When I last fenced, (fairly recently), I noticed that people expected a feint as a matter of course. To the point where you could sometimes score a point by simply advancing into range and lunging. They stood there with a very bemused expression on their face.

More importantly, my take on things is that fencing is rather far from a real duel/swordfight at this stage and it's unreasonable to expect people to behave as if they are fighting in one. At the end of the day, no sword designed for offensive purposes was anywhere near as light as a foil and a lot of techniques would be impossible or inefective with a real sword. For another, what person would fight in a straight line if their life was at stake? No, if you want something more realistic join up with a good re-enactment crowd and find someone who'll sort of 'freestyle' (with blunt weapons obviously) rather than coreograph everything. I've known people who did that sort of stuff and it looked fairly taxing and realistic. They got the odd bruise but no real injuries either.