The Edge of the Blade

The Edge of the Blade (2023) is a French historical drama you can watch online on iFILM. Director Vincent Pérez — who also appears on screen — sets the story in 1887 Paris, where dueling was still a legally contested but socially expected way to settle matters of honor.

Clément Lacaze (Roschdy Zem) is a celebrated fencing master banned by the courts from taking part in duels. Marie-Rose Astié de Valsère (Doria Tillier) has a score to settle but no legal path to the field of honor — because she is a woman. Forced into an unlikely alliance, the two train each other in the art of the duel, and the arrangement grows into something neither expected.

What sets this period piece apart is that it uses the dueling code as a lens on gender inequality — and takes that angle seriously rather than treating it as backdrop. Stream The Edge of the Blade online on iFILM.