Duel of swords
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Duel of swords |
| Original title | Le Bossu |
| Country of production | France , Italy , Germany |
| original language | French , Italian |
| Publishing year | 1997 |
| length | 128 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Philippe de Broca |
| script | Philippe de Broca, Jean Cosmos , Jérôme Tonnerre |
| production |
Patrick Godeau , Rita Rusic , Vittorio Cecchi Gori |
| music | Philippe Sarde |
| camera | Jean-François Robin |
| cut | Henri Lanoë |
| occupation | |
| |
Duell der Degen (Original title: Le Bossu ) is a French - Italian - German coat-and-sword film by Philippe de Broca from 1997. The novel Der Bucklige (1857) by Paul Féval served as a literary model .
action
The Parisian fencing master Lagardère is introduced to the Duke de Nevers. In the fencing school they spontaneously carry out a duel in which Nevers emerges as the winner. In exchange with a letter to Nevers, Lagardère demands a second duel as revenge. Nevers initially rejects him. However, when he learns that the letter is from his former lover Blanche de Caylus, he asks Lagardère to read it to him. It turns out that Blanche had previously written numerous letters to Nevers. However, he had not received a single one and believed that Blanche had forgotten him. Blanche has since given birth to his child. To prevent Blanche's father from sending her to a convent, Nevers decides to travel to Caylus and marry Blanche. Nevers 'cousin and previous heir, Gonzague, who had always intercepted Blanche's letters, wants to prevent a marriage and thus remain the heir to Nevers' fortune. Through his hunchbacked servant Escope and his cold-blooded henchman Peyrolles, he instructs Lagardère to kill Nevers. When Lagardère ambushes Nevers with other men, Nevers can defeat his opponents. Nevers spares Lagardère, however, and hires him as escort for his trip to Caylus.
On the way, the two men become friends and Nevers gives Lagardère the title of Chevalier. While Nevers is teaching Lagardère a fencing trick, in which he cleverly takes his opponent by surprise and then sticks the tip of his sword between the eyes, Gonzague and his men are already on the trail. Nevers and Lagardère finally make it to Caylus, and Blanche and Nevers happily say yes. When the couple withdraw to their private chambers, Gonzague has the entire wedding party killed by his men. When Nevers discovers the carnage, he tries to flee with Blanche and their child. Lagardère rushes to his aid, but cannot prevent Gonzague Nevers from mortally wounding Nevers with a dagger in the ensuing battle. Believing that Blanche was already dead, Nevers asked Lagardère to take care of his child. Lagardère is able to flee over the snowy mountains with the child, a girl named Aurore, and finds shelter on an abandoned farm.
One day an Italian theater company came by and asked to be allowed to spend the night on the farm. The next morning, when Lagardère discovers Gonzague's men approaching the farm, he joins the theater people. To make the persecutors believe that Lagardère and the child had perished, the Italians throw two dolls into a river and give Gonzague one of the dolls in a children's coffin. Back in Paris, Gonzague has the coffin put in a crypt. Blanche, who is still alive, falls into deep grief over the death of her child. Little does she know that Gonzague, who has long wanted her, is behind the murders.
Aurore grew into a young woman under Lagardère's care over the following years. Together they travel around with the theater people and appear on stage with them. After a performance in Paris, Aurore is invited to a company by a nobleman. Marcello, with whom she grew up, accompanies her. In the frivolous society, however, there is a scandal. To protect Marcello from the aristocratic attacks, Aurore stabs him between the eyes with a sword, just as Lagardère taught her. When Gonzague learns of this, he realizes that Lagardère and Nevers' daughter are still alive. Meanwhile, Lagardère confesses to Aurore that he is not her father and she is the daughter of a duke. For her part, Aurore admits she fell in love with him and is hurt when Lagardère turns her away. Gonzague is looking for a new secretary. To get revenge on his friend's killer, Lagardère disguises himself as a hunchbacked man and gets the job. In this way, he gains access to Blanche's room and tells her that her daughter is still alive.
On behalf of Gonzague, Lagardère is to ensure that the shares of the Mississippi Company lose value and that Gonzague can then acquire them for a ridiculous price. Lagardère, however, buys the shares with Blanche's fortune and has them kept for Aurore in a monastery. Meanwhile, Aurore is captured by Gonzague's men and is scheduled to be shipped to Louisiana . Lagardère, however, is able to free her and flee with her. At a ball hosted by Philippe d'Orléans, Lagardère Gonzagues exposed shady business practices and introduced Aurore to court society as the daughter of the Duke de Nevers. Blanche happily embraces her daughter. Lagardère, disguised as a hunchback, reveals his true colors and challenges Gonzague to a duel. Aware of his inferiority, Gonzague attacks Aurore with a knife and tries to leave the ball with her as a shield. In front of the palace gates, however, the angry citizens who have been robbed of their shares are raging. Lagardère is able to catch him and kills him with a sword stab between the eyes. Lagardère, who has now realized that he genuinely loves Aurore, finally lets her kiss him.
background
The shooting took place in Le Mans , Paris and Queyras as well as in front of Le Plessis-Bourré Palace. In Queyras, the castle of the same name served as the wedding venue. In Paris, the film was shot on the Place des Vosges in front of and in the Hôtel de Sully . The budget was the equivalent of 21.7 million euros. Bernard Vézat was responsible for the production design, the costumes were designed by Christian Gasc .
Duel der Degen was premiered on December 3, 1997 in France, where 2.3 million viewers saw the film in cinemas. In 2003, a television film adaptation of the material was made under the title Lagardère - The Masked Avenger .
Reviews
For the lexicon of international film , Duell der Degen was a "[a] elaborately equipped coat-and-sword film [...] that offers great entertainment but also a bit of disappointment". Among other things, “main actor Daniel Auteuil, who always offers a good performance as a character actor, is not completely convincing as a body-hugging action hero [...]”. "The brisk costume adventure with Daniel Auteuil is a feast for the eyes," said Cinema . In short, it is a "[t] oll occupied, colorful sword fairy tale".
Awards
Vincent Perez received the Best Actor Award at the Festival du film de Cabourg in 1998. At the César award ceremony in 1998 , Christian Gasc was honored in the Best Costumes category. There were eight other nominations for the César in the categories of Best Film , Best Actor (Daniel Auteuil), Best Actress (Marie Gillain), Best Supporting Actor (Vincent Perez), Best Cinematography , Best Editing , Best Film Music and Best Production Design (Bernard Vézat) . In 1999 the film was nominated for the BAFTA Award as Best Foreign Language Film .
German version
The German dubbed version was created at PPA Film in Munich based on the dialogue book and directed by Pierre Peters-Arnolds .
| role | actor | Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Lagardère | Daniel Auteuil | Gudo Hoegel |
| Duke de Nevers | Vincent Perez | Axel Malzacher |
| Aurore | Marie Gillain | Stefanie von Lerchenfeld |
| Peyrolles | Yann Collette | Ekkehardt Belle |
| Passepoil | Didier Pain | Michael Rüth |
| Blanche | Claire Nebout | Susanne von Medvey |
| Philippe d'Orléans | Philippe Noiret | Lambert Hamel |
| Paolo | Renato Scarpa | Michael Habeck |
| Mail rider | François Levantal | Kai Taschner |
Web links
- Duel of the swords in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Duel of the sword at rotten tomatoes (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b cf. jpbox-office.com
- ↑ Duel of the sword. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed February 19, 2020 .
- ↑ cf. cinema.de
- ↑ Duel of the sword. In: synchronkartei.de. German dubbing file , accessed on February 24, 2020 .