At the end of the 19th centurye In the 19th century, men in France could still challenge each other to a duel to save their honor. In A question of honourIn his fourth film behind the camera, actor and director Vincent Perez looks back on this era, which he says resonates with the world we live in.
A matter of honor therefore takes us to Paris in 1887. After Clément Lacaze (Roschdy Zem), a respected fencing master, witnesses a duel that cost the life of his nephew, he decides to avenge him by challenging the man who killed him killed (Vincent Perez) in a duel.
He also agrees to teach Marie-Rose Astié (Doria Tillier), a feminist ahead of her time, the art of dueling.
To write the script for the film – with the support of his partner Karine Silla – Vincent Perez relied in particular on a book entitled “The Art of the Duel” from 1886, which served as a reference for dualists of the time for “the smooth Process of a duel”.
According to his research, there was one duel per day in France at the time and one death in 35 fights. Half of those involved in these duels were journalists and authors who were accused of damaging the reputation of the person who challenged them to a duel.
“What interested me about the idea of revisiting this era is to see how it reflects what we are experiencing today,” explained the Swiss actor and director, who we met during a visit to Montreal last November had gotten to know.
“If a man chose to fight a duel, it was because he felt he had been humiliated. Today it reflects the responsibility to take responsibility for what we say, for example on social networks.
“But I don’t advocate duels. Above all, I plead for peace to show that violence leads to absurdity. At some point we turn in circles of violence. The only way to get out of this is to get out of there.”
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Vincent Perez initially had no plans to play a role in his film. It was his accomplice Karine Silla who convinced him to do so, highlighting his extensive experience with films in this genre (he starred in, among others, “Fanfan la Tulipe”, “The Hunchback” and “Cyrano de Bergerac”).
“Karine told me: You are making a film about a practice that you know by heart,” he says.
“It is true that for the films in which I have appeared I have had the opportunity to work with the greatest masters of arms and that as an actor I have had a total of around thirty duels in the cinema. So I gave myself a role [celui du méchant]. But I can tell you that it’s difficult to direct a movie set when you’re on a horse and have a sword in your hand!”
A matter of honor, seen since January 26th.