On Guard

France at the start of the eighteenth century. Lagardère, a master swordsman, serves the Duke of Nevers. The duke is killed, leaving a newborn daughter, and his cousin Gonzague, who wants the inheritance, takes everything. Lagardère escapes with the baby. Sixteen years later he returns with his daughter Aurore and faces Gonzague under another identity so as not to be recognised. Philippe de Broca directs. Daniel Auteuil plays Lagardère, Fabrice Luchini plays Gonzague, Marie Gillain plays Aurore and Vincent Perez is in the cast. The source is Paul Féval's nineteenth century novel Le Bossu. The genre is the swashbuckler, which had not been made in France for a long time; the film was seen as an attempt to revive it. De Broca's known tone is here: fast, witty, and refusing to take the violence seriously. Cartouche is also his. Fabrice Luchini's Gonzague is the best thing in it; the villain is not coarse but courteous and talkative. The swordplay is at large scale and carefully choreographed; Auteuil trained for it. The emotional centre is the relationship between father and daughter and Lagardère's inability to tell Aurore the truth. It did well commercially in France and was nominated at the Césars. Who it is for: viewers who like classical swashbucklers and French period film. Who it is not for: the plot is conventional, it runs long, and the female character stays at the edge.