“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”. (prologue of “The
Duellists”).
Like many people, I watched this film, after
“Alien” and “Blade Runner” both directed by Ridley Scott. I was then very
impressed by the elegant direction of Ridley Scott in another universe than
Science Fiction. There are other movies about the Napoleon period, among them
we can retain “Napoleon” (Abel Gance / 1927), “War and Peace” (King Vidor /
1956) and “Waterloo” (Sergei Bondarchuk /1970).But, “The Duellists” must be regarded as a
special Napoleonic Movie because there are no big battle scenes, but rather a
lot of intimate and emotional moments. For these reasons it must be seen
separately from the above mentioned epics. That’s why I like it and choose to
write a topic about this film.
The Story : Young Lieutenant Armand
D’hubert (Keith Carradine) of the French 3rd Hussars is obliged in
confused circumstances to fight a duel with a fellow officer, Lieutenant
Gabriel Feraud of the French 7th Hussars (Harvey Keitel). Feraud is
implacably quarrelsome and will not let the affair rest; It continues in grim
and bloody earnest through four separate encounters. D’Hubert loses his
mistress (Diana Quick), repeatedly hazards his life gains notoriety which he
finds idiotic and unwelcome. Nevertheless, the Hussar’s code of honor holds him
trapped in permanent obedience to Feraud‘s savage whim and their feud survives
even the shared ordeal of the Russian campaign. After the war, D’Hubert returns
to his family, makes a happy marriage with Adele (Cristina Raines), and
salvages his military career. Feraud declines into lonely and vengeful
obscurity. Finally, he reappears out of the past that D’Hubert has half
forgotten and forces another duel. The last duel…
“The Duellists” is a film adaptation of a Joseph Conrad short novel,
“The Duel” (“Point of Honor” / 1908). This movie was shown two years before the
monumental epic movie war of Francis Ford Coppola’s masterpiece, “Apocalypse
Now” (1979). It is a historical drama film based on a true story which
has its genesis in the real duels spread over 19 years between two French
Hussar officers during the Napoleonic era and even after : “The general
Pierre-Antoine Comte Dupont de
l'Étang and the general François Fournier-Sarlovèze”.
But above all, it must be noted that it was
the first movie directed by the acclaimed British director Ridley Scott (“Alien” (1979), “Blade Runner” (1982), “Thelma and Louise” (1991), “Gladiator”
(2000), “Kingdom of Heaven” (2005) and “Prometheus” (2011)) !
In 1976, Scott, first known as a prominent
director of television commercials in Britain choose the Conrad’s novel for his
debut as a feature director. Enigma Production with David Puttman (“Chariots of
Fire” (1981), “Local Hero” (1982), “The Killing Fields” (1984), “Cal” (1984),
“The Mission” (1986), “Memphis Belle” (1990)…) agreed to produce the movie. With the help of Paramount Picture, Putman
succeeded in getting a budget of $ 900 000 ! (considering of today’s
inflation rate, we could multiply the amount by two or three…).
The first Scotts’ choice for the two
leading parts, were Oliver Reed and Michael York but the financial costs could not
afford to get them. After several months, Keith Carradine and Harvey Keitel became the characters of the two French
hussars.
The
two talented American actors were joined by an outstanding cast : “Albert
Finney as the Minister of Police Joseph Fouché, Edward Fox as the Colonel
Reynard (a Bonapartist agent), Christina Raines as Adele (d'Hubert's wife), Tom
Conti as Dr Jacquin (an army surgeon and friend of d'Hubert), Robert Stephens as
the Brigadier-General Treillard, John Mc Enery as Second Major (Feraud's second
in the final duel), Diana Quick as Laura (d'Hubert's mistress), Meg Wynn Owen
as Leoni (d'Hubert's sister), and Alan Webb as Adele's uncle and
the narrator was Stacy Keach”.
Gerald
Vaughan-Hughes (“Sebastian” (1968)) wrote a very great screenplay from the
Conrad‘s novel. The producers gathered a very fine team of technicians, Frank Tidy was the cinematographer (“Sweet Liberty” (1986),
“Under Siege” (1992), “Chain Reaction” (1996)…), Tom Rand (“The French
Lieutenant’s Woman” (1981), “The Bridge” (1999), “The Count of Monte Cristo”
(2002)…) was the costume designer, Susan Barrabel was the make-up supervisor, Paul
Nix was the hairdressing consultant, Rita Wakely was the wardrobe Mistress, and
Bryan Graves was the art director.
The
duels were superbly choreographed by William Hobbs (“H.M.S. Defiant” (1962),
“Cyrano de Bergerac” (1990), “Rob Roy” (1995), “Games of Thrones” (2011)…) and the
late and well-known military historian adviser Richard Holmes gave a very
helpful participation to the movie. Still today, the film is praised for its historically authentic portrayal of
Napoleonic uniforms and military conduct.
For
the film score, Scott and Putman”s the first and the only choice was, Howard
Blake (“Riddle of The Sands” (1978), “Flash Gordon” (1980), “The Snowman”
(1982), “The Snowman and the Snowdog” (2012)). Scott and Blake have been known
each other because they already worked before on a series of television
commercials.
