The Duellists (1977)

Director:

Ridley Scott

Writers:

Joseph Conrad (story)
Gerald Vaughan-Hughes (writer)

Release Date:

31 August 1977 (France)

Genre:

Action | War | Drama

Tagline:

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

Plot:

Set during the grand, sweeping Napoleonic age, an officer in the French army insults another officer and sets off a life-long emnity...

Plot Keywords:

Honor | Sword Fight | Duel | Reference To Napoleon | 1810s

Awards:

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

Cast

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

Also Known As:

Duel (UK) (working title)

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English | Russian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Netherlands:12 | Australia:M | Brazil:12 | Portugal:M/12 | Finland:K-12 | France:U | Singapore:PG | Sweden:15 | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating) (1987) | USA:PG | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Aquitaine, France

Company:

Enigma Productions

Trivia:

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

Goofs:

Continuity: 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.

Movie Connections:

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

Soundtrack:

Bist du bei mir

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.