1. The scene in which they are fighting in what looks like a castle room of some kind. For me the scene goes from being slightly gruesome to comical as they both end up exhausted, in a heap, on the floor.
2. The scene in Russia in which (after many requests for volunteers) only D'Hubert offers to go and help Feraud.
There is no gene for fate.
The whole point of Ferraud asking for volunteers was for him and D'Hubert to get a chance to duel. The recognised eachother in the campfire scene right before, remember?
shareYes, he was calling D'Hubert out, but did you take notice of the 'frozen' Hussar leaning against the wagon after they'd each expended both of their shots at the Russian Cossack? It was the face of Ferraud's Second, the one who confronted the goose herding girl at the hedge in the first scene,(Maurice Colbourne) and he was alive. I have the feeling that Ferraud was not as honorable as he wanted to seem, and perhaps by this time he had given up any hope of beating D'Hubert, and thought that he could get away with a little murder on the steppes of Russia. No one would ever be the wiser, and the wolves would soon take care of the corpse of D'Hubert. And Ferraud could have lived with his conscience.
So he talked one of his underlings into moving over to the wagon area, with the plan of luring Armand over there and, were he to somehow lose, his Second would take it upon himself to finish D'Hubert off. The Cossack's appearance so suddenly out of the snow threw the whole plot off, I believe, and perhaps his Second couldn't bring himself to break character as a frozen corpse while the two principals were there, or he was merely pondering the lunacy that Ferraud had talked him into, the breach of honor and protocol?
I don't want to think Ferraud could be anything less than the pride-driven madman that he was, or that he would ever stoop to trickery like this, so if anyone at all can explain why the Second was there at precisely the spot Ferraud lured D'Hubert to, to finish the thing, please chime in here!
It is certainly Colbourne, btw. I took 2 screenshots, one of the first scene, one of this scene, flipped the second so they were both facing left and took them to grey scale. Fiddle with the size of the head a little bit and voila! Ferraud's Second was present at the abortive pistol duel in Russia.
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The duels of nations take absolute priority.
There is an explanation for this, you know.
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Feraud's dress and pose - particularly when viewed from behind suggests Napoleon. The last shot, if looking out over a vast ocean, could have been Napoleon on St.Helena instead of Gabriel Ferraud.
"It is not enough to like a film. You must like it for the right reasons."
- Pierre Rissient
I totally agree. It reminds me of paintings I have seen of Napoleon on St. Helena looking out over the Atlantic. Also the 2003 TV movie 'Napoleon' with Christian Clavier has pretty much the same shot in the opening credits of each episode.
I really love the end of 'The Duellists'. One of my favorite historical films. It has the greatest Hussar uniforms I have ever seen in film. The 1968 'Charge of the Light Brigade' has wonderful Hussar uniforms too from the British side.
If only a book such as 'Adventures of Brigadier Gerard' by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle could be turned into such a beautiful film with wonderful uniforms like 'The Duellists' that would be great for all Napoleonic buffs.
Frank: Just a man.
Harmonica: An ancient race.
You know, I'd never paid too much attention to the scenery, other than to marvel over this castle, that vista presented in the far distance or how absolutely perfect every shot was, for a first effort from a former television commercial director.
This idea with their respective backgrounds/circumstances reflecting the widening chasm between the pair, bears some looking into. I just bought the blu ray version, two copies, in fact, one for the archive, and I'll be viewing it tonight. Thanks to your eye on this, I'll watch all the more closely.
This is still in my top 10 favorite films of all time, might even have risen a notch.
And it's a nice touch how D'Hubert, who was so reluctant to duel, and so visibly nervous, on their previous encounter, so readily accompanied Ferraud away to duel this time -- even though this was explicitly forbidden by their code duello (their nation was at war, and they were actively on campaign, so it was not permissible to engage in their own private quarrel under the circumstances). Feraud was such a fanatic for revenge for his supposed wrong that he didn't care about such things, but I think the reason for D'Hubert agreeing so readily was that he was almost actively seeking death in that moment. The campaign in Russia was so awful, the conditions so appalling, with the bitter cold and lack of food so acute, and death so omnipresent, that D'Hubert was almost ready to welcome death as a blessed release from a suffering grown almost intolerable: whereas before he'd been afraid of it.
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