When Marguerite de Carrouges (Jodie Comer) is assaulted by squire Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver), her husband Jean (Matt Damon) seeks retribution in Ridley Scott’s historical epic The Last Duel.
★★★★✰
The Last Duel has a lot of potential to be, cinematically and morally, awful. Directed by Sir Ridley Scott from a script originally penned and produced by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, it seems, at first, like a story of sexual assault of a woman told largely by men—a troubling set-up not lost on internet users when it was announced in 2019. Since then, however, with the addition of Nicole Holofcener (Enough Said; Can You Ever Forgive Me) on script-duty and a delicate handling by Scott, the film has transformed into something expectedly heavy-going, but also powerful and heart-wrenching in equal measure.
Set in 14th century France, the story is told Rashomon-style through the perspectives of its three principal characters, with subtle differences emerging in each retelling. If combining this narrative device with the subject matter sets alarm bells ringing, then it is a relief to find that the film skilfully avoids this ethical pothole by clearly aligning itself with one point of view. Even through the eyes of Jean and Jacques we see clearly their emissions and their vices. Jean de Carrouges paints himself as an honourable and honest man acting to defend his wife’s virtue; reality sees him as a pig-headed thug. Jacques Le Gris is a roguish cad with reptilian charm; he’s also deeply disturbing and feels painfully contemporary to our modern age. By telling these two ‘truths’ first, the film maintains a mounting sense of dread leading up to Marguerite’s version of events. This turns a slow-burn into a blistering third act and an ending which, though narratively satisfying, leaves Marguerite’s situation far from resolved.
Though undeniably effective in its dismantling of the male viewpoint, this structure means that the scene of sexual assault the plot revolves around plays out twice. They may be shot tastefully, but both instances are still deeply disturbing. While there may be a myriad of reasons behind The Last Duel‘s abysmal opening weekend (Covid-hesitancy, stiff competition from No Time To Die and Halloween Kills and a chameleonic marketing campaign have all played a role), perhaps a great swath of the film’s potential audience are put off by a subject matter so uncomfortable not even the promise of a star-studded awards-contender could persuade them to part with their cash? Sadly, Scott might just have made a film too relevant for its own good.
But Oscar contenders and star power was promised, and on both counts the film more than delivers. Jodie Comer is impeccable in the role of Marguerite, her performance changing with delightful subtlety in each retelling, while Damon gives a deceptively nuanced turn as her wild boar of a husband. Adam Driver gives a fine showing as Jacques Le Gris, but often risks being outshone by a bleached-blonde Ben Affleck having the time of his life as medieval frat-boy Pierre d’Alençon. The game of accent-roulette Scott plays with the cast doesn’t always pay off, however. Harriet Walter’s bizarrely Bostonian mother-in-law feels jarringly meta opposite Damon and Affleck in particular, while the menagerie of American, English and vaguely European accents everyone else seems to be pulling from can take some getting used to.
Scott’s hand is at its most visible in the fight sequences, where blows sever arteries and break bones in an entertainingly weighty fashion immediately comparable to Gladiator. Only once or twice does the violence tow the line into gratuity, and for good reason, but even more than any other Scott film The Last Duel deals with the implications of this bloody retribution on those beyond the battlefield. The spectacle Scott ably provides feels hollow when the stakes of the conflict rest so heavily upon a character powerless to change its outcome. As Marianne says to Jean before the film’s resolution, the fight is less about justice and more about the egos of two bitter, jealous men, a juxtaposition which powerfully addresses the chivalric narrative usually plastered onto historical epics. When the promised duel does arrive, it is predictably spectacular and nerve-shredding, made all the more impressive by the contemptibility of both its’ combatants.
The Last Duel is far from the film one would fear it to be, but nor is it an easy watch. Impeccably constructed, and featuring stand-out performances from Comer and Damon in particular, it weaponises the male perspective in a way which feels both brutally honest and deeply unnerving. For the male characters, the story being told is all about the duel. For Marianne, that is exactly the point.
The Verdict
Bold, epic and physically exhausting, The Last Duel takes a set-up which necessitates the deftest of hands and stays firmly in the saddle all the way to the end. Though the difficult subject-matter ensures the film won’t be for everyone, there is much to appreciate in this decidedly grown-up historical drama.
The Last Duel is out in UK cinemas now.
Words by James Harvey
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