I enjoyed watching the first half of this film, during the second I became incredibly bored. It was truly a chore to finish. Yes, the settings and costumes are amazing and the film looks spectacular, but the characters are awfully underdeveloped and the story is incredibly bland. Every time someone started talking I could fall asleep. Dialog scenes are very dull, and it turns out not even that important. There legit just there to set up the next duel. The first two duels are kinda cool, but there is so little happening in between the duel sequences that it makes you lose interest in the whole affair. You spend the movie literally waiting for the next duel to happen. And it isn't exactly riveting. It does not help that Harvey Keitel, the most charismatic actor, has very few lines. The story ends up being told form the point of view of Keith Carradine. He might be a good looking dude, but he is the most soporific protagonist.
It was only towards the end of the film, literally after the last duel, that the meaning of the film dawned on me. It turns out it was film about Napoleon, but told in an roundabout metaphoric kind of way. On paper I love that. Even though the film adopts a quite Anglo-British reading on the character, it's fine. The movie juxtaposes the duellists' confrontations with the ongoing Napoleonic campaigns. Each duel is set up at noteworthy places and you get to feel those wars from the inside so to speak. That is very cool.
The only issue is that the movie only works on that level, i.e. The metaphorical one; it only works if you see d'Hubert as an avatar of the Enlightment and Ferraud as Napoleonic ruthlessness. As such it completely neglects the immediate story of its actual characters. The film is permeated with delicate indirect meaning and subtle references (my favorite is in a quick shot in a crowed pub where we see Ferraud with the Legion of Honor pinned on his chest, exemplifying that he is the type of character that this type of regime would promote and celebrate). Yet, it is crucially devoid of direct meaning and outright significance. In other words, the plot makes no sense and these two guys have little reason to be duelling all the time.
It is very reminiscent of Barry Lyndon and you also get an effort of visual composition in this film. However, I would categorically rate Kubrick's film higher. Here it seems the vision is similar but the script is too weak to deliver a movie that stands on its own. I guess it is an entertaining film if you're a true Napoleon nerd. It is a slow film with a rather thin import, if you aren't an eager history buff then unfortunately there is not much to go on.
It was only towards the end of the film, literally after the last duel, that the meaning of the film dawned on me. It turns out it was film about Napoleon, but told in an roundabout metaphoric kind of way. On paper I love that. Even though the film adopts a quite Anglo-British reading on the character, it's fine. The movie juxtaposes the duellists' confrontations with the ongoing Napoleonic campaigns. Each duel is set up at noteworthy places and you get to feel those wars from the inside so to speak. That is very cool.
The only issue is that the movie only works on that level, i.e. The metaphorical one; it only works if you see d'Hubert as an avatar of the Enlightment and Ferraud as Napoleonic ruthlessness. As such it completely neglects the immediate story of its actual characters. The film is permeated with delicate indirect meaning and subtle references (my favorite is in a quick shot in a crowed pub where we see Ferraud with the Legion of Honor pinned on his chest, exemplifying that he is the type of character that this type of regime would promote and celebrate). Yet, it is crucially devoid of direct meaning and outright significance. In other words, the plot makes no sense and these two guys have little reason to be duelling all the time.
It is very reminiscent of Barry Lyndon and you also get an effort of visual composition in this film. However, I would categorically rate Kubrick's film higher. Here it seems the vision is similar but the script is too weak to deliver a movie that stands on its own. I guess it is an entertaining film if you're a true Napoleon nerd. It is a slow film with a rather thin import, if you aren't an eager history buff then unfortunately there is not much to go on.