The Duellists (1977)

Fencing is a science. Loving is a passion. Duelling is an obsession...

‘I demand an apology!’

If you enjoy cinematography, the 1970s is your decade. Technical advances in film-making, plus a reaction to the slick, staged look of Technicolor— think 50s Hollywood or the saturated style of Powell & Pressburger— led to a more natural realism. Cinematographers began to experiment with diffused light (a bit like the Impressionists), with backlighting, soft-focus and lens flare, seen, at that time, perversely, as a little bit gritty— if that is the right word— and certainly more realistic, even if the soft-focus style, today, is seen as more 'chocolate box'. And it lingered on until the early 80s, especially in advertising: pretty girls in Panama Hats, hammocks, Erik Satie's Gymnopédies and Monet's The Poppy Field near Argenteuil (1873); phallic Cadbury's Flake, captured on cinematic 35mm. This coincides with the drug culture and the return to nostalgia, with Laura Ashley, hippy florals, flares, and hallucinatory golden summers, which, perhaps, never were— apart from the long, hot summer of '76. With only three television channels and huge audiences running into millions on a Saturday night, advertising agencies made big-budget television commercials worthy of cinematic release. 

‘The Brandy of Napoleon, toy soldiers and tooled leather…’

Step forward one Ridley Scott, director of between one and a half and two thousand television commercials, including Hovis Bread (1973)— that's Dvořák, boy, and thatched cottage; Cadbury's Flake (1971) and Guinness Ploughman's Lunch (1977); master of the glossy, backlit, nostalgic look. The Duellists (1977), Scott's first feature film, and produced by the 'father of British cinema', David Puttnam, is based on Joseph Conrad's short story, The Duel (1908), first published in The Pall Mall magazine, and set during the Napoleonic Wars— or more accurately the first two decades of the 19th century.

‘Stone châteaux, chalk tracks and pollarded avenues…’

Two officers of Hussars (d’Hubert and Feraud) wage a lifetime feud in a series of duels triggered by a ridiculously trivial slight. It's an example of how a seemingly minor incident can affect the rest of your life. And that's more or less the plot, enlivened by the terrific location work, production design (by Peter Hampton) and a feel for historical accuracy— even if a gipsy fortune teller brandishes the steel-engraved 'Swiss' Tarot, a pack published by Johannes Müller of Diessenhofen in the 1860s. But we can overlook that. Wasn't there an Olde Tudor radiator in Elizabeth R. (1971)? Or have I made that up?

Shot on an art-house low budget, The Duellists was filmed almost entirely on location in France, the stone châteaux, chalk tracks and pollarded avenues, early morning mist rising from the ground of an orchard, and Damp Dordogne countryside captured in its raw beauty— giving, I think, the film that certain je ne sais quoi. Enhanced, of course, by the gorgeous, historically accurate Napoleonic uniforms— a look fashionable in the late 60s and 1970s, the ‘Brandy of Napoleon’, toy soldiers and tooled leather.

An Officer of the 3rd Hussars…

The acting's fine: the two American leads, played by Keith Carradine (he's the aristo) and Harvey Keitel (he's the coarse, Bonapartist upstart), do what's required; Edward Fox, Albert Finney, Meg Wynn Owen (Upstairs, Downstairs) and Tom Conti are in there somewhere, and buxom Diana Quick makes an excellent doxie. But it's the visuals you'll take home with you. It's an aesthete's film. I'm all for this. Elvira Madigan (1967) immediately springs to mind. As does Tony Richardson's The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968) and Kubrick's Barry Lyndon (1975).

‘The damp Dordogne countryside captured in its raw beauty…’

And I'm not a fan of blockbusters; the Panavision epic. Big bangs, explosions, thrills, spills and multiple-speaker surround sound leave me cold. Which is why, alas, you won't find Spartacus (1960), Cleopatra (1963) or Lawrence of Arabia (1962) in Luke Honey's WEEKEND FLICKS. And today, the artifice of CGI adds a childish, toy town dimension— not unlike a computer game. The Duellists (1977) is a very different beast from Scott's later Gladiator (2000), or the recent Napoleon (2023), which would have us believe that Napoleon charged at the head of his cavalry at Waterloo. 

Style over substance? Perhaps. Or again, perhaps not? Once you get over the slightly grating American/English accent combo, The Duellists (1977) is a film which grows on you with each viewing. It’s now firmly on my all-time favourite film list. It's a definite recommendation. And isn't it all a bit like the Dennis Severs house? That glorious historical recreation in London’s Spitalfields? The odd historical goof doesn't matter. More importantly, there's an intelligent respect for the past, a suspension of disbelief— taking viewers back in time to the France of the early 19th century. It’s a film for Grown Ups.

I watched The Duellists (1977) via Amazon Prime video on digital download. But I'm now eyeing up a tasty Collector's Edition DVD, with a widescreen transfer and re-mixed Dolby sound, plus a 29-minute documentary and director's commentary from Ridley Scott. You can also download the film via YouTube Movies.

You've just been reading a post for both 'paid for' and 'free' subscribers. To view the other films we've covered so far, please go to the Luke Honey WEEKEND FLICKS. archive. 'Paid for' subscribers get two weekend film recommendations, access to the entire archive and the ability to comment. By the end of the year, there should be over 100 film recommendations.

I will be back on Friday. In the meantime, I hope you have a relaxing weekend…