Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Sanjeev Waters A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Konstantin Belyakov "The Duelist" turned out unexpectedly engaging to me. Dark, bloody, yet beautiful. The dark side of honor and the dark side of beauty. Not historically accurate, yet very, very immersive. Most technical details are plain false. But that aura of Russian Grand Society feels so much true, so natural!The best definition I could find for this movie is "Noir, transferred into the XIX-th century, Saint-Petersburg, Russia". There's much in common, really. Blood, death, wounds, tortures, nudity... plenty of this. As well as desperation, infamy, cruelty, scheming, femme fatale. Everything you can find in a typical noir. Only the place would be the capital of Russian Empire. Vast palaces, dirty streets, crowded soirees, the shade of the Royal Family, officers, nobles... and the duels!A rare gem of late Russian cinema, really. Truly underrated.

michaelnovi This was one of the best period movies I have seen in quite a long time, if you are interested in Russian Culture or have been to St. Petersburg, speak Russian and German you may even like it more. I thought the movie was riveting, suspenseful, and engrossing. I found it hard to take my eyes off the screen, and will watch it again with my wife. The sets, costumes, locations, were as good as it gets. A must see for a foreign film.

maenad-3 As a Russophile, I have seen several excellent films made in that great land, including "Andrei Rublev," "Alexander Nevsky," "Ivan the Terrible," "Sadko," "Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears," "Burnt by the Sun." It seemed that "The Duellist" would be a respectable historical drama.I had read that in preparation Mizgirev had studied Ridley Scott's The Duellists (1977), a film that I admire. The story per se was intriguing, focusing on the nefarious and deadly career of a mercenary duellist at a time when such affaires d'honneur were quite frequent. The background of this mysterious and quasi occult character piqued my curiosity. Was he really a nobleman? Why was he found half dead by some natives who appeared to be Inuits? Who was paying the salary for the killings? Little by little, the facts emerged. However, they did so in a very scatterbrained manner. We find out about the flashback to the Aleutians in a later flashback which goes back further. We are never sure about his identity as he keeps telling different stories. Sadly, I was confused throughout the film and not very happy when some information was revealed because I could not be sure whether it was the truth or not. I still do not know why Count Beklemishev hated him so nor do I know why the particular victims were targetted. To add to the confusing morass of mystery after mystery, the sets were dismal to say the least, with a superabundance of concrete which reminded me of bunkers in some dystopia. The costumes were also lacking in brilliance. All in all, the atmosphere was rather dingy and sparse. I understand that this film emulates the 19th century genre of the city mysteries, as exemplified by Les Vrais Mystères de Paris (1844) by Eugène François Vidocq, a criminal who became a renowned criminologist. It is this dingy, rank and convoluted ambiance that Alex Mizgirev successfully transfers to his opus. It could have been a great film if not for the plot gaps and shabby sets.

utkonos9 Saw it at TIFF 2016. The sets and costumes are great and the story is engrossing, but be warned that this film is *extremely* violent in places. "Onegin" this is not!Also, when they are speaking German, there is a Soviet-style voice-over instead of subtitles, so you can't actually hear what the actors are saying.Overall, it was a very interesting experience!I recommend seeing it if you are at all interested in Russian culture, but sadly this film is likely to be too lowbrow to meet the approval of the art-house crowd.