Mid XVII century Spurred on by the Fronde, the people of Paris grumble: MPs, merchants, and the judiciary are outraged by the policies of Cardinal Mazarin, who sucks all the juice from the taxpayers. The Queen, who was going to Mass at the Notre Dame Cathedral, was chased by a crowd of women crying out for justice. The people crowded along the path of the young King Louis XIV, who was returning to the palace from the Parliament, where he announced several verdicts, one more devastating than the other. Even the first president of the Parliament openly opposed the king’s interference in the rights of deputies. In the Palais Royal, the merchant foreman threatens unrest and real rebellion if Mazarin does not stop his hostile actions. And the unrest is already visible on the streets of the capital ...
Mazarin - everyone hated, mocking a foreigner of low origin, the weak shadow of the most powerful Richelieu - feels the earth shake under his feet. He needs reliable support. Dressing in a musketeer uniform, he calls to himself Lieutenant d’Artagnan, who once rendered invaluable services to Her Majesty the Queen. Mazarin asks him to bring from the Bastille de Rochefort detained there: he and d’Artagnan - two boots of steam in the machinations of the past. It's time for them to do the service and new times. Rochefort tells the cardinal that d’Artagnan was accompanied in all his exploits by Athos, Porthos and Aramis - but where are they now? God knows! .. To the amazement of Rochefort, he was sent back to prison; and he has already managed to lend a friend’s hand to his longtime adversary d'Artagnan and swear in eternal peace! However, d’Artagnan is only the executor of Mazarin's orders; the cardinal, not the musketeer, is Rochefort's fierce foe. On the way to the Rochefort prison, the atrocious Parisians are being taken from the guard: everyone who sits in the Bastille is their idol. At a new meeting with d’Artagnan, Rochefort confirms his oath and undertakes to help find his three friends. To find them is the will of Mazarin, and therefore Her Majesty the Queen, the beloved cardinal and de facto ruler of France, until her son reaches adulthood.
D’Artagnan’s natural instinct and his ability to unleash any language lead him in turn to three musketeers who have said goodbye to a hectic life: Aramis the Abbot, Athos and Porthos enjoy the quiet joys of being in their estates.
Porthos innocently agrees to be a companion of d'Artagnan: both of them are soldiers, and, moreover, serve France not at all disinterestedly. A different cut - Aramis and Athos.
Athos expresses himself much more sharply than Aramis: the honor of a nobleman does not allow him to serve Mazarin - this scoundrel, this money-lender, who does not put the queen penniless and is about to start an internecine war in France. Barely waiting for d’Artagnan to leave, only one-third having fulfilled the cardinal’s assignment, Count de La Fer-Athos tells his adoptive son Raul, Viscount de Brazhelon: “In the evening we will go to Paris.”
Upon arrival in the capital, he represents Raul Countess de Chevreuse; from their conversation one can guess that the Viscount is the fruit of one frivolous adventure, one love night, experienced by them in their youth. Athos entrusts the Countess with taking care of Raul while he is away; he will have a dangerous journey ...
Meanwhile, Rochefort arranges a jailbreak of the Duke de Beaufort, who was the favorite of the Queen after the death of Louis XIII, hidden behind bars by Her Majesty's new idol, Mazarin. The cardinal sends the dangerous fugitive d’Artagnan and Porthos on the wanted list. Leaving Paris, d’Artagnan at full gallop knocks down a passerby. If he died under the hooves, history would have flowed differently; but this man, adviser to Parliament Brusel, remains alive. Paris regards the incident as a political assassination, the entire Fronde visits Brusel these days, the air is electrified by threats against the cardinal.
Driving one horse after another, the musketeers overtake the Duke de Beaufort. The forces, alas, are not equal: he is accompanied by a detachment of fifty people, among whom d’Artagnan and Porthos are recognized not only by Rochefort, but also Aramis and Athos. This circumstance saves their life. “Princes, ministers, kings, like a muddy stream, will rush and disappear - and we will remain the same,” four heroes are convinced. - Whether we are supporters of the cardinal or the Fronde - is it all the same in the face of our friendship, our willingness to help each other in trouble! We will be faithful to our union to the end! .. "
Viscount de Brazhelon - at the end of the war with Spain. On the battlefield, he picks up a mortally wounded priest and takes him to the hotel. The Holy Father wishes to confess. The case itself is tucked up: Raul and his friend de Guiche meet on the roadway a wandering monk. Accepting the confession of the dying man, this monk learns that before him is the executioner of his mother, Milady Vinter. An English spy hiding under a monk's robes, John Francis Winter-Mordaunt kills someone whose confession he has accepted. Before giving up the spirit, the repentant executioner tells who he is and who his killer is, Grimaud, the squire of Athos, Raul’s companion in a military campaign. Grimaud rushes to Paris; he realizes that the foot of the milady’s son is sending the foot, it threatens the life of several witnesses to the execution of Lady Winther ...
In Paris - the uncle of Mordaunt, the brother of the ill-fated Milady Lord Winther. He was sent by King Charles I of England to ask the French Queen and Cardinal Mazarin for military and political assistance in opposing the rebel army led by Cromwell. The English queen, living in exile in Paris in a Carmelite monastery, is desperate: Lord Winther failed to persuade France to the side of Charles I, who was losing his crown. Wintere is trying to console his empress: there are still people in France who are ready to help us! This is d’Artagnan and his friends, who once proved to the British Empire their courage and true nobility. Lord Winther visits Athos. An old friend upsets him: d’Artagnan with Porthos are the cardinal's servants. But Aramis and I are at your disposal!
