I don't clearly see why in the last scenes Édouard wants to have a duel with Lacenaire and Frédérick for the "love" of Garance (as we know he did with others), even when she clearly doesn't love them, and, nevertheless he doesn't seem to be interested in fighting against her real love for Baptiste, to whom he saw actually kissing her...
I would be grateful if you could help.
The problem with Édouard is he was an aristocrat and an an aristocrat had to keep his rank. It must seems stupid but at this time the French Revolution was not very far (The action is about 1830). Anyway, Édouard doesn't want to have a duel for the love of Garance but for his honour and his rank. I hope my answer will help you.
shareOK. Thank you very much for answering. Now that you tell it, it seems so obvious, but when I watched the movie, although I felt Édouard's behaviour was logical, correct, I couldn't explain to myself why.
Best.
I always felt that Édouard's eagerness to duel with anyone that rubbed him the wrong way was attributed to an excess of pride. The spiteful Lacenaire definitely offended him enough to warrant a challenge. I might be wrong, but Édouard was in a room full of aristocrats and socialites at the time, so he didn't really have the option to go after Baptiste because Frederick challenged him first in front of everyone, which I felt was a very compassionate thing to do, sticking up for Baptiste like that.
shareWe saw this movie in my film history class and we actually talked about this. We felt that it was because, although Baptiste was the one kissing Garance, Lacenaire was the one that exposed it. Edouard thought of Garance as just another pretty trinket on his shelf and it didn't matter as much that someone else was playing with it as much as that other people found out. It wasn't Garance's infidelity that offended him, it was the humiliation of others finding that his lover was unfaithful to him. (Like when Garance said that he didn't care if she actually loved him. He just wanted to hear her say it.) So, Baptiste was free from the duel because he had the decency and luck to be hiding behind a curtain out of sight. It was Lacenaire who purposefully humiliate Edouard, not Baptiste, which was the actual cause of Edouard's ire.
I hope that makes sense, but that was what the class thought.
Georges Meliés is hardcore pwnage!
Édouard wouldn't fight a duel with Lacenaire- he isn't socially important enough to deserve the honour of getting killed by him. Frédérique could be killed, although he's a mere actor. The thing about Baptiste is that Garance is genuinely in love with him and Édouard realises it; I think he accepts his murder by Lacenaire without resistance because he knows it.
shareIt's just a matter of timing: Count of Montray has already challenged Frédérick when Lacenaire reveals the liaison between Baptiste and Garance by opening the curtain.
Besides, Montray was firmly decided to kill Frédérick, wrongly assuming for days that he was Garance's lover or love interest, hence hurting his own aristocratic pride.
"It`s just a matter of timing: Count of Montray has already challenged Frederick when Lacenaire reveals the liaison between Baptiste and Garance".
Thinking back on Three Musketeers, d`Artagnan sure didn`t have any problem cutting out his days` work ending up having to duel with Athos, Porthos and Aramis back to back (although, in all fairness, there`s a difference in that he was the one challenged by these gentlemen and not the other way around).
"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan
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I think it's all about losing face. Lacenaire caused him to lose face, in a huge and painful way, in front of all his friends and companions.
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