Armand d'Hubert Harvey Keitel as Gabriel Feraud Albert Finney as Joseph Fouché, Minister of Police Edward Fox as Colonel Perteley, a Bonapartist agent Cristina Raines as Adele, later d'Hubert's wife Robert Stephens as Brigadier-General Treillard Tom Conti as Dr Jacquin, an army surgeon and friend of d'Hubert John McEnery as Feraud's tall second in the final duel Arthur Dignam as d'Hubert's one-eyed second in the final duel Diana Quick as Laura, d'Hubert's mistress Alun Armstrong as Lieutenant Lecourbe, a friend of d'Hubert Maurice Colbourne as Feraud's second Gay Hamilton as Feraud's mistress Meg Wynn Owen as Leonie, d'Hubert's sister Jenny Runacre as Madame de Lionne, a lady in Strasbourg Alan Webb as the Chevalier du Rivarol, Adele's uncle Matthew Guinness as the Mayor of Strasbourg's nephew Dave Hill as Cuirassier William Hobbs as Swordsman W. Morgan Sheppard as the fencing master Liz Smith as the fortune teller Hugh Fraser as Officer Michael Irving as Officer Tony Matthews as Treillard's aide-de-camp Pete Postlethwaite as Treillard's orderly (this was his first feature film appearance) Stacy Keach as the Narrator (voice only) Production Development The Duellists would mark the feature film debut of Ridley Scott, who had previously made television commercials. Its visual style was influenced by Stanley Kubrick's historical drama Barry Lyndon (1975). In both films, duels play an essential role. In his commentary for the DVD release of the film, Scott comments that he was trying to emulate the lush cinematography of Kubrick's film, which approached the naturalistic paintings of the era depicted. Due to budgetary constraints, Scott decided to shoot the film in a series of tableaux to indicate chapters of the story. The film was made with advice from military historian Richard Holmes. Writing Scott initially hired Gerald Vaughan-Hughes to write a story about Guy Fawkes and the 1605 Gunpowder Plot, but when financing fell through, Vaughan-Hughes adapted the screenplay from the 1907 novella The Duel by British-Polish writer Joseph Conrad. The genesis of Conrad's story were the real duels during the Napoleonic era between two officers in France's Grande Armée, Pierre Dupont de l'Étang and François Fournier-Sarlovèze, who became D’Hubert and Feraud in The Duel. In The Encyclopedia of the Sword, Nick Evangelista wrote: The pair fought their first duel in 1794 from which Fournier-Sarlovèze - known as the “worst subject of the Grande Armée” - demanded a rematch. At least another 30 rematches then occurred over the