Director Report Card: Ridley Scott (1977)

Ridley Scott is a director that has been on my list for a long time. When I first started this project back in 2008 – has it really been that long? – he was one of the names on my long initial collection of filmmakers I hoped to cover. I've never gotten around to it sooner because, frankly, Scott's filmography is intimidating. He's directed at least 25 movies, with multiple versions existing for several of them. He's even more prolific as a producer. The guy has rarely slowed down either. Despite being in his eighties now, it seems like Scott has been busier than ever in the last decade. He's worked in numerous genres, from landmark sci-fi films to historical epics and small-scale dramas. He's earned lots of critical praise but some drubbings too. Yet he's remained a respected and important director through it all. Let's see if I love or hate this guy by the end of this journey. 

1. The Duellists

Ridley Scott – whose grand-uncle owned one of Britain's first cinema chains – began his filmmaking career working in the art department of the BBC. He would soon transfer into directing television episodes and eventually commercials. He directed an advertisement for Hovis bread, which proved very popular and was eventually voted the U.K.'s favorite commercial. After a prolific career in commercials, Scott gained a desire to make a feature film. He hired Gerald Vaughan-Hughes to write a script about Guy Fawkes but the project quickly mutated into an adaptation of Joseph Conrad's novella, “The Duel.”  Made for a low budget of 500,000 dollars, “The Duellists” would unfurl on cinema screens in 1977.

In 1800, in the French countryside, Gabriel Feraud – a lieutenant in the Napoleonic army – nearly kills a man in a duel. Since the man was the nephew of Strasbourg's mayor, Armand d'Hubert, another lieutenant, is dispatched to deliver Feraud his punishment. This incenses the man and he demands to duel Armand as well. Thus begins a rivalry that lasts for eighteen years. The two men encounter each other in different parts of the continent, in Augsberg and Lubeck and Moscow, renewing their bloody duel and each time fighting to a standstill. Their military ranks advance but their hatred for one another remains. After Napoleon is driven into exile, Feraud and Armand meet one last time to bring their duel to a definitive end.

“The Duellists” is broken up into six parts, each segment proceeded by a title card detailing the time and place. Each section contains a new duel and many of these vignettes are proceeded by narration, read by Stacy Keach. This emphasizes the story's status as a series of encounters over the course of nearly two decades, Armand and Feraud drifting in and out of each other's lives at pivotal times. No matter the distance in time or place, the two remain stuck in a futile cycle of violence. They meet, fight, depart and then meet again without ever coming any closer to determining a winner to their duel. Armand feels increasingly frustrated that Feraud just won't let it go and the audience feels that too, getting drawn into this almost existentially endless conflict between two men. 

So why are these two guys so fixated on fighting each other? We never learn why Feraud was dueling the mayor's nephew in the first scene. When Armand goes to deliver punishment to Feraud, he is insulted. He feels like his status as a soldier in the proud army of Napoleon is being challenged. His very identity is being affronted. Armand, meanwhile, meets each of Feraud's request to duel because he feels honor-bound himself. It's part of his identity, as a studious soldier, to face every challenge that is issued towards him. Feraud eventually calls Armand a traitor to the emperor, using that as his excuse for why he hates him so much. But the truth is both men are too entangled in their self-perceptions of themselves as proud warriors to turn the other down. The fight must continue, or else they'll both cease to be.

There is, in fact, a subtle element of class conflict to the two men's seemingly unending rivalry. Before the French Revolution, most of the officers in the army were aristocrats. Napoleon conscripted men from the poorer classes, allowing them to rise through the ranks based on merit. Armand d'Hubert is part of this older, aristocratic class of soldier. Feraud, meanwhile, is part of this newer wave, a working-class officer. This might explain why Feraud is so faithful to Napoleon, seeing the emperor as a way for him to fulfill his destiny. One suspects that part of why Feraud despises Armand so much is because he's a pampered rich boy who was born into his position and didn't really earn it. All of this is more implied than anything else in the film, adding another subtle layer to the story.

The first thing you'll likely notice about “The Duellists” is how gorgeous it is. Ridley Scott has openly admitted that “Barry Lyndon” was the main inspiration for the movie. Much like Stanley Kubrick's own Napoleonic epic, Scott patterns his films after the baroque paintings of that time period. Every frame in “The Duellists” is a work of art. The opening sequence, of a young girl farming ducks, followed by Feraud dueling in a foggy field, is stunningly beautiful. Images of men standing around outside stone buildings or among a frozen forest stick in the memory. As in Kubrick's film, interiors are lit primarily with candlelight. Everything is so precise, so rich in color and light. 

