The Last Duel [REVIEW]

One of my favorite kinds of films is the “Historical Epic” – specifically those that are set in medieval times. Such films however have somewhat gone out of style for reasons I have discussed in one of my other articles. This is why I have been very interested in The Last Duel.

Summary

Based on the book by Eric Jager, The Last Duel follows a true story set in the year 1387. The premise follows a Knight Jean de Carruges (Matt Damon) whose wife Marguerite accused his former squire and friend Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver) of raping her. His legal claim is an uphill battle as, Jacques is now a close confidant of Count Pierre (Ben Affleck) and a woman’s testimony was not considered enough back in medieval times, Jean decides to challenge Jacques into a duel, believing that God would back the victor if the testimony was true. This duel has a high stakes duel as should Jean lose, his wife would be immediately burned alive for perjury. So this is a high-stakes battle not between two men, but what’s true and what’s to be believed.

Note: Trial by Combat is not a Game of Thrones invention – they really did that back in the day.

Excitement

This was a movie I was particularly keen on seeing this year as there hasn’t been a theatrical release for this kind of film in a long time. This was a passion project for Good Will Hunting’s Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, who reunited to write and produce this film- with none other than Ridley Scott sitting in the director’s chair. 

I’ve written extensively that historical epics such as this have largely gone out of style with Hollywood focusing more on superheroes and cinematic universes these days. So you can imagine how surprised such a movie returning to the big screen. Originally set to release in December 2020, production was halfway through before the COVID-19 pandemic struck. For several months filming was halted until new measures were firmly established for the cast and crew to work safely. Eventually, despite all the challenges that were faced in 2020, production wrapped up in October last year.

Concerns

Despite my excitement, I was weighed down by a large amount of skepticism. Yes, Ridley Scott has given us Gladiator, but he’s also given us a number of bad films like The Counselor and Prometheus… so he’s pretty hit and miss. Even some of Scott’s more recent films that have tried to emulate Gladiator wind up flopping like 2010’s Robin Hood and most recently Exodus. There was also a concern for the casting as well. I understand that this was a passion project of Damon and Affleck – but that doesn’t mean I wanted them to be in the film. It’s not that they are terrible actors, I just don’t imagine these distinctly American guys playing nobility in feudal France. A guy like Matt Damon might stick out like a sore thumb in this setting.

Viewing Impressions

So you can imagine I had a lot of mixed thoughts going into this movie, what did I think? Well, for the first time In a long time I can say this: Ridley, you did it again. It’s not a perfect movie by any means, But this was a film I was genuinely invested in all the way through.

Structure

The Last Duel is a very different film compared to Ridley Scott’s previous works. Instead of going linear, the movie opens with the titular duel. Then just as Damon and Driver collide, the film splits into 3 chapters. In each chapter Jean, Jacques, and Marguerite give us a different point of view in the story. We see their daily lives and what event transpired in their mind leading up to the duel. This storytelling device is known as a “Rashomon effect” after the 1950 Kurosawa film with a similar narrative.

Sometimes the film would replay the exact same scene – but subtle shots, details, and even character dialogue is slightly altered to give us an idea that we were watching different narratives. In one scene like in the scene where Marguerite confesses to her husband what happened in Jean’s chapter, he reacts somewhat sizzled but restrained – then in Marguerite’s chapter, he’s so enraged he almost strangles her. Dichotomies like this creating a complete tonal shift when it comes to their perspectives, as well as multi-dimensional character development as each character’s arc evolves in the other’s narrative.

Other details were more subtle like one scene where Jacques looks at Marguerite, he believes she’s looking back at him glaringly when in fact she was counseling her husband about reconciling relations while she just happens to be looking at him. In another scene, Marguerite is pursued by Jacques; she takes off her shoes to go upstairs almost like she’s luring him – when in her chapter they fell off meaning she was desperate to run away. Little details like that make these films a more engaging experience because they depict the mindset of these characters who remember these events differently. Only Marguerite’s chapter was listed as “the truth”. The Last Duel’s greatest strength was that it subverts the tropes seen in similar films, there’s really no good “guys” in this movie.

Character Performances

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Jean

As I’ve said I was wary of seeing Matt Damon in a medieval-style setting, that said I felt Damon did a pretty good job in the role. I like that the character Jean de Carrouge is not an idealistic good guy, he’s just an aging knight trying to acquire land to settle on by taking in a new wife, only to feel robbed by his former friend Jacques because of his connections with Count Pierre. In Marguerite’s chapter, we also see he’s a pretty sexist patriarch as well, with half of his dialogue is just about him producing children in that hyper-masculine kind of way. So when you think about it, half of his fight was really about protecting his masculinity and not so much avenging his love. You know what, I haven’t seen that. I like that detail because it makes him a more 3dimenssinal character than the same stock morally righteous male leads in other films. That said, while I thought Damon was good overall, I still felt this role needed a different actor, personally I think Michael Fassbender would’ve been perfect.

