| The Duellists | |
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Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Ridley Scott |
| Produced by | David Puttnam |
| Screenplay by | Gerald Vaughan-Hughes |
| Based on | The Duel by Joseph Conrad |
| Starring | Keith Carradine Harvey Keitel |
| Music by | Howard Blake |
| Cinematography | Frank Tidy |
| Editing by | Pamela Power |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | December 1977 |
| Running time | 100 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $900,000 |
The Duellists is a 1977 historical drama film that was Ridley Scott's first feature film as a director. It won the Best Debut Film award at the 1977 Cannes Film Festival.[1] The basis of the screenplay is the Joseph Conrad short story The Duel (titled Point of Honor in the U.S.) published in A Set of Six.
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Set during the Napoleonic Wars, the film tells the story of two French Hussar officers, Armand d'Hubert (Keith Carradine) and Gabriel Féraud (Harvey Keitel). A misunderstanding between them over an initially minor incident becomes a quarrel that turns into a bitter, long-drawn out feud over the following fifteen years, interwoven with the larger conflict that provides its backdrop. At the beginning, Féraud jealously guards his honour and repeatedly demands satisfaction anew when a duelling encounter ends inconclusively; he aggressively pursues every opportunity to locate and duel with his foe.
As the story progresses, d'Hubert also finds himself caught up in the contest. He is unable to refuse Féraud's repeated challenges to duel or to walk away because of the rigid code of honour. The feud persists through the different campaigns of the Napoleonic war, and on into the period of the Bourbon restoration which follows. When the story begins, both men are lieutenants, and over time both rise through the ranks to reach the rank of General.
At times, Feraud and d'Hubert meet but are of different military rank, which due to army regulations prevents them from duelling, but whenever both are of the same rank and in the same place, Feraud immediately issues a challenge. Each comes close to fatally wounding the other, d'Hubert being critically wounded in a duel with small swords, Féraud later being slashed in a joust on horseback with cavalry sabres and both of them nearly killing each other in an inconclusive combat with heavy sabres inside a barn. Years later, they meet again during the retreat from Moscow and another duel (this time with pistols) almost takes place - but on this occasion they put their personal feud aside since the two must act together to survive when they are attacked by Cossacks.
After the fall of Napoleon, d'Hubert marries and becomes a respected member of the restored aristocracy and a General of Brigade in the new French Army, while Féraud is an embittered member of the anti-monarchist party. Poor and despised, he rejoins Napoleon after the Emperor escapes from Elba (while d'Hubert refuses to take part in Napoleon's return), but his hopes are dashed after the Battle of Waterloo and Napoleon's final exile to St. Helena. Feraud is forced to live under supervised conditions in a country village; he does not know that d'Hubert, by interceding with Minister Joseph Fouché, was responsible for Feraud's not being executed for being "a rabid Bonapartist". The feud continues however and Feraud tracks d'Hubert down and challenges him, although he no longer truly remembers, or has conveniently altered, the reason for the perceived injury to his honour.
The final duel is a pursuit through a ruin with each of the protagonists armed with a pair of duelling pistols. When Féraud misses his second shot, d'Hubert immediately seizes the initiative and corners Féraud at gunpoint. Féraud is completely defenceless, with no hope of escape. However, instead of firing, d'Hubert coldly informs Féraud that he has decided to spare his life – on condition that, since according to the rules of single combat Feraud's life now belongs to d'Hubert, Féraud conducts himself in future as a "dead" person and must never have any further contact whatsoever with d'Hubert ever again. Féraud has no choice but to submit to these terms and he departs from the scene. The film ends showing d'Hubert happily married and expecting his first child and Féraud contemplating the fact that he can no longer pursue the obsession which has consumed him for so many years.
The Conrad short story evidently has its genesis in the real duels that two French Hussar officers fought in the Napoleonic era. Their names were Dupont and Fournier, whom Conrad disguised slightly, changing Dupont into D'Hubert and Fournier into Féraud.
In The Encyclopedia of the Sword, Nick Evangelista wrote:
As a young officer in Napoleon's Army, Dupont was ordered to deliver a disagreeable message to a fellow officer, Fournier, a rabid duellist. Fournier, taking out his subsequent rage on the messenger, challenged Dupont to a duel. This sparked a succession of encounters, waged with sword and pistol, that spanned decades. The contest was eventually resolved when Dupont was able to overcome Fournier in a pistol duel, forcing him to promise never to bother him again.[2]
They fought their first duel in 1794 from which Fournier demanded a rematch. This rematch resulted in at least another 30 duels over the next 19 years in which the two officers fought mounted, on foot, with swords, rapiers and sabres.
The film has been compared to Stanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon. In both films, duels play an essential role. In his commentary for the DVD release of his film Scott comments that he was trying to emulate the lush cinematography of Kubrick's film, which approached the naturalistic paintings of the era depicted.
The film is lauded for its historically authentic portrayal of Napoleonic uniforms and military conduct, as well as its generally accurate early-nineteenth-century fencing techniques as recreated by fight choreographer William Hobbs.
The main locations used for shooting the film were in and around Sarlat-la-Canéda in the Dordogne region of France.
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