The Last Duel

Year of Release:  2021

Director:  Ridley Scott

Screenplay:  Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Nicole Holofcener, based on the book The Last Duel: A True Story of Trial by Combat in Medieval France by Eric Jager

Starring:  Matt Damon, Adam Driver, Jodie Comer, Harriet Walter, Ben Affleck

Running Time:  153 minutes

Genre:  Historical drama

France, the late 1300s:  Lady Marguerite de Carrouges (Comer) accuses her husband's former best friend Jacques Le Gris (Driver) of raping her.  Her husband, Sir Jean de Carrouges (Damon), challenges le Gris to trial by combat, the last legally sanctioned duel in French history.  However, if Sir Jean loses the duel, not only will he be killed in combat, but Lady Marguerite will also be burned to death.  The film details the events leading up to the duel from the perspectives of Sir Jean, Jacques le Gris and Lady Marguerite.

This is a frustrating film because at it's best it is very good, but it has it's moments of extreme silliness.  The main problem is several of the roles are miscast:  Matt Damon, Adam Driver and Ben Affleck are all good actors but they are just not convincing as medieval French knights.  Affleck, as Count Pierre, Le Gris' patron and friend, in particular plays it like he's in an episode of Blackadder at times.  Jodie Comer however is fantastic as Lady Marguerite, the only character in the film who is in any way sympathetic, and Harriet Walter is good as Sir Jean's mother who hates her daughter in law.  The film looks spectacular, Ridley Scott shows his skill at handling historical epics, and the brutal action scenes are filmed with real dynamism.  The duel itself is savagely intense, and graphically violent.  The film utilises a structure where we are given three different perspectives on the events, and the film does point out who is telling the truth.  We see the friendship of Jean de Carrouges and Jacques Le Gris and it's subsequent disintegration, and the troubled relationship between Jean de Carrouges and Lady Marguerite.  The film shows the same events played out in different ways from different perspectives.  Sir Jean sees himself as a brave and noble knight, fighting for what is rightfully his, however others see him as a cruel, brutal bully and a fool.  Jacque Le Gris sees himself as an intelligent, romantic hero, however others see him as an opportunistic sycophant.  Lady Marguerite is caught in the middle, seen as little more than property.  When she tells her husband about the rape, he sees it as an insult to him, and Lady Marguerite's feelings don't really seem to come into it.  When Jacques le Gris goes to the church to defend himself against the charge, he is told that rape is seen as a crime of property, against the woman's husband or father. The rape sequence is brutal, and it is shown twice, from Le Gris and Marguerite's points of view.  The actual events are the same, even in Le Gris' version it is still an obvious rape, but he believes that she loves him really, so what he did was justified, while for Marguerite it is a brutal violation.  The film does discuss the ghastly treatment of women at the time, but not as much as it might have done.  It was written by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, who won an Academy Award for their previous screenplay Good Will Hunting (1997), with acclaimed writer/director Nicole Holofcener who wrote the scenes for Lady Marguerite, and based on a 2004 book by Eric Jager.  While the film has problems with an inconsistent tone, moving between macho, blood and thunder epic, medieval court politics and dark feminist drama, and there are issues with the casting, it is still worth seeing.  The three part structure works well and the film is never less than interesting.

   Adam Driver and Matt Damon in The Last Duel