Another thing I got to mention is neither Damon nor Affleck ever seem to try to sound British like other such films. The majority of the time they use their normal voices with a bit of a slight dialect. Normally I’d frown at this, but I’m willing to give them a pass since this was set in feudal France, not England. In fact, whenever I see American period dramas set in France they always have American actors sound like themselves, they did the same with The 3 Musketeers movies. Heck, in 2008’s Valkyrie all the actors never sounded German and I enjoyed it. All things considered, I’d much rather have them speak in their normal voices (if they sound elegant) than speak in cartoonish British or French accents. Also to their credit, much of the dialogue in this film sounds like they belong in that time period – so It’s not American to the point where it’s distracting.

Speaking of Ben Affleck, while he plays a smaller role, his character Count Pierre is probably the most entertaining part of the movie. I wouldn’t say Affleck disappeared into the role so much as consuming it. Pierre was almost like Count Olaf if he ran a frat house – eccentric and aloof, It’s no wonder he takes a liking to reward like-minded squires like Jacques. This is not the kind of character I’m used to seeing Affleck play, not that I’m complaining. For a movie that has a very serious heavy tone, Count Pierre added some much-needed levity to this film.

Jacques

As for Adam Driver’s character Jacques de Gris, this was the one casting I was most excited to see. Adam Driver is one of those few American actors that completely fits into these kinds of roles as he has that face and voice of a medieval European-type character. He also gives a very strong performance, playing a character that is possessive, in a mentally sick kind of manner. Being somewhat fostered in Count Pierre’s castle Where orgies were somewhat of a nightly routine, Jacques has developed a misshapen view when it comes to sexual consent. The disturbing part of this is that Jacques in his mind he probably did love Marguerite and even when we see his truth he’s clearly was raping her, but believes he did no wrong. He’s a rapist who doesn’t think he’s a bad guy and that makes him a legitimately scary character. 

Marguerite

For the character of Marguerite, I was glad to see Jodie Comer in this role. I’ve seen her acting before in the White Princess miniseries (terrible show). However even when she’s given a bad script, Comer can still deliver a commanding performance, something I hoped would bear fruit in another film. Thankfully this was that other film and Comer did not disappoint. 

Marguerite’s chapter was the hardest to watch as she wasn’t just a generic female support character, she’s very much a strong-willed good-hearted person who always took charge of her husband’s estate, working to make conditions better for their servants and even horses. She makes friends with other ladies at court where they do talk about cute boys (which comes back to haunt her later). This makes Marguerite’s rape (which is even more horrific in her chapter) more tragic as this stuff can and does happen to strong capable women, and Jodie Comer really sells it.

What makes it even more heartbreaking is when she speaks out there’s virtually no support. even her husband is fighting just to protect his own image and vanity. No doubt there’s victim-blaming perpetuated in this world which is sadly a product of the instilled religious mindsets At that time. This was a very male-dominated world and I appreciate that this film took the time to show what Marguerite’s world is like being trapped in it. There are calls online for Jodie Comer to be given an Oscar nomination and on that mark, I agree.

Themes

The Last Duel is essentially a #MeToo movie, as even the filmmakers acknowledge that this is a feminist film. I’m often wary of period dramas when they feel the need to emulate modern social issues as they often pander to modern audiences in the form of out-of-place dialogue, poetic speeches, or one-dimensional archetypes. However, this is a premise where this sort of theme is appropriate, given both the time period on screen and of its audience.

Women in those days were more or less regarded as property, either belonging to their fathers or husbands. The majority of marriages, especially among noblemen, were arranged for personal gain such as land, money or alliances. Wives were mainly just bargaining chips and we see this very clearly that’s what Marguerite was to her husband Jean. In fact, there was very little passionate love between Jean and his wife as when we watch her chapter Jean is both distant and forceful at times. End of the day, the crime of her rape wasn’t tried before the king as a personal rights violation – but as a property crime against her husband.

The Last Duel isn’t shoving an agenda so much as acknowledging the time period knowing how it relates to the world today. Even today, especially as we’ve found out there are still plenty of people in power with disgusting views reflected by the characters in the movie.

Side note: This is technically a Disney film as it was released by 20th Century “Studios” let that sink in

Cinematography and the “Pandemic Guessing Game”

The 1^st 4 min should give you an idea of how breathtaking this movie looks

No doubt Ridley Scott knows how to make a film visually pleasing. Here he once again excels, granted Ridley always has an obsession with mixing grey and blue filters in his movies. Considering the fact that half of this movie was filmed amid the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, it makes an interesting guessing game about which scenes were filmed during covid and pre covid. Often signs I look for include crowd sizes and characters in isolated rooms.

