The Duellists (1978)
September 2nd, 2007
Historical drama directed by Ridley Scott, who would go on to direct Alien, Blade Runner, Thelma & Louise, Gladiator, Hannibal, and many others. This was Scott’s first feature film after an early career in TV and advertising.
Based on a short story by Joseph Conrad (Heart of Darkness), the film is an anti-war screed about two soldiers, both officers in Napoleon’s army, who spend fifteen years trying to kill each other in an endless succession of duels. The original outrage has long been forgotten, but one man won’t stop challenging and the other is powerless to refuse.
The officers are played by American actors Harvey Keitel and Keith Carradine, who don’t attempt any kind of accent. Keitel in particular sounds like a French officer from Brooklyn. Some reviewers find this odd, but it doesn’t bother me. They are speaking English, which stands in for French. Why should they speak it with French accents? I think both actors do a good job.
The duels are bloody, stylized, nonsensical rituals, which echo the absurdity of the Napoleonic wars and the suicidal march into Russia. It’s an anti-war film that plays out its one long joke with deadpan sincerity.
The ending is tricky. I’m not going to tell you what it is. I haven’t read the story, so I’m willing to think it might work better there than here. I didn’t find it satisfying, but it will probably surprise you.
Like Stanley Kubrick’s 1975 film Barry Lyndon, which also has a few duels, and as always when Hollywood looks at 18th century Europe, the film is gorgeous. The 18th century is seen as the last era before the industrial revolution would spread its choking pall over the world, and the available images are from the magnificent landscape paintings of the time. The costumes, too, are picturesque and accurate.
I like this movie. It’s a small film, easily forgotten, but it stands up well. If you are interested in the works of Ridley Scott or either of the two lead actors, or if you want to see a subtle anti-war film based on a short story by the great Joseph Conrad, or if you’d just like to see something a bit more thoughtful than most of the dreck on the new-release shelves at the video store, you should get it. You’ll like it.
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