012 - The Duellists

Synopsis: In the early 19th century, over 15 years, 2 Napoleonic soldiers duel, and duel, and duel

Director: Ridley Scott

Actors: Harvey Keitel, Keith Carradine

Date: 1977

How viewed: Already in my DVD collection

Rating: 5/5

David Meyer says:

.. the duels themselves are glamorous, harrowing and way cool. They function as a violent equivalent of music videos, short self-contained explosions of creative energy.. 

I say:

Based on a Joseph Conrad novel (from an allegedly true story), this is Ridley Scott's (Alien, Blade Runner, Gladiator, Thelma and Louise even) first feature film after directing 100's of commercials. It shouldn't work - it comes on like dozens of (beautifully staged) car commercials, the 2 leads speak with American accents, and the rest of the cast are English, and they're all supposed to be French, and the there's not much of a story - but it does!! I last watched this perhaps 20 years ago and thought it was good, watching it last night, I revised my opinion - I thought it was fantastic! For some reason I can't stand Harvey Keitel, I think I must have seen in him in a dodgy film years ago, but I can't remember what, and it's odd that that perfectly reflects the film: 2 lieutenants in the Hussars in 1800 have a minor falling out, and duel, and continue to duel on numerous occasions over the next 15 years when they happen to meet and when they are both of the same rank - captain, major, general, etc. They duel with rapiers, with sabres, on horseback, and ultimately with pistols, they duel at dawn, they duel on one occasion to a standstill, they injure one another, but they keep coming back - even though the cause of their argument becomes blurred, but still they refuse to apologise (interestingly I played some of the Director's commentary on the DVD and Scott said it was an allegory for war - from minor incidents huge conflicts ensue). It's all about honour, in battle they fight side by side, but when the war's over they continue to duel, but they do act honourably, even interrupting one duel as one protagonist needs to sneeze! So, fantastic settings (mainly rural France, mist, fog, dappled sunlight, big skies), and fantastic support cast (Robert Stephens, Tom Conti, Alun Armstrong, Liz Smith, Albert Finney, Edward Fox, Diana Quick, Meg Wynn Owen), and the uniforms, military conduct and fencing techniques all seem totally authentic, so all in all a fantastic film.