Part of what makes “The Duellists” look so impressive is the incredible amount of details crammed into every scene. The set dressing is meticulous, every interior packed with as much character and background information as possible. This is all the more impressive considering the movie was so low budget, it painted a carriage two different colors so it could be used in opposing shots. People who are knowledgeable about such things inform me that the costumes in this are especially historically accurate. Which does seem to highlight the odd decision to allow all the actors to speak with their natural accents seem a little distracting, though easy to forgive. Harvey Keitel attempting a French accent probably would've been more distracting than just letting him use his normal voice.

An especially interesting touch, that already shows how advanced Ridley Scott's visual sense was even this early in his career, is how each duel is presented. The first fight, between Feraud and the mayor's nephew, is mostly shot from a distance, creating a detached feeling. As if being observed by the duck farmer that wanders by in the first scene. The first duel between Armand and Feruad is confused clattering of blades, occurring largely in darkness save for the sparks shooting from the flashing blades. This reflects the confusion Armand feels on this moment. In contrast, the later fight in a cramped barn is concentrated and extremely bloody, the two me cutting each other to ribbons as their sabers repeatedly clash. The duel on horseback is the tightest edited moment in the film, Armand's memories flashing before our eyes as the two men charge towards each other. It's such a brilliantly orchestrated sequence, making us understand that Armand is terrified for his life and totally uncertain of the outcome of this conflict. 

The reason why this duel, and so many of the movie's other scenes, are so effective is the balance of music and silence throughout the movie. Howard Blake's score is operatic and expressive, driving home the emotion and tension in many of the scenes. As the music, discordant and motivating in equal measure, mounts, you feel your heart beating faster. As powerful as the music is, the lack of music is sometimes equally intense. An encounter between Armand and Feraud on the frozen Moscow front, in which they make a temporary truce when attacked by a Russian soldier, is largely quiet save for the howling wind. This draws attention to the unease both men feel among each other, uncertain if the other will strike in this vulnerable moment.

Keeping the film even sharper are its two lead performances. Keith Carradine plays Armand as a professional guy who sees his military rank as a job he's extremely good at. Feraud interrupts that focus with his obsession, frustrating and annoying Armand at first. This grows into an ever-more frenzied fight for his life, each duel more perilous than the one before it. Carradine clearly conveys these evolving emotions, while showing us that this man is a bit conceited but not unlikable. Over time he grows as a person, falling in love and starting a family, Carradine's performance revealing a more personable side without loosing the controlled side of the character we already know.

If Carradine plays Armand as a slightly stuck-up but very focused man, Harvey Keitel plays Feraud as a man consumed by passion. Someone who blows minor insults into a decade-spanning rivalry has to be epically passionate. Kietel makes it known that Feraud never doubts his feelings or convictions. He is one hundred percent certain of the man he is, bellowing out grandiose speeches that describe his feelings and his problems with Armand. This is the kind of performance you hire Harvey Keitel for, as the actor has always excelled at expressing righteous fury. Something Feraud has no shortage of. 

The two men are obviously ideal foils for one another. The film does a great job of depicting their rivalry. It becomes increasingly clear that this is a self-destructive obsession with Feraud, that he's determined to drag Armand down into. Which is what makes an ending, that might've been underwhelming in a different kind of film, so satisfying. Armand defeats Feraud and instructs him to walk away, to never bother him ever again. He rejects Feraud's, and military society's, toxic obsession with honor. He just wants to get on with his life. His rival, meanwhile, is left wondering what he's going to do with the rest of his life. Which is a far more crushing blow to Feraud than simply killing him would've been. It's a very beguiling place to end this story.

The craziest thing about "The Duellists" is it's based on a true story. Pierre Dupont de l'Etang and Francoise Fournier-Sarloveze were the real men. They really were soldiers in Napoleon's army who dueled 30 times over a course of 19 years, until their rivalry concluded under similar terms to what's depicted in the movie. "The Duellists" would receive some positive reviews in 1977 but wouldn't make much of an impact with audiences. It was only in retrospect, after Scott's more popular later films, that the movie would be reevaluated as a classic. But that's what it is, an gorgeously assembled and fascinating motion picture about men obsessed with their own perceptions of who they are. [Grade: A]