The Duellists [DVD]

In the early nineteenth century two officers in Napoleon’s army challenge each other to a duel. Their initial skirmish, which begins over a trivial insult, becomes a fierce and obsessive passion which dominates the lives of the men over thirty years. This beautifully photographed film is a penetrating study of the lunacy of war and the decay of the aristocratic class in Europe. The first feature by Ridley Scott, its ravishing imagery recalls the classicism of pictorial art of the period: the characters are framed in backgrounds that suggest Constable and Watteau. As the two men’s bitter feud enters its second decade, the images owe much to Turner and Delacroix. The rigid codes of pre-Napoleanic France are swept away by the romantic tide of revolution. With Harvey Keitel, Keith Carradine, Albert Finney and Tom Conti. Winner of Best Debut Film, Cannes, 1977. Based on Joseph Conrad’s short story. Also available on VHS [304321]