At the pier in Boulogne, Aramis, Athos and Vinter are in wait for Mordaunt, who is ready to avenge his mother (he brought Mazarini's secret letter from Cromwell demanding to maintain neutrality at this moment of Karl's fall, and the letter played a role in the decision made by the Queen). Mordaunt fails to enter the ship, which his uncle and two musketeers set sail for England. He is ready to sail in their wake on the next free ship.
At this time, Brusel was arrested in Paris. People take to the streets and engage in clashes with the army. Rochefort, who became the leader of the Fronde, together with other instigators of unrest, demands the immediate release of his leader. The queen is forced to sign the ultimatum presented to her, but conceals in her heart hatred of distraught subjects: “I and the young king must leave Paris. The mob is bewildered when they see that their ruler is not on the throne - and then I will incinerate this vile city! ” Accompanied by the irreplaceable d’Artagnan, she and her ten-year-old son leave the capital and find refuge in Saint-Germain. A few hours earlier, by the same d’Artagnan, miraculously taken out of Paris and Mazarin ...
Returning to Paris, d’Artagnan receives a letter from Athos and Aramis: they are in a dangerous alteration, they hand him the care of Raul and bequeath to avenge Mordaunt. They do not intentionally give their addresses, knowing that the duty of friendship can endanger their friends as much as they now threaten them. D’Artagnan was sent by Mazarin to England at that time with a secret message. He and Porthos make the sea route in the company of Mordaunt, who was waiting for them in Boulogne. Further their route - to Newcastle, to the camp of Charles I. Athos and Aramis have already appeared here, accompanied by Lord Winther. His Majesty knights two brave musketeers. Unfortunately, they will not be able to serve the king of England for long: the Scottish guards go to the side of Cromwell, the king is captured. Lord Winther, who defended him, is killed by Mordaunt. All four musketeers captured with Charles I manage to escape. Now their duty is to rescue the king.
At the military council, the plan is ripening to rub in confidence in the guard of the captive Karl, make friends with the soldiers and disarm the rivals with a card game. This plan at the last moment is frustrated by Mordaunt, who ran into the guardhouse with a cry: “This is treason!” ...
The king is sentenced to death. On the night before the execution of his sentence, he is dressed in Bishop Aramis at White Hall and warns that his escape is being prepared. People loyal to the king will abduct the executioner at dawn, they will postpone execution for a day - and only a day is enough to save His Majesty from death!
Four musketeers, disguised as carpenters, occupy the previously designated places near the scaffold and under its flooring. To their horror, another executioner ascends to the scaffold. Karl touchingly says goodbye to the people and puts his head on the chopping block. Athos, hiding under the scaffold, feels that his forehead is wet; runs a palm over it - this is the blood of a decapitated monarch.
The executioner - as it soon turns out - is none other than the Mordaunt. Having met him, the musketeers cast lots: to whom of them is the first to fight this villain. The choice falls on d’Artagnan. Retreating ever closer to the wall, Mordaunt suddenly suddenly dissolves in the air: he managed to escape through a secret door.
Chasing Mordaunt, the musketeers find themselves on the ship, where he is hiding. The captain immediately reports to Mordaunt about their penetration of the ship. He prepares a grand farewell performance: sets fire to the wick leading to the barrels of gunpowder. The musketeers, by pure chance, find themselves initiated into this plan - and jump onto a boat tied to the side of the ship before Mordaunt can do it. From a safe distance, friends look at his death ... but is he the devil? After a few moments, they see his head above the water. He is one of the whole team who survived. He swims to them, he prays for their help, he grabs Atos's hand extended to him - and drags him into the water. It seems that for ages neither one nor the other has been seen. Finally, the corpse of the son of Milady, her fiend, with a dagger in her heart, pops up from under the water ... and then the alive and unharmed Athos.
From the fire - yes into the fire: from the troubled England - into rebellious Paris. The duty of the musketeers to extinguish this flame. They take bold steps: they flee from the imprisonment which the queen subjected them to preferring the call of the heart to the highest commandments and failure to fulfill the orders of Her Majesty and His Eminence. The moment all four are free, their prisoner becomes ... Mazarin.
In the castle of Porthos in Pierrefonds, the cardinal signs an act of surrender to Parliament - an agreement drawn up by the deputation of the Fronde. To the enthusiastic cries of the still angry people yesterday, the queen and the little king enter Paris. Returns to his palace and Mazarin. The last riotous crowd, led by Rochefort, makes an attempt to pull the cardinal out of the carriage - but their leader runs into the sword of d’Artagnan. The mob rushes in all directions. Bleeding Rochefort manages to say: “This is fate. I was cured three times after the injections of your sword. For the fourth time, it’s obvious that there will be no miracle ... ”D’Artagnan is sincerely upset:“ Count, I have not seen that it is you. "I would not want you to die with a feeling of hatred for me!"
Eternal enemies amicably shake hands ...
The little king, returning to the Palais Royal, remarks to his mother: "Mr. d’Artagnan is brave." “Yes, my son,” Queen Anne replies. “Be gentle with him.”
Ten years have passed, and Louis XIV will be quite convinced of how important this is - and how difficult ...
