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At
one point in Ridley Scott's sumptuously beautiful
The Duellists, the
protagonist, Armand D'Hubert (Keith Carradine)
is asked a simple question: "What is honor?" Fumbling
for an answer, he replies, "It's indescribable...
Unchallengeable." He's unable to put into words
that which holds him captive for over 15 years,
a code of 'gentlemanly' conduct that binds him
as surely as a set of prison shackles. Whatever
it is, he reasons, within himself it represents
one of the nobler aspects of Man. But what happens
when honor becomes a creature of Man's vanity?
The lesson will be a long, bitter, and dangerous
one.
The Duellists
spans the rise and fall of Napoleon, opening in
1800 and concluding nearly 16 years later, some
months after Bonaparte's final exile to St. Helena.
But it is not a story of the famed military genius
and would-be Master of Europe. It is the tale
of two officers of his Grande Armee and
the war they wage —
not against the enemies of France, but each other.
It is a private war, one in which Lt. D'Hubert,
a rising young staff officer of the Strasbourg
garrison, is a reluctant combatant. One day D'Hubert
is given the simple task of passing a message
from the commanding general to hot-tempered Hussar
officer Lt. Feraud (Pulp
Fiction's Harvey Keitel). Feraud is in
trouble for dueling with the nephew of the city's
mayor, who's been grievously wounded; he's to
be confined to quarters pending a board of inquiry.
By chance, D'Hubert is given the fateful task
of informing him of the charges. The inequity
of 'killing the messenger' is a point lost on
the belligerent Feraud, who takes personal affront
at being notified by one of the general's "poodles."
He challenges a stunned D'Hubert to a duel on
the spot. In their initial clash of blades D'Hubert
gains the advantage and, upon knocking him down,
storms off to let Feraud stew, his duty to the
general discharged. But Feraud will not —
cannot — leave it
at that. His insane resentment of D'Hubert continues
to fester even after the army is mustered for
a new campaign and the charges against him dropped
as a necessity of war.
At the beginning of their feud,
D'Hubert is angry, even somewhat amused, by his
opponent's nonsensical obsession. When he realizes
that Feraud will never stop seeking him
out until one of them lies dead, he finds himself
in a most unenviable position —
a soldier hoping, praying even, for war. The officer's
code of conduct forbids dueling between men of
different ranks or during wartime; as D'Hubert's
surgeon friend (Tom Conti) wryly surmises, "Duels
between nations take absolute precedence." Thus
for long periods (up to 5 years at one point),
Feraud and D'Hubert cannot fight one another.
But the specter of his nemesis haunts D'Hubert's
life just like the shadow of Bonaparte looms over
Europe. In between campaigns Feraud unfailingly
seeks him out — honor
demands that D'Hubert accept the challenge. The
two men take turns almost killing each other but
each time the duels are stopped before a mortal
blow is struck. Nor is D'Hubert lucky enough for
Feraud to be killed in battle. Both officers survive
the almost continual campaigning, moving up in
rank over the years. Finally, with the fall and
exile of Napoleon, D'Hubert has a chance for real
happiness. He marries into a Royalist family and
accepts a prestigious appointment as a general
in King Louis' army. But staunch Bonapartist Feraud,
despite the destruction of his entire world, still
has one thing left to live for... a final duel
with his hated enemy.
The
Duellists
is not an historical epic featuring grand battle
scenes or a cast of thousands. It's a very intimate
look at an epic age, seen entirely through the
eyes of two men. Carradine's D'Hubert is a man
of reason, intellect and conscience; Keitel's
Feraud is the avatar of blind belligerency and
violence, of masculine hubris taken to extremes.
While the narrative is carried by the D'Hubert
character, his antagonist Feraud remains an enigma
—
the motivation for his fanaticism is never made
clear. But is this not the case with such men
throughout history, and with the cultural, political
and religious movements that spawn them? That
reason must ultimately triumph remains more an
article of faith than a foregone conclusion...
for in opposing such men, the ideals of bravery,
patriotism and honor never seem to emerge unscathed.
The first theatrical feature by director Ridley
Scott (Alien, Gladiator,
Black Hawk Down),
The Duellists is
absolutely beautiful to behold. Period detail
is exquisite; that its low budget ($900,000) prohibited
the building of elaborate sets means that actual
structures dating to the Napoleonic era are used
as the story's backdrop, to marvelous effect.
Every frame of the film is lovingly realized,
especially in the use of lighting. Even simple
shots of interior rooms look as if crafted by
a master painter. It's one of the most gorgeous
looking movies I've ever seen, which is fortunately
constructed around a literate, high-minded script.
(Basic knowledge of the Napoleonic Wars will aid
the viewer considerably.) Some critics have knocked
Carradine's performance as being too laid back,
almost as if he's some kind of California surfer
dude strutting about in early 19th Century military
regalia. I think this is nonsense. He carries
the film ably, backed up by Keitel's intense,
smoldering turn as Feraud. Veteran British actors
Edward Fox and Albert Finney appear briefly in
cameos (with Finney looking for all the world
like country singer Waylon Jennings in a silk
cravat), while the rest of the small cast —
notably Diana Quick as a camp follower whose relationship
with D'Hubert is destroyed by his duels —
lend fine support.
Hopefully, now that The
Duellists has finally made it to DVD, the
film will at last garner the audience it richly
deserves. I enthusiastically recommend it to one
and all.
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