Le Bossu (alternate title On Guard ! )

Second Sight Films

R2 DVD

English subtitles

Usually French films of this type involve some variation on the classic Three Musketeers. This film stands on its own and, although similar in style to the Three Musketeers, is far better for its independence. Le Bossu translates to The Hunchback, who is a major character in the film.

The young swordsman Lagardere, brought up as an orphan in the Paris circus underworld, has had a demonstration swordfight with the dashing and skilled Duke of Nevers whom he has come to admire. The duke has a cousin, Gonzague, who is in line to inherit the Nevers fortune if the Duke dies. The Duke is shocked when a letter arrives from a young Countess advising him that they now have a baby. He is curious about what has happened to her other letters. Gonzague is also in love with the Countess and has intercepted the letters, being the Duke’s secretary. The Duke must die if Gonzague is now to inherit the Nevers fortune. He hires swordsmen to kill the Duke. One is Lagardere, who changes sides when he realises who the victim is. The Duke hires him as an escort and they set out to the Countess’s where the Duke will marry her and claim his son as his heir.

Along the way the two young men come to respect each other. The Duke appoints Lagardere as a Chevalier, a good rank for someone with no family background. They are being pursued by Gonzague’s men and are separated. Lagardere is late reaching the chateau. By this time the wedding is over. Gonzague’s men have killed the wedding guests and kidnapped the Countess. In the ensuing swordfight the Duke gets Lagardere to promise to bring up his son and take revenge. He is then killed by the assassins in spite of his sword skills. Lagardere is literally left holding the baby.

He manages to escape with the infant. He is surprised to find it is a girl, not a boy as expected. The killers are still after him as the baby is now the heiress to the Nevers fortune and that of its mother. The mother is being held in Paris by Gonzague, where she is kept isolated and believes her baby is dead. Gonzague spreads the rumour that Lagardere is the killer of the Countess’s family and the kidnapper of her baby. He is now a hunted outlaw.

Lagardere finds help with a group of travelling actors and players. With his childhood background he fits right in. They know who he is and help him raise the baby as his daughter. They also help him when tracked down by Gonzague’s men, setting up a ruse that makes it appear that both Lagardere and the baby are dead. Lagardere loves the girl as a father, and as she gets older, perhaps more than that.

We now move twenty years ahead. The daughter, Aurore, has grown into a beautiful young woman and it is time for Lagardere to take revenge and reunite her with her mother. She can prove her identity to her mother by her locket that she was wearing as a baby.

Lagardere enters Gonzague’s employment disguised as a hunchback accountant. He learns of Gonzague’s financial mismanagement and fraud on the Countess’s estate. It is time to set about freeing the Countess, reuniting her and her daughter, and ruining Gonzague financially. The odds against Lagardere are high. He thinks the rewards will be nothing and he will go back to being a nobody, even if he survives Gonzague’s killers. He has not reckoned on Aurore’s love for him and his own toughness.

Daniel Auteuil is brilliant as Lagardere and is well set off against Fabrice Luchini‘s evil Gonzague. It is hard to pick a fault in this film. The costumes are stunning, the swordfight action never ends, the plot is intelligent and there are enough humorous moments to lighten the tension when needed. It is a good film all round.

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