The Duellists

Screenshot from the film The Duellists

I don't remember when I first saw this film, I'm guessing it was while I was still on active duty. Though, since I retired 18 years ago, it's quite possible that I saw it since then. As one gets older...

The movie came out in 1977, so it's not a new film. What surprised me when I looked into it was who made it, Ridley Scott. I was also rather surprised to see that it was Sir Ridley's directorial debut. He followed that up with Alien and then Blade Runner. Both of which I really enjoyed. (I still can't enter an abandoned space craft without getting the willies. Well, in theory. One doesn't run into a great deal of abandoned space craft in Little Rhody. Abandoned hopes and dreams perhaps, it is a "blue" state after all.)

Now I don't know what Sir Ridley's politics are and I don't really give a rat's patoot. I find many of his films entertaining. But this post isn't about the filmmaker, it's about the film and the story behind the film.

When I saw an ad for this movie on the TV, some years ago, I was pretty excited. The Napoleonic Era! Hussars! What's not to love? What I saw wasn't what I expected. (You can read a summary of the plot here.)

It was better.

It's a story of two Frenchmen. One receives a perceived insult from the other, which was absolute horse manure, but cavalrymen can be very touchy, if not a little touched. The insulted party demands satisfaction from the insulting party, so they fight a duel. As war rages across Europe, these two officers fight one duel after another. The wars of Napoléon are merely a backdrop to the conflict between these two soldiers. And a fascinating tale it is, brilliantly filmed with a great score. As an amateur historian I couldn't help but notice that they got the little details right. Even down to the hairstyles worn by light cavalrymen in the early 19th Century.

What struck me most about the film was the one officer, Gabriel Féraud, played by Harvey Keitel, who is a fanatical adherent of Bonaparte, blindly seeking to avenge the insult to his honor. An early archetype of the easily offended perhaps? The other officer, the one who gave offense to Féraud, Armand d'Huber, played by Keith Carradine, starts the film as a staff officer, so my sympathies were originally with Féraud (I mean come on, d'Huber's a staff puke), but quickly shifted to d'Huber. He loses his cushy staff job and has to rejoin his regiment. All the while trying to stay one rank ahead of the insane Féraud, lower ranking officers aren't allow to duel senior officers. (Must have been a movie thing, I'm pretty sure the Emperor didn't want his officers killing each other, regardless of their respective ranks.)

Féraud always catches up, d'Huber makes captain, Féraud makes captain, the duels continue until shortly after Waterloo. The aftermath of the final duel sees Féraud bereft of his Emperor and his perceived honor. That's him in that opening screen shot. His life, his reason for being is over, he faces an uncertain future.

What triggered this post was my hunt for interesting topics in history to blog about. A search for graphics (photos, paintings, whatever I can use without falling afoul of the copyright lawyers) led me to this painting -

La rendición de Bailén - José Casado del Alisal
(Source)

In July of 1808 a battle took place which sounded the death knell of the First French Empire of Napoléon. A French Imperial army, under Général de division Pierre Dupont was defeated in the field. By, of all people, the Spanish. It was the beginning of the end for Napoléon.

While I was researching the circumstances of the battle and the unfortunate General Dupont, an old memory popped up. Which tickled a couple of brain cells into colliding and recalling the film, The Duellists. Why?

As a young officer in Napoleon's Army, Dupont was ordered to deliver a disagreeable message to a fellow officer, Fournier, a rabid duellist. Fournier, taking out his subsequent rage on the messenger, challenged Dupont to a duel. This sparked a succession of encounters, waged with sword and pistol, that spanned decades. The contest was eventually resolved when Dupont was able to overcome Fournier in a pistol duel, forcing him to promise never to bother him again. (Source)

Art imitating life...

Dupont was the model for Armand d'Huber, played by Keith Carradine in the film. Over a period of roughly 20 years, Dupont de l’Étang fought a series of more than 20 duels with his fellow officer, the particularly quarrelsome Fournier, nicknamed by the Spaniards el demonio (Gabriel Féraud, in the film, and played by Harvey Keitel). (Source)

As for the character of Féraud? Also based on a real person, a fellow who was noted for his bad temper, a real mauvais tête as Colonel Elting might have said. (Read Swords Around a Throne, brilliant!) Meet Général de division François Fournier-Sarlovèze:

They (Dupont and Fournier) fought their first duel in 1794 from which Fournier demanded a rematch. This rematch resulted in at least another 30 duels over the next 19 years in which the two officers fought mounted, on foot, with swords, rapiers, sabres and pistols. Again deprived of his rank because of financial dishonesty and illegal absences, he was reinstated once more and became the aide-de-camp of General Pierre Augereau. Involved in the curious affair of Donnadieu and suspected of conspiracy against the First Consul, Fournier was arrested in May 1802, and imprisoned in the Temple, and later in Périgueux under house arrest. (Source)

Not a chap known for "playing well with others" was he?

Anyway, if you have a chance, see the movie. It evokes the time period very well, and as you watch it remember, those were two real men, officers! Not the kind of behavior one would see these days. Though I wonder, society might be a bit more civil if dueling was still a thing.