The Composer Howard Blake
Together
with “War & Peace” (1952) and “Waterloo” (1970) (both scores written by the
great and famous Italian composer Nino Rota), “The Duellists” is one of the best score
ever written for a Napoleonic movie ! The composer told that he selected some concert
music of the period that he merged with his own music with a view to give the
feeling of a “source music”. Also, he used a large symphonic orchestra to
dramatize the romantic and tragic mood of the story and underline the loneliness
of the Carradine‘s character.
The Main Theme of "The Duellists"
The
composer described his work for the movie :
Quote
“The Duellists as the most visually exquisite
films I had ever seen. I watched fine cuts of each scene materialize, and would
rush home with one new inspiration after another. David (Puttman) and Ridley
(Scotts) gave me tremendous input and support, and a generous free hand. The
result of this intense collaboration produced what I consider to be my finest
film score ever”
Unquote
About
the music, Scott said :
Quote
“In my first experience as a feature
director, I was fortunate enough to be introduced to Howard Blake, who proved
to be a sensitive guide into the mysteries of film scoring. It was beautifully
evocative music for my film”.
Unquote
In
1979, the director asked Howard Blake to compose the score of his next movie
“Alien” but the Twentieth Century Fox executives preferred the veteran composer
Jerry Goldsmith to him. Unfortunately, the two artists will not work again for
the big screen.
The photography of the movie is marvelous and Ridley Scott took the work of the
cameraman with the collaboration of Frank Tidy. Together, they did an
incredible job. The main locations used for shooting the film were in and
around Sarlat-la-Canéda in the Dordogne region of France. Never the Dordorgne
country was so beautiful with a great sense of poetry and a clever approach of the
naturalistic painting of the period. The result was so stupendous that the critics
compared “The Duellists” to Stanley Kubrick's “Barry Lyndon”.
For Ridley
Scott, “The Duellists” was a wonderful luck and he succeeded
very well. The reviews of the critics and the audience were good, especially in
Europe. But not in United States, because the film was considered as an “Art”
movie. Thus, the commercial impact of the movie on the international market was
limited. Despite, this ridiculous statement, “The Duellists” was nominated for
the main prize at the 1977 Cannes Film Festival and won the special Jury Prize
as best debut film.
Keith Carradine and Harvey Keitel gave one of their best performances, alike, the rest
of the cast was just perfect.
The Trailer
“The Duellists” remains to me, a wonderful story and a
powerful movie. Every time, I watch this masterpiece it catches my renewed interest
as it would be the first time I see it because of its first-class cast, its
superb photography, its romantic score and its human drama …
Armand D'Hubert (Keith Carradine) : “You have kept me at your beck and call for fifteen years. I shall never
again do what you demand of me. By every rule of single combat, from this
moment your life belongs to me. Is that not correct? Then I shall simply
declare you dead. In all of your dealings with me, you'll do me the courtesy to
conduct yourself as a dead man. I have submitted to your notions of honor long
enough. You will now submit to mine”.
The Last Scene
Director Ridley Scott once said of the film's central theme of the movie :
"The one man played by Harvey Keitel is a prisoner of his own
hatred. He must kill or be killed. Keith Carradine plays the other man who is honor bound to fight. It
is a fascinating story of man's violence within himself".
P. S. : If you want to know more about “The
Duellists”, please refer to :
● Books :
“The Duellists” by Ridley Scott, the US
Press Book (In English), 1977, Paramount Picture, US. (This press book includes movie production
information, actors' and actresses' biographies, as well as, synopsis information
about the movie…).
“The Duel” by Joseph Conrad (in English), 2011,
Melville House, USA.
“The Duel/ Le Duel” by Joseph Conrad (in English and
French translation), 1998, Folio Bilingue, Gallimard, France.
“Le Duel” by Joseph Conrad (In French) 2010, Edition Sillage, Translation
by Marie Picard, France.
● Video :
“The Duellists” by Ridley Scott, 2003,
Paramount Picture, US DVD Zone 1, Ref. N° B00006JU7U, Widescreen Edition, NTSC,
1.85.1. Languages : English English (Dolby Digital 5.1) and French (Dolby
Digital 2.0 Mono). (Special Features : “A commentary by
Director Ridley Scott and the Composer Howard Blake ; A short documentary
(“Duelling Directors”: Ridley Scott and Kevin Reynolds featurette) ; "Boy
and Bicycle" (Ridley Scott's first short film) ; Photo Galleries and
Storyboards”).
“The Duellists / Les
Duellistes” by Ridley Scott, 2003, Paramount Picture, FR DVD Zone 2, Ref. N°
B000089QL7 / EU 100832, Widescreen Edition, Pal, 1.85.1. (This edition
contains the same special features than the US DVD issue).
● Music :
CD Promotional Album of the original score
of “The Duellists” by Howard Blake, Airstrip One Cie,N°AOD HB002, 2000, USA. (This album is paired with “The Riddle of
The Sands”, 33 tracks, Stereophonic Sound, Total CD Time : 73.54).
●
Websites :
A Ridley Scott
Page
Official
Website of Howard Blake
Keith
Carradine Unofficial Website
The Joseph Conrad
Society ( UK) Official Website
Another link
about Joseph Conrad
Two French
Reviews of the Conrad’s novel
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