There’s a lot about Medieval Times we might struggle to understand today. Near constant wars, rampant childhood mortality, and a legal system where duels determine who’s telling the truth, as seen in ‘The Last Duel’.
Director Ridley Scott takes us back to the 14th Century to see the last ‘judicial duel’ in French history. While time may have faded into history, this film still delivers the duel promised in the title, even if it takes a couple of hours to get there.
The Plot
Matt Damon stars as Jean de Carrouges, the son of a high ranking professional soldier, hoping to inherit his father’s title. Carrouges has already become a Squire and fought in many wars, but has yet to become a Knight.
Adam Driver plays Carrouges’ close friend Jacques LeGris, a fellow Squire, but one who came from nothing and has had to work for everything he has.
After an early battle, Carrouges and LeGris return home to Normandy. They befriend the local Nobleman, Count Pierre d’Alencon, played by Ben Affleck; but the Count prefers LeGris to Carrouges.
Carrouges eventually decides to re-marry, after losing his Wife and son to illness. The wife of choice is Marguerite de Thibouville, played by Free Guy’s Jodie Comer. Marguerite brings youth, land, and money to the marriage; and Carrouges brings status.
After returning home from battle in Scotland, Carrouges quickly leaves again so he can get paid. Carrouges’ mother also leaves, along with ALL of the estate’s personnel, leaving Marguerite home alone.
LeGris and his underling soon show up at Marguerite’s front door. They lie so she’ll let them inside, and LeGris forces himself on Marguerite.
The Good – The Last Duel
The Testimony
The Last Duel is told largely in three separate versions of the same story. Each person’s testimony reflects each person’s worldview and their relative memories of the events leading up to the attack. A ‘he said, he said, she said’ telling of the story.
Jacque, Jean, and Marguerite each tell their versions of what happened; the shared events varying wildly between them.
The differences between narratives reflect the imperfect nature of human memory, and the ‘truth’ that how you see things is largely dependent upon where you are seeing them from.
The Production Design
The sets, locations, and props work well to create the Medieval lifestyle shown in the film. Shooting on location and out in the elements puts you into a very different