History Film / TheDuellists

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Adele receives a tarot reading from an old woman that describes her situation and future path with eerie accuracy.

* RealityEnsues: As per ShownTheirWork below, 19th Century duels were rarely, if ever, artistic and graceful affairs. Most of the duels we see are quick clumsy clashes that end with the first good hit. The one that isn't goes on so long that they both basically collapse from exhaustion, because that's what happens when you spend hours swinging cavalry sabers at each other.

Two French cavalry officers in UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte's Grande Armée have a disagreement. It can only be resolved, of course, with a duel. And another, and another, and another, as they meet half a dozen times over more than a decade. They duel with cavalry sabres, with smallswords, with pistols. Despite their failure to kill one another, the fiery Gabriel Féraud keeps challenging the cool, more rational Armand d'Hubert, long after Féraud has forgotten the original slight.

* ThemeTuneCameo: Jacquin plays the movie's theme on his flute at the end of a scene.

->''The duellist demands satisfaction. Honour, for him, is an appetite. This story is about an eccentric kind of hunger. It is a true story and begins in the year that Napoleon Bonaparte became ruler of France.''
-->-- '''Opening narration'''

* SoldierVsWarrior: A subtle theme of the film - Feraud is an arrogant, reputation-obsessed BloodKnight looking to escape boredom between battles via dueling, while d’Hubert is a calm professional who only accepts the challenges due to the [[ButThouMust expectations]] of the [[HonorBeforeReason period.]) d’Hubert also never forgets that, technically, he and Feraud are brothers-in-arms, so even his application of HonorBeforeReason in saving Feraud is more professional than personal.

* DoorSlamsYou: Feraud slams the door in front of d'Hubert when he tries to walk away from his challenge, not knowing (or likely caring) that his mistress gets hit by the door.

* RealityEnsues: As per ShownTheirWork below, 19th Century duels were rarely, if ever, artistic and graceful affairs. None of the duels we see are anything but quick clumsy clashes that end with the first good hit.

* RealityEnsues: As per ShownTheirWork below, 19th Century duels were rarely, if ever, artistic and graceful affairs. None of the duels we see are anything but quick clumsy clashes that end when the first blow lands.

* TarotTroubles: "The Two of Swords, reversed - strife without reason"

* BasedOnATrueStory: Conrad based his story on the real duels that two French Hussar officers fought in the Napoleonic era. Their names were Dupont and Fournier, whom Conrad disguised slightly, changing Dupont into D'Hubert and Fournier into Féraud.

* CavalryOfficer: Both main characters are such, D'Hubert being the quiet chivalrous type and Féraud being the hot-headed, hard-living cad.

* CoveredInScars: The fencing master D'Hubert trains with so he'll be better prepared for his third duel.

* BlingOfWar

* CavalryOfficer

* BackToBackBadasses: [[PlayingWithATrope Enforced and subverted]] when the fifth duel is interrupted by Cussacks amid the snowy forests of western Russia. d'Hubert and Feraud abandon their duel and use their pistols to kill and/or rout the Cussacks, creating one instance where they shoot the same enemy with opposite arms thereby spreading their backs against one-another. After they successfully route the Cussacks and agree to duel later, d'Hubert offers Feraud some liquor to celebrate their collaborative success, but Feraud almost completely ignores it.

* {{Flynning}}: Averted; see ImplausibleFencingPowers.

* SelfServingMemory: [[PlayingWithATrope Implied]]. After dueling each other for nearly 15 years, Feraud has long forgotten the original cause of his quarrel with d'Hubert (who hasn't), which was Feraud feeling insulted when d'Hubert arrested him for another duel while Feraud was enjoying the company of a female host at her salon. When he's reminded of this by d'Hubert through an intermediate, he actually rewrites his own memory to make d'Hubert an outspoken anti-Bonapartist.

* ShownTheirWork: As cavalry officers, d'Hubert and Feraud wear elaborate braided hair over where their sideburns would be. This was done back in the day to reduce the damage of sword blows to the head.

** Feraud's first duel against a mayor's nephew is considered over after Feraud stabs the man through the chest, drawing blood and humiliating him, but it's later said that he will survive.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/5149ZHCDVSL__SL500_AA300__9912.jpg]]

* BackToBackBadasses: [[PlayingWithATrope Enforced and subverted]] when the fifth duel is interrupted by Cussacks amid the snowy forests of western Russia. d'Hubert and Feraud abandon their duel and use their pistols to kill and/or route the Cussacks, creating one instance where they shoot the same enemy with opposite arms thereby spreading their backs against one-another. After they successfully route the Cussacks and agree to duel later, d'Hubert offers Feraud some liquor to celebrate their collaborative success, but Feraud almost completely ignores it.

* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''Film/BarryLyndon''. Scott stated on the DVDCommentary that he deliberately set out to mimic that film's lush cinematography. Gay Hamilton is in both films.

* BarehandedBladeBlock: And why it's a really, really bad idea.

* ImplausibleFencingPowers: Subverted. The duels are fairly realistic and often quite brief. {{Flynning}} is also avoided.

* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''Film/BarryLyndon''.

* TheDeterminator: Feraud turns down several opportunities to end the feud in a face-saving manner.

* NonIdleRich: Adele's uncle, the Chevalier became a bootmaker after the FrenchRevolution. Even after the monarchy was restored and he became an aristocrat again he still makes boots and offers to do so for d'Hubert when he first meets him.

Two French cavalry officers in Napoleon's Grande Armée have a disagreement. It can only be resolved, of course, with a duel. And another, and another, and another, as they meet half a dozen times over more than a decade. They duel with cavalry sabres, with smallswords, with pistols. Despite their failure to kill one another, the fiery Gabriel Féraud keeps challenging the cool, more rational Armand d'Hubert, long after Féraud has forgotten the original slight.

* FireForgedFriends: Averted; even fighting together against {{Cossacks}} during the frozen hell of Napoleon's retreat from Moscow isn't enough to make Feraud put aside his grievance.

** d'Hubert also has his honor to think about, which is why he keeps ''accepting'' the foolish challenges. But d'Hubert [[spoiler:also keeps Feraud - who sided with Napoleon - from imprisonment after Waterloo, becoming essentially the last person left who cares about Feraud's fate.]]