French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars were interesting time of immense social and political change and carnage that won’t be seen in Europe until 20th Century. Those tumultuous events serve as a backdrop for more personal conflict, which is the subject of Ridley Scott’s feature film debut, 1977 period drama The Duellists.
The film is based on the story by Joseph Conrad, itself based on the real events concerning Pierre Dupont and François Fourier, two French cavalry officers that fought each other in series of duels over two decades. The plot begins in 1800 Strasbourg, in a time when Napoleon took power in post-revolutionary France. Lieutenant Gabriel Feraud (played by Harvey Keitel) is an officer in 7th Hussars Regiment, unit whose members are known for great courage, but also immense arrogance and recklessness. Feraud is an accomplished fencer and has developed reputation of an enthusiastic duellist. Following the latest duel which left relative of local politician seriously injured, Feraud’s superiors decide to discipline him and send Lieutenant Armand d’Huber (played by Keith Carradine), another Hussar officer, to bring the news. Feraud reacts by challenging d’Huber to a duel which d’Huber, despite not actually wanting to fight, wins. Feraud is injured but demands rematch at any cost, which would lead to series of duels fought over years in different countries with different weapons and methods. This continues even after Napoleon’s era ends until d’Huber and Feraud, who both advanced to the rank of generals, finally take a chance to settle the matter by fighting with pistols.
Ridley Scott for his first feature film secured a budget that looks like a pocket change in comparison with his later production, but it doesn’t tell on the screen. This shows that his talent can manifests itself in putting limited resources to good use and making this film much more grander and epic than it actually is. Scott, clearly inspired by Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon as well as paintings made during the period, has invested impressive effort to recreate early 19th Century through inventive use of cinematography and care about costumes, props and period details. Limited locations in France and Scotland are also put to good use, convincingly passing for various locations in France, Germany and Russia. Even the action scenes, which were never Scott’s forte, work well in this film, with each of the duels looking different from others.
Not everything in this film is perfect. American distributor has forced Scott to cast Carradine and Keitel in the main roles and their American accents sound odd in scenes they share with the British cast. On the other hand, idea to pair Carradine against Keitel wasn’t unsound and it could have helped with characterisation. Carradine as member of great actors’ dynasty plays member of pre-revolutionary aristocracy still bound by the old ideals of honour; Keitel plays commoner who was allowed to advance to officer’s rank only thanks to Revolution and whose lack of finesse can be matched by Keitel’s own reputation of a Method actor from mean streets of Brooklyn. Script by Gerald Vaughan-Hughes could have made this concept more explicit, just as it shouldn’t have pay so much attention to d’Huber’s romantic partners, played by Diana Quick and Cristina Raines. The last part of the film, set in the post-war period of Bourbon Restoration, slightly lags and viewers who aren’t familiar with that period of French history might be slightly confused. The Duellists nevertheless represents not only a very good debut of a director who would later make truly great things, but also can be recommended to the audience that requires nothing more than quality combination of action and period drama.
RATING: 7/10 (++)
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