Action

As for the action itself, I have to admit when looking at his older films I realized Ridley Scott was not always the best when it comes to fighting scenes as in Gladiator and Kingdom of Heaven they often suffer from rapid editing and subpar choreography, at least compared to today. In the last duel, thankfully there isn’t much of that. Occasional fights between Jean’s army and the opposing English army were done well but they were a bit too brief. Thankfully, since it’s an R-rated film, they’re allowed to go all out on the gory bloody mess that was sword-and-shield warfare. There was even a scene where Jean literally body-slams a guy onto his own sword stuck on the ground. When the titular duel finally kicks off it was worth the wait as you can feel all the stabs and blows. They don’t just use swords either, they fight on horseback first, and – get this – Armor actually works! A point of note is that Driver’s character was knocked with a cross guard, showing there is more to swords than just blades. 

The only thing I criticize though is the helmets they use. When I saw this helmet in the poster I thought it was a creative photoshop so we know that’s Matt Damon’s face in it, but nope both Damon and Driver have their helmets have these slits that expose half of their face. Isn’t the purpose of a late medieval knight helmet supposed to protect all the face? As far as I can tell I haven’t been able to find helmets like that. I know sometimes when it comes to action scenes, we need to see our characters’ facial expressions, but this is a stupid way around it.

Criticism

As much as I love this movie, it must be said that this wasn’t a perfect one. This was a long sit through, clocking in at 2hr and 30min. Yet strangely, some parts of the first act felt somewhat rushed as it often jumps from land talk then battle, financial talk, skirmish, and this is supposed to have happened over the course of several years. It is understandable that they want to fit in some world-building, this is the 100-Years’ War and all that, but I felt like we could have been using that time to show Jean and Jacques bonding as friends and not just exposition dumps.

I also have a slight problem with the way this movie does repetition. I understand the idea of replaying the same scenes with different perspectives. It is interesting finding out the different details, but I don’t think they need to be replayed all the way through. Case in point, They actually replayed the rape scene – twice! Again, I get it from the whole multi-perspective angle, but this is trending on borderline gratuitous, with the only subtle differences in how the bedroom portion panned out. The shoes in the atrium were the key difference in their character perspectives – not the triggering bedroom shots. Perhaps instead of replaying that same scene in its graphic entirety, how about in Jacques’ chapter, they cut to the next scene after he closes the door so that what happened was left to our imagination. Then you can depict the rape scene showing what really happened in Marguerite’s chapter. The same could be said with a few other repeated scenes, just trim down a few seconds here and there and you would get the same effect.

One more part I’d like to talk about and that has to be the duel itself. If I were in charge of this film I also would have edited certain scenes of the duel in between chapters to help remind us “Oh yeah, this is about a swordfight!”. It’s a little weird to me that we don’t revisit that fight until the end given how much this film keeps jumping back and forth with its timeline. But I understand that they really wanted to focus on the drama and developing these characters so that the fight at the end felt 100% earned.

The End (Spoilers – Duh?)

So as stated before that final boss battle was well done, I may even compare it to Rob Roy. No music, no one-liners, just 2 armored brutes trying to kill each other any way possible. When Jean finally gets the upper hand over Jacques, he demands he confess his crimes one last time. Even with a dagger to his throat Jacques denies everything with such conviction. Undeterred Jean shoved his dagger right in his mouth.

What I like about the ending when Jean defeats Jacques, despite the crowd cheering, there’s no triumphant score. Instead, much of the camera focuses on Marguerite and her reactions that are a mixture of being overwhelmed with terror and relief as we in the final chapter we felt whatever she went through. She could also have been dreading the fact that she still has a terrible husband so this wasn’t a happy conclusion for her. Even when Jean presents Marguerite to the cheering crowd, she has an empty expression. This is not a romanticization of avenging one’s peers like in Gladiator or Rob Roy, this is hollow reality running its course. The only time we see her smile again was cutting to years later seeing her child play in the field indicating she has moved on.

Conclusion

In short, this might be one of Ridley Scott’s best films to have come out in a long time. No doubt he was assisted a lot by the writing that Affleck Damon and Nicole Holofcener have provided with real complex characters and a strong foundation to support it. It’s been a long time since a sword sandal film like this has come to theaters, especially now since theatrical releases have become increasingly scrutinized. It’s clear that the filmmakers wanted to tell this true story, something that’s become more relevant now. It is a tale of how ultimately truth prevails, even in an unfair world.