The Duellists (1977)

Set during the grand, sweeping Napoleonic age, an officer in the French army insults another officer and sets off a life-long enmity. The two officers, D'Hubert and Feraud, cross swords ... See full summary »

Director:

Ridley Scott

Writers:

Joseph Conrad (story), Gerald Vaughan-Hughes

Stars:

Keith Carradine, Harvey Keitel, Albert Finney

Nominated for 2 BAFTA Film Awards. Another 2 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Keith Carradine	...	D'Hubert
Harvey Keitel	...	Feraud
Albert Finney	...	Fouche
Edward Fox	...	Colonel
Cristina Raines	...	Adele
Robert Stephens	...	Gen. Treillard
Tom Conti	...	Dr. Jacquin
John McEnery	...	Chevalier
Diana Quick	...	Laura
Alun Armstrong	...	Lacourbe
Maurice Colbourne	...	Second
Gay Hamilton	...	Maid
Meg Wynn Owen	...	Leonie
Jenny Runacre	...	Mme. de Lionne
Alan Webb	...	Chevalier

Storyline

Set during the grand, sweeping Napoleonic age, an officer in the French army insults another officer and sets off a life-long enmity. The two officers, D'Hubert and Feraud, cross swords time and time again in an attempt to achieve justice and preserve their honor.

---

Plot Keywords:

honor | sword | duel | sabre | grinder | 

---

Taglines:

Fencing is a science. Loving is a passion. Duelling is an obsession.

---

Genres:

Drama

---

Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English Russian

Release Date:

December 1977 (UK)

Also Known As:

Duellists

Filming Locations:

Aquitaine, France

Box Office

Budget:

$900,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Enigma Productions, National Film Finance Corporation (NFFC)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The swords were hooked up to batteries to produce the sparks, and Harvey Keitel said he was heavily shocked more than once.

---

Goofs

In the opening scene, Harvey Keitel's character's sword strikes home in the upper chest (near the heart) of his opponent, then the film cuts to a side view of the opponent depicting the sword as having entered his stomach area.

---

Quotes

[first lines]
Narrator: The duellist demands satisfaction. Honour, for him, is an appetite. This story is about an eccentric kind of hunger. It is a true story and begins in the year that Napoleon Bonaparte became ruler of France.

---

Connections

Referenced in 'Kingdom of Heaven': Interactive Production Grid (2005)

---

Soundtracks

"Bist du bei mir"
(uncredited)
Music by Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel
(from "Notenbüchlein für Anna Magdalena Bach" No. 25. BWV 508)

User Reviews

Brilliant, understated, and thoroughly human.

This /is/ one of the best sword-fighting movies ever made, in that the choreography doesn't look like choreography. In the fight sequences, there's that rare sense of reticence, chance, uncertainty: of men thinking while they fight and trying to stay alive (The battle scenes in Kurosawa seem to me to share the same quality).

What sets this film apart (beyond its sheer visual gorgeousness) is its unremitting humanity and realism. Carradine as the protagonist is a decent enough, reasonable enough chap trying to live by an unreasonable and inflexible code. Keitel as Feraud is a cipher: charged with a wholly unreasonable hate the sources of which we never see. The movie steps through the ups and downs of war, fashion, politics. Though the film's structured around a series of violent combats, the struggle is finally a moral one. One man finally transcends the ideal of honor that's kept him a prisoner for fifteen years. The other is unable to.

This is a movie to watch, and to recommend to one's friends. It's lamentably not available yet in DVD, but can be found occasionally as a rental. Watch it for the costumes, the lighting, and the gorgeous camerawork. Watch it again for a movie that takes on The Big Issues. Brilliant.