Name: Film Review: On Guard (Le Bossu, 1997)
Item: On Guard
Rating: 70
Author: @drax

(source: tmdb.org)

French director Philippe De Broca was one of those film makers who wore reputation of “old fashioned” as a badge of pride. At least that was the impression you might get if you compared his swashbuckling films with 1990s Hollywood products of the same genre. They might have belonged to a different time, but they looked refreshingly different compared with Hollywood attempts to make the same content “cool” and “hip”. One such example is 1997 film On Guard.

The film is based on Le Bossu (“The Hunchback”), 1858 novel by Pierre Fèval, popular book that was often compared with Dumas’ The Three Muskeeters and was previously adapted for screen numerous times. The plot begins around 1700 and deals with wealthy Duke of Nevers (played by Vincent Perez) spending all of his free time practising swordsmanship and developing “Nevers attack”, technique that made him invincible. In the meantime, Duke’s evil cousin Gonzague (played by Fabrice Lucchini) wants to inherit Nevers’ wealth and has taken great pains to hide the fact that Duke’s lover Blanche de Caylous (played by Claire Nebout) gave birth to illegitimate daughter. Duke nevertheless learns about it thanks to enterprising street urchin Lagardère (played by Daniel Auteuil) who, despite differences in social class, becomes his friend, pupil and saves Duke’s life from hired assassins. Duke travels with Lagardère to a remote mountain castle where he would marry Blanche, thus making the girl his legitimate heir. Unfortunately, castle is stormed by Gonzague’s men who massacre wedding party. Duke is also killed, but, before he dies, he asks Lagardère to take care of his daughter. Lagardere and the girl hide among troupe of traveling actors. Sixteen years later girl named Aurore (played by Marie Gillain) has grown up to a young woman who, like her biological father, shows great interest and talent for swordsmanship. She and Lagardère come to Paris where Gonzague has built a business empire with the money inherited by his murdered cousin. Lagardère, who has learned the acting craft, impersonates a hunchback in order to infiltrate Gonzague’s bank.

On Guard has anything a good period adventure film should have – exotic costumes and sets, picturesque locations, top action scenes and plenty of complex characters with intriguing plot. De Broca, who was making similar kind films in late 1950s and 1960s and worked with legendary Jean-Paul Belmondo as his main star, shows that he hasn’t lost his “mojo” in 1990s. Scenes of sword fights were directed superbly and De Broca even shows that he has learned a bit from his younger and more “hip” colleagues like John Woo. What is even more interesting is that those scenes feature old school style of swordsmanship that have been usually ignored by Hollywood in past decades. The acting is superb, although some critics complained about casting of Daniel Auteil, character actor until that time best known as King Henry of Navarre in Queen Margot. For some, he was too old to play a young man in the first time of the film and for others he wasn’t the best choice for action hero. Thankfully, when he has to impersonate hunchback in the second part, he uses opportunity to show some comic skills and generally improve impression about his performance. The rest of the cast is also very good, most notably Fabrice Luchini as psychopathic villain and Vincent Perez as an aristocrat who, despite his undoubted fencing skills, isn’t the particularly smart. Belgian actress Marie Gillain in the second part of the film delivers one of the most charming and impressive characters in 1990s French cinema. While De Broca conforms to some of the standards 1990s cinema with more explicit violence and scenes featuring homosexuality, the most problematic aspect, at least for certain segments of the audience, are going to be hints of incestuous feelings between protagonist and his adopted daughter. However, the biggest problem of On Guard is going to be over-melodramatic ending and unfortunately ineffective music score by Philippe Sarde. Fans of swashbuckling films are nevertheless going to appreciate this film as a very good example of genre that is becoming quite rare these days.

RATING: 7/10 (+++)