In Strasbourg in 1800, fervent Bonapartist and obsessive duellist Lieutenant Gabriel Feraud (Harvey Keitel) of the French 7th Hussars nearly kills the nephew of the city's mayor in a sword duel. Under pressure from the mayor, Brigadier-General Treillard (Robert Stephens) sends a member of his staff, Lieutenant Armand d'Hubert (Keith Carradine) of the 3rd Hussars, to put Feraud under house arrest. As the arrest takes place in the house of Mme. DeLeon (Jenny Runacre), a prominent local lady, Feraud takes it as a personal insult from d'Hubert, and matters are made worse when Feraud asks d'Hubert if he would "let them spit on Napoleon" and d'Hubert doesn't immediately reply.
Upon reaching his quarters, Feraud challenges d'Hubert to a duel.
The duel is inconclusive; d'Hubert slashes Feraud's forearm but is unable to finish him because he is attacked by Feraud's housemaid. As a result of his part in the duel, d'Hubert is dismissed from the General's staff and returned to active duty with his unit.
The war intervenes in the men's quarrel and they do not meet again until six months later in Augsburg in 1801. Feraud immediately challenges d'Hubert to another duel and seriously wounds him. Recovering, d'Hubert takes lessons from a fencing master and in the next duel (held in a cellar with heavy sabres) the two men fight each other to a standstill.
Soon afterwards, d'Hubert is relieved to learn he has been promoted to captain. Military protocol forbids officers of different ranks from fighting one another.
The action then moves forwards to 1806 when d'Hubert is serving in Lübeck. He is shocked to hear that the 7th Hussars have arrived in the city and that Feraud is now also a captain. Aware that in two weeks time he is himself to be promoted to major, d'Hubert attempts to slip away but is spotted by Feraud's perpetual second and Feraud challenges him to another duel which is to be fought on horseback with sabres. D'Hubert slashes his opponent across the forehead; Feraud, blinded because the cut bleeds heavily into his eyes, cannot continue the fight. D'Hubert considers himself the victor and leaves the field ebullient.
Soon afterwards, Feraud's regiment is posted to Spain. The pair do not meet again until they chance upon each other during the French Army's disastrous Retreat from Moscow in 1812. However before they can restart their quarrel, Cossacks attack forcing d'Hubert and Feraud to fight together rather than each other.
Two years later, after Napoleon's exile to Elba, d'Hubert is a brigadier-general recovering from a leg wound at the home of his sister Leonie (Meg Wynn Owen) in Tours. She introduces him to Adele (Cristina Raines), niece of her neighbour (Alan Webb). The couple fall in love and are married. A Bonapartist agent (Edward Fox) attempts to recruit d'Hubert as rumours of Napoleon's imminent return from exile abound. But d'Hubert refuses to command a brigade if the Emperor returns from Elba. However when Feraud, who is now also a brigadier-general and a leading Bonapartist, hears this, he declares d'Hubert is a traitor to the Emperor. He claims that he always suspected d'Hubert's loyalty, which is why he challenged him to a duel in the first place.
After Napoleon is defeated at Waterloo, d'Hubert joins the army of Louis XVIII. Feraud is arrested and is expected to be executed for his part in the Hundred Days. However d'Hubert approaches the Minister of Police Joseph Fouché (Albert Finney) and persuades him to release Féraud (without revealing d'Hubert's part in his reprieve). Feraud is paroled to live under police supervision in a certain province.
After Féraud learns of d'Hubert's promotion in the new French Army, he sends two former officers to seek out d'Hubert so he can challenge him to a duel with pistols. Eventually the two men meet in a ruined château on a wooded hill. Feraud rapidly discharges both his pistols before being caught at point blank range by d'Hubert. However d'Hubert refuses to shoot him because tradition dictates he now owns Feraud's life. Instead he informs Feraud he must now submit to his decision that in all future dealings Feraud shall conduct himself "as a dead man".
The duel finally ends, d'Hubert returns to his life and happy marriage while Feraud returns to his provincial exile.
Historical Basis
The Conrad short story evidently has its genesis in the real duels that two French Hussar officers fought in the Napoleonic era. Their names were Dupont and Fournier-Sarlovèze, whom Conrad disguised slightly, changing Dupont into d'Hubert and Fournier into Féraud.
In The Encyclopedia of the Sword, Nick Evangelista wrote:
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.
They 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 and sabres.
Gabriel Feraud: I knew a man who was stabbed to death by a woman; gave him the surprise of his life.
Laura: I once knew a woman who was beaten to death by a man. I don't think it surprised her at all.
I once saw a man get his teeth kicked in outside of Ricks Lounge on Hays Street in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
The issue concerned twenty five cents on the pool table.
And honor, of course.
Honor, before all else . . .
STORMBRINGER SENDS
The film was the debut feature effort for 40 year-old first-time director Ridley Scott, and his photography training shows in every scene.
ReplyDeleteFilmed for a budget that would today be considered "making it on our credit cards", he gathered a stellar collection of actors for this little gem, which won best film at Cannes, and is quite possibly the most beautifully-shot film ever produced anywhere.
Every frame looks like a renaissance masterpiece, and besides being a great movie, wonderfully done, it's a true piece of art simply for the beauty of the thing.
Tremendous film. I watch it about once a year.
ReplyDeleteAnd the lone error in the film is?
ReplyDeleteIf you don't know I'll publish answer later this week.