The Duelists

Written 20/09/25

This'll be a short one I think
Had this one on hold for a good while and only just got around to watching it. I saw some scenes of the sword duels on youtube and I thought the way that they were depcited in the film was rather grounded compared to what I usually see. It kinda led me down the rabbit hole of weapon youtube for a while.
Anyway, this film takes place in the early 1800s during the Napoleonic wars and focuses on Armand d'Hubert and Gabriel Feraud and the rivalry/grudge spurred on by the latter after feeling his pride was wounded by the former.







I'll get my gripes with this film out of the way first I guess.
I think at times, especially in the last quarter, the movie slows down a bit too much. It may be that I feel this way since the gap between the penultimate and last duel is bigger than the others but the film enjoys stretching out it's scenic quiet moments. I think this is generally good rather than it is bad, I'll get to that later, but it does contribute to the slower pacing of the later parts of the film.
Another minor thing that bugs me is that d'Hubert speaks with what is distinctly an American accent despite everyone else having accents that fit the time period. Even with his lines doing well to reflect that he is indeed a military man of Europe in the 19th Century, his accent takes me out a bit.

That's all that really bothers me about the film. Other than that I think it's pretty good.
The direction of the film aims to provide a fitting ambience and for its scenes, lots of fairly long moments without a piece dialouge spoken and we are left to soak in the atmosphere.


I do appreciate these moments despite what I said earlier. Provides some really amazing shots and does a good job at building tension when necessary. One particular scene I love is during the 3rd duel of the film. We have a long shot of them walking towards the field before we get a closer look at them readying themselves only for d'Hubert to pause for a moment for a sneeze. Not exactly sure why but I appreciated that.


The duels in this movie are what really hooked me when I first discovered it. I love how real they feel, like they are fighting with weapons that can mortally wound you if they slip up and it really feels like that.
Movements tend to be careful and the duels themselves are rather swift and done in one good strike as they should be, since fighting whilst considerably injured would be fruitless. There is a duel where they do duel whilst injured but given the context it makes enough sense.
I enjoy how in the first duel of the film, the distinct difference in how the two combatants handle themselves is on full display. Feraud has his body to the side, providing less space to be hit whilst his opponent gives more of himself away with his wider stance.
There's also the contrast between their demeanours. Feraud is relatively lax, swinging his sword below him, letting down his guard, whilst his opponent is constantly on edge and tends to run about when engaged, keeping him defensive as he remains reluctant to attack until he starts panicking and flailing his sword around, leading to his defeat.


There's also the last duel of the film which was done with pistols. Appreciated the switch up and the duel itself was good. It greatly benefited from the film's tendency to build atmosphere with silence, as d'Hubert and Feraud were effectively hunting each other down in a forest. The long silence broken by the first gunshot made me jump a bit.

That's all the words I have for this film for the time being. Given how long it took me to finally watch it, I'd say it delivered fairly well, though pacing issue did make some parts feel less like a break between the duels and a tad bit more of a bore, given that I was mostly engaged with the two primary character's rivalry.