Shot sequence for The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan (2023)
Directed by Martin Bourboulon
Year : 2023
Director: Martin Bourboulon
Countries: France / Germany / Spain / Belgium
Director of Photography: Nicolas Bolduc (CSC - Quebecois Director of Photography)
Choreographer / Stunt Coordinator: Dominique Fouassier
Set design: Stéphane Taillasson
Costumes: Thierry Delettre (AFCCA)
Editing: Célia Laffitedupont
Music: Guillaume Roussel
Camera: ARRI Alexa Mini LF (for action scenes) / ARRI Alexa LF (4.5K, main base)
Lenses: Panavision C Series (anamorphic, 1960s - fewer than 10 examples worldwide), custom-adapted to the Alexa LF sensor
Filters: Chocolate 1 (interior) and Chocolate 2 (exterior) permanently applied throughout the shoot
Format: 2.39:1
Filming time for the scene: 5 days (2 days for the dialogue, 3 days for the fight)
Filming period: summer 2021 (the forest scene)
Filming location: pine forest (called "Bois Saint-Sulpice" in the film), France
Stunts: performed by the actors themselves, without stunt doubles
Budget (diptych): 72 million euros (9 months of preparation, 8 months of filming, 300 people)
Stated influences: The Revenant (Iñárritu), Queen Margot (Chéreau, 1994), The Duellists (Ridley Scott, 1977), Elephant (Gus Van Sant, 2003), Indiana Jones
A pine forest. Late autumn. Sunlight filters through the trunks, no green leaves to block it, just needles and dry earth. D'Artagnan (François Civil) arrives at the rendezvous he arranged with three musketeers he had the folly to challenge to a duel that same day: Athos (Vincent Cassel), Porthos (Pio Marmaï), and Aramis (Romain Duris). Before their swords can clash, the cardinal's guards appear. The four men instantly join forces. And the camera plunges. For several minutes, it swirls between the combatants, skimming the ground between boots and swords, rising in a low-angle shot along a blade, circling a tree trunk to reveal a charging guard, darting from D'Artagnan to Athos, from Athos to Porthos, from Porthos to Aramis without ever cutting. The viewer is not among the spectators. He is the fifth man in the forest, dodging blows with them, breathing in dust and smoke with them.
Why this scene is iconic
This is the birth scene of the four musketeers, the exact moment when four strangers become a team. Bourboulon chose the long take for a specific reason: "I wanted us to always be in contact with the characters, to always experience the action scenes from their point of view, always with maximum immersion. I wanted the viewer to be guided more by the emotions and reactions of the characters than by the action itself."
The result is a shot unlike any other swashbuckling film. Forget the polished panache of previous adaptations. Here, there's sweat, grime, and blood. Le Devoir's critic described the sequence as "a furious long take, filled with plunges into the action, moments of stunned silence, and daring rebounds." Abus de Ciné noted that "the camera whirls, regularly skimming the ground, never shies away from a low angle, and moves through obstacles like an agile man, giving the viewer the feeling of being one of the combatants, dodging blows themselves." The aesthetic has been compared to Chéreau's La Reine Margot (1994) for its physical brutality, to Iñárritu for its immersive long takes, and to Greengrass for the camera's frenetic energy.
And the detail that changes everything: the actors do all their own stunts. No stunt doubles. Civil, Cassel, Duris, and Marmaï actually fight in front of the camera. That's what makes the long take believable when the camera circles a fighter and reveals their face; it's not a stuntman they're trying to hide. It's Vincent Cassel striking a guard with a sword.
How they filmed it
Nicolas Bolduc described the setup in a technical interview for AFC Cinema. The basic configuration for action scenes: an ARRI Alexa Mini LF equipped with a 50mm Panavision C-Series lens. These lenses are legendary; they date back to the 1960s, fewer than ten exist in the world, and when you want one for a project, you have to submit a formal request to Panavision, explaining which film you're going to make and who's in it. Bolduc said, "It's not the cinematographer who chooses the C-Series. It chooses you." Patrick Leplat of Panavision France confirmed that they only offer one in France unless James Bond or other American blockbusters reserve them.
Bolduc had the lenses specifically adapted to the Alexa LF sensor, a bespoke modification. The result: a "sharp yet paradoxically soft" image, with the characteristic imperfections of vintage lenses (subtle distortions, organic aberrations) that give the image its "patina." The film's brown, sepia-chocolate visual atmosphere, "dusty and a little dirty" according to Bourboulon, comes from this combination: the C Series lenses plus the Chocolate 1 (interior) and 2 (exterior) filters that Bolduc used continuously throughout the shoot.
The forest scene was filmed over five days during the summer of 2021 in a pine forest specifically chosen for its light: the leafless trunks allowed sunlight to filter through, creating warm autumnal tones and a controllable natural light effect. The first two days covered the dialogue and confrontation between D'Artagnan and the three musketeers. The remaining three days were dedicated to the fight against the cardinal's guards.
Bolduc revealed a key detail: "In this scene, I think you can really feel the influence of the Western that Martin told me about during the film's preparation." The musketeers' costumes were deliberately chosen to depart from the famous blue tunics of classic adaptations, a choice made by costume designer Thierry Delettre, planned in advance with Bolduc to ensure that the photography and costumes formed a coherent whole.
The choreography was designed by Dominique Fouassier and his team of stunt performers, in direct collaboration with the actors. The process, as described by Bourboulon: "Once the foundations were solid, it was time to work on the choreography for the long takes with Dominique Fouassier and his stunt team." The fact that the actors performed their own stunts simplified the editing: no need for face replacement (as in Kingsman), no need to mask actor/double transitions.
Bourboulon and Bolduc deliberately wanted to "dirty" the image at all times: dust, smoke, patina—"all these techniques help us accept the particular nature of a period film." The image is intentionally imperfect, running counter to the digital perfection of contemporary blockbusters. This is a philosophical decision as much as a technical one: the long take works best when the image is raw, because the visual brutality reinforces the illusion of reality created by the continuous shot.
What to observe when reviewing it
The light filtering through the pines (the entire shot): Bolduc chose a pine forest with sparse foliage so that the sun would shine through the trunks. Look at the streaks of light that sweep across the fighters as the camera pans; this isn't cinematic lighting. It's real sunlight filtered through the trees, captured by 1960s lenses.
The actors' faces (~each camera rotation) When the camera circles a musketeer in the middle of a fight, look: it's his face, not a stuntman's. Civil, Cassel, Duris, and Marmaï do everything themselves. That's why the shot works; no substitution to mask, no hidden cut needed to switch bodies.
The duel-to-alliance transition (the beginning of the fight): The exact moment when D'Artagnan stops fighting against the musketeers and starts fighting alongside them. The camera doesn't mark this change with a cut or slow motion. It keeps rolling, and you read the shift in their body language. It's the birth of the four musketeers, and the continuous shot makes it feel organic rather than theatrical.
Did you know that?
Martin Bourboulon and Dimitri Rassam rewatched Iñárritu's The Revenant during pre-production; it's one of their stated influences, alongside La Reine Margot (Chéreau), The Duellists (Ridley Scott), and, more surprisingly, Gus Van Sant's Elephant (2003), known for its long, silent tracking shots through the corridors of a high school. Van Sant's influence is evident in the film's interior sequence shots, particularly Queen Anne of Austria's candlelit walk through the Louvre, described by Light ZOOM Lumière as "a magical tracking shot."
This forest shot is the first French fight sequence in this collection, and it deserves its place. It shares with The Revenant the natural light, the gritty "patina," and the influence of the Western. It shares with Creed the physical authenticity of the actors who do everything themselves. And it shares with Oldboy the geography of a fight in a confined space (the pine forest, like the corridor, like the ring, forces the fighters to cross paths and the camera to pivot). But it brings something unique: it's a birth sequence, the exact moment when rivals become allies, filmed continuously so that the viewer feels this transformation in their own body.
The film was shot over eight months (August 2021 – June 2022) on location across France, including the Île-de-France, Brittany, Hauts-de-France, Normandy, Burgundy, and Grand Est regions. With a budget of €72 million for both films (D'Artagnan and Milady), it is the biggest French production of the decade and proof that French cinema can compete with American franchises in the realm of long-take action sequences.
Sources
Nicolas Bolduc (CSC), AFC Cinema interview - "Nicolas Bolduc looks back on the filming of The Three Musketeers" (August 2024)
Patrick Leplat (Panavision France) - AFC Cinema, on C-Series lenses (2024)
Martin Bourboulon - Allociné, behind-the-scenes secrets (2023)
Martin Bourboulon - interview with Le Devoir (April 2023)
Cinema Abuse - Technical Review of The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan (April 2023)
L'Acadie Nouvelle - "The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan: magnificent!" (May 2023)
Light ZOOM Lumière - "The Three Musketeers, D'Artagnan, light of the final film" (December 2024)
The World of Djayesse - review (April 2023)
HDNumérique - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray test (2023)
KinoCulture Montréal - review (April 2023)
Wikipedia - The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan
Also read:
Athena (2022) - https://www.plan-sequences.com/categories-de-plans-sequences/athena - The other great combat sequence shot in contemporary French cinema, even more radical: a 10-minute opening without any cuts in a burning city
Choreographing an action scene in a single take https://www.plan-sequences.com/blog-plan-sequences/chorgraphier-une-scne-daction-en-plan-squence-le-guide-complet - 5 days of filming, actors without stunt doubles, 10 different lenses: how Bourboulon prepared this forest battle plan
