan brings Philippe to Louis, who reveals he had known of his brother's existence and believed he had died in the Bastille. Their mother and D'Artagnan beg for Philippe's life to be spared. However, Philippe begs to be killed instead of being sent back to prison. Louis orders D'Artagnan to hunt down Aramis, Athos, and Porthos, and bring him their heads or Louis would have D'Artagnan's head for "taking the side of traitors,". D'Artagnan chastises Louis for his actions against his brother Philippe and expresses his disappoint in the kind of king Louis has become. Louis orders Philippe to return to prison, where he will wear the mask "until he loves it and dies in it." That night, Christine hangs herself outside Louis' bedroom and leaves a note for her family.D'Artagnan sends a message to Athos, Porthos, and Aramis that he will provide them with a 10-minute window to save Philippe. Thinking that it is a trap, they wear their old Musketeer uniforms to enter the prison. Louis has D'Artagnan watched and knows that they are trying to rescue Philippe. He arrives with Lt Andre (Edward Atterton) and the elite guard unit to trap Athos, Porthos, Aramis, D'Artagnan, and Philippe in the prison. Louis offers to let D'Artagnan retire in peace if he lays down his sword and gives up the rest of the group. D'Artagnan refuses to give up Philippe and reveals that he is the real father of Philippe and Louis and his love affair with Queen Anne. The five then charge the other guard musketeers, who are ordered by Louis to shoot but they all deliberately miss and lay down their swords.As Lt Andre and the other musketeers show their respects, Louis becomes angry, grabs a dagger, and attempts to stab Philippe but D'Artagnan jumps in the way and is fatally stabbed instead. Athos begs D'Artagnan to forgive him, realizing that D'Artagnan's loyalty to Louis was out of fatherly devotion to his son. Before dying, D'Artagnan reveals to the musketeers that the two are brothers. Lt Andre swears his men to silence and orders them out of the room and collaborates with the group to switch kings. After the switch, the remaining guards enter the room and Louis, now in prisoner clothes, is ordered by Philippe, now dressed as the king, to be put "where no one can hear his insanity" but is to be fed well by a deaf mute until "he finds redemption in wearing the pains he has placed on others". Athos, Porthos, and Aramis are named the Royal Council.At D'Artagnan's grave Philippe asks Athos to be his father-figure. It is later revealed that Philippe becomes a good king known as Louis XIV and later pardons his brother Louis to live quietly in the country and is visited often by the queen.
Output: Question: Who sends Raoul back to combat?, Answer: the general