Battle stations in historical drama
THE LAST DUEL (CERT 18) BASED on true events documented in Eric Jager’s 2004 book, Ridley Scott’s historical drama unfolds in chapters from the perspectives of three main characters.
Each lengthy testimony is penned by a different writer – Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Nicole Holofcener – who offer conflicting evidence about events leading to the sexual assault of a wife while her husband is away at war.
In the wintry final days of 1386, knight Jean de Carrouges (Matt Damon) and squire Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver) fight side by side under the banner of King Charles VI but it’s the latter who curries favour with Count Pierre d’Alencon (Ben Affleck) and secures a captaincy destined for Jean.
To rub salt into fresh wounds, Jacques’s promotion includes land belonging to Sir Robert de Thibouville (Nathaniel Parker) which had been promised to Jean as part of the wedding dowry of his daughter Marguerite (Jodie Comer). Jean bears the scars of losing a wife and child to the plague and is under pressure from his waspish mother (Harriet Walter) to produce a male heir.
He canters off to war and returns to tearful Marguerite, who claims Jacques forced his way into their home and sexually assaulted her.
According to medieval law, rape “is not a crime against a woman. It is a property crime against her man”. Thus, Jean seeks a judicial duel to the death with Jacques.
Co-stars Damon and Adam Driver subtly alter their portrayals of feuding noblemen when they are the heroic narrator or supposed villain of a particular chapter.
They also meet the gruelling physical demands of mud-spattered battle sequences, directed with typical brio by Scott.