Watch On Guard For Free

How sad is this?

In truth, any opportunity to see the film on the big screen is welcome.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

Le Bossu was a purchase I stumbled upon while looking at other films on Amazon. Reading the reviews there convinced me to give it a shot and, given my slight predilection to period pieces and a good sword fight, I was willing to take a chance. It is, without doubt, one of the best "impulse buys" I have ever made.The film, as others have mentioned is sharp, witty and paced to perfection. Without going too much into the plot (others have already done so) I wanted to add my 2 cents worth on what I consider some of the film's highlights.La Botte de Nevers (The Nevers Attack). Although, as pointed out in another comment, a fair fencer would likely have no problem countering this move, I would raise two points of note. First, the attack used in this film version is significantly more believable and cinematically enjoyable than other versions of the "Lagardere" story, or many other modern films with sword-play. Secondly, in the film it is pointed out that "confusing the opponent/deception" plays a crucial role in the success of the move. This suggests that it is the move's lack of conventionality that may be the source of its success against fencers all too accustomed to the, albeit skillful, established fencing patterns.The Louisiana stock-market manipulation. Having a background in business, I greatly enjoyed the style, verve and panache with which this subject was handled. It could so easily have become overly intricate, dull or a side-note to the story. Not so here, playing a central role to the latter stages of the film that maintains the overall pace and joyful exuberance of the rest of the film. It was a great pleasure to see the subject matter directed with such flair and sense of fun.The humour throughout. This film offers up a feast of wit, riposte and tongue-in-cheek, while maintaining it's focus as a swashbuckling adventure. This can be a tricky balancing act, but De Broca manages it with great skill.Daniel Auteuil. He is wonderful throughout, bringing a warmth, charm and, when necessary, seriousness to the role.I highly recommend this film to anyone who likes period films, swashbucklers or just a genuinely good time.

--Slight Spoilers-- "On Guard" is the fifth French cinematic adaptation of Paul Feval's novel "Le Bossu" (The Hunchback), which was first published in 1858. While seemingly unknown in the U.S., the book and its chief protagonist, Lagardere are well-known in France. In fact, Lagadere's challenge to the traitorous Count Gonzague--"If you won't come to Lagadere, Lagadere will come to you!"--is a French proverbial saying now and most of its citizens appear to have some working knowledge of the tale. I believe that the director's supposition of some foreknowledge of the story is what leads to some bewildering twists for viewers that lack that orientation. This film covers a lot of territory in its little more than two hour running time and moves at a very sprightly pace. Some things whoosh by in the narrative, while others are implied to have been discussed off-camera by the involved parties. The result, however, is that there appear to be plot holes in the story for the uninformed. Why didn't the Duke De Nevers send back assistance to aid Legardere? Why didn't the Duke inform his father-in-law that there had been attempts made on his life? Why didn't Lagadere and Aurore discuss the slaying of a swordsman in a duel and the implications that the act had for them both? And most pointedly, what is the explanation of Aurore's behavior upon discovering that she is Lagardere's ward, and not his daughter?Despite these criticisms, this is a good old fashioned revenge, reward, romance and restoration yarn. It received numerous nominations for film awards and deserved them. The acting is quite good, despite the aforementioned script problems, and Daniel Auteuil, Fabrice Luchini, Marie Gillian and Vincent Perez give lively performances. Auteuil, despite being too old to play either the younger or older versions of Lagardere almost makes you forget it. Vincent Perez as the slightly comedic, and foppish De Nevers, strikes the right tone for the tale. Luchini as the slightly mad and gleefully evil, Gonzague is a satisfying villain. Gillian as the tomboyish, guileless innocent that events revolve around, hits all of the right notes, even if we cannot fully discern the melody that she is playing. The sets, art direction and the costuming are all first rate.In the end, if you just relax and go with this story and resist trying to apply contemporary values to a story set in the 17th century, you are in for a pleasant ride. Sit back and enjoy. This is the best swashbuckler that I have seen in recent years. I only wish that the novel was available in an English translation to fill in the blanks. Incidentally, Feval's son found fame and notoriety by writing prequels and sequels to this yarn, crafted around the Lagardere character. Other swashbuckling tales that featured D'Artagnan and Cyrano De Bergereac as the protagonists were also written by the son. Alas, none of these tales are currently available in English translations.

The previous comment (about the ending) is valid, from a contemporary standpoint. However, there is such a history, both in literature and in real life in 1700 (and indeed later), of exactly this sort of situation (dancing around a spoiler here) that it didn't bother me... as of course it would have in a more realistic, less fairy-tale-ish movie.I just plain loved it, without the caveat, which is considerably more plausible than, e.g., one brilliant swordsman defeating eight or nine simultaneous attackers <g>.This movie falls somewhere between the Princess Bride and Rob Roy on the realism scale -- two other movies I loved. It has a definite fairy-tale feel to it... but for those like me who love fairy tales, that actually makes it more appealing.Dafydd ab Hugh

If you want to escape from the world Le Bossu is a brilliant holiday.The subtitles are badly done as usual - give us Literal Translations please - we are not idiots!The story is a great romping swashbuckler that would make Errol Flynn proud. Perez and Autiel are especially good but the man that steals it is Fabrice Lucini - his voice would give anyone a lesson in French and he is very funny and diabolical - he should be a massive star.This film rollocks along and just shows you don't need complex plots to have a great movie - once again Hollywood scriptwriters - read it and weep... The French and the British are the only ones that can truly do justice to this sort of film.