The Last Duel – movie review
Ridley Scott is rightly regarded as one of the most innovative filmmakers of the 1970s and ’80s. His groundbreaking work in films like Blade Runner, Alien and Thelma & Louise still stands up today. But since Gladiator (2000) his work has tended to the epic and slightly bombastic. His latest, The Last Duel, remains in that wheelhouse, though a clever and compelling script makes this a rather more palatable Scott outing.
The film is ostensibly about the last* legally sanctioned duel (also known as trial by combat) in France (in 1386). But the screenplay – by stars Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, and acclaimed indie filmmaker Nicole Holofcener – goes to more interesting places. It borrows fairly obviously from Kurosawa’s landmark Rashomon in that it presents the same basic plot from three different viewpoints. But it veers from the conventional to encompass a surprisingly intelligent examination of entrenched misogyny. As such, its message is far more relevant to modern life than a tale of medieval knights might seem.
The early scenes reveal that the duel of the title saw Jean de Carrouges (Matt Damon) face Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver) on a wintry day in Paris during December 1386. The film then breaks into three chapters. The first chapter (told from de Carrouges’ perspective) outlines the history between the two men. Their relationship starts off as brothers-in-arms, but soon descends into acrimony. The urbane and educated Le Gris wins the favour of the local overlord in Normandy, Count Pierre (Ben Affleck), a cousin of King Charles VI (Alex Lawther).
But Pierre doesn’t much like de Carrouges, who he considers stodgy and uncouth (though, to be fair, not without justification). De Carrouges enters into an arranged marriage with Marguerite (Jodie Comer), the daughter of a wealthy merchant. But a piece of land de Carrouges considers part of the dowry ends up being gifted to Le Gris by Pierre instead. Things escalate when Pierre announces that a title held by de Carrouges’ father won’t pass to him but will instead go to Le Gris. Lawsuits and acrimony ensue. But when Marguerite tells de Carrouges that Le Gris raped her, there will be no going back. De Carrouges demands Le Gris face justice, but Pierre represents justice in Normandy and tries to sweep the whole thing under the carpet. At Marguerite’s urging, de Carrouges takes his case to the king.
As noted, the film is told in three chapters, titled “The truth according to Jean de Carrouges”; “The truth according to Jacques Le Gris”; and “The truth according to Marguerite de Carrouges”. When the title for the final chapter (Marguerite’s) chapter appears, the words “The truth” linger as it fades.
The film’s analysis of institutional misogyny is surprisingly effective and actually pretty nuanced. Between the two men, neither is painted as a caricatured villain. Equally the female characters are given depth and agency by the script.
Although The Last Duel is nearly two and a half hours long, I never felt it dragging. Clearly a director of Scott’s stature knows how to keep things moving. But he makes some odd directorial choices – the least of which is Matt Damon’s outrageous mullet! For example, although all the dialogue is in English, a character inexplicably sings in French. Not to mention the peppering of modern idioms (“That’s just science!”). Still this is a powerful film in many ways. But be aware it’s also incredibly violent. In fact it has three of the most viscerally violent scenes I’ve seen this year.
If you’ve seen any of Scott’s other recent films, you’ll know he favours a more-is-more approach to his actors. Everything has to be delivered in broad strokes, with little room for subtlety. The Last Duel mostly follows that pattern. Matt Damon (Ford v Ferrari) is both figuratively and literally stolid as the tightly-wound de Carrouges. Ben Affleck (The Way Back) sadly doesn’t have a mustache to twirl as the haughty Pierre, but still hams it up in the rather minor role. Adam Driver (Marriage Story) fares rather better as Le Gris. He turns on the charm as the roguish social climber, and handles the action sequences with some style. Harriet Walter (Rocketman) has some nice moments as de Carrouges’ meddlesome mother. But Jodie Comer (Free Guy) walks away with the film in an astonishing performance. She outshines the major Hollywood stars with just a turn of the head, or the flash of a look.
The Last Duel works better than it should. The idea of bolting modern feminist themes onto a “ye olde” tale of duelling knights seems faintly bizarre. Yet somehow the film works as both a rivetting story and as social commentary. And while Scott gets a bit heavy-handed at times, this is certainly worth seeking out as cinemas re-open.
* Although the duel between de Carrouges and Le Gris is sometimes cited as the last official duel in France, the actual last one was more than 150 years later in 1547 between Guy Chabot de Jarnac and François de Vivonne.
David Edwards
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David Edwards is the editor of The Blurb and a contributor on film and television