THE LAST DUEL
A GRIPPING DRAMA SET IN THE UNFORGIVING BACKDROP OF MEDIEVAL FRANCE. AND BASED ON REAL EVENTS Director: Ridley Scott Cast: Matt Damon, Adam Driver, Jodie Comer Released: Out now
On 29 December 1386, in a frosty field on the outskirts of north Paris, the last legally sanctioned trial by combat took place in France, between knights Jean de Carrouges (Matt Damon) and Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver). Ridley Scott’s latest historical saga
The Last Duel (2021) explores the sordid backstory leading up to this legendary encounter, drawing parallels between the past and present regarding the treatment of women in society.
Scott’s history-based epics, like all his pictures, regardless of genre, are grounded in realistic attention to detail and intelligent storytelling. The renowned filmmaker is a world-builder who brings the past to life like few other mainstream directors; he loves to transport the audience to another time and place, with medieval France depicted here as cold, brutal, muddy and often bloody.
The Last Duel, set over the course of many years, is told in flashback and from a trio of perspectives, with each chapter titled The
Truth According To… The clever screenplay by Nicole Holofcener, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck (who appears in a scene-stealing role as Count Pierre d’alençon) is unusually structured – certainly for a Hollywood blockbuster. However, its ‘He Said, He Said, She Said’ plot brilliantly underlines the salient themes of the film and allows the tale to build to a harrowing conclusion. The narrative gamble pays off.
When Lady Marguerite de Carrouges’s (Jodie Comer) husband goes away on business, with everybody out of the house, Le Gris, an erudite and exceedingly crafty man, turns up at the door unannounced, refuses no for an answer and commits a despicable act. Carrouges demands justice for the crime, but what he really wants is retribution against Le Gris, as he’s partly inspired by his vanity and his suspicion (sometimes correct) that his fellow noblemen are cheating him. Lady Marguerite is another piece of property others want to take away or ruin for him – it’s one more public humiliation to overcome.
If this aspect of the story is ugly and frequently, unexpectedly, hard-hitting, it’s also got a tension-relieving black vein of humour coursing throughout. This offers the audience a satirical depiction of mediocre men, with their insecurities and chest-puffing behaviour openly mocked. Add to this the exquisite costumes, vivid period sets and exterior locations, brooding visuals, excellent performances by the cast, the fantastic staging of battles and the nail-biting duel itself.
Matt Damon as meathead Carrouges has rarely been this good and Adam Driver plays a total and irredeemable villain whose comeuppance you’ll savour. But it’s Jodie Comer’s Lady Marguerite, an initially voiceless woman caught in the middle of a bitter and foolish feud between two horrible men, threatened with execution herself, who emerges from background figure to vital presence.
When she gets to tell her story, we see a much clearer and truer picture of events, who these men are, what makes them tick, why they’re so awful, and why her ordeal is universal. Very often female victims aren’t believed, a problem that’s as true now as it was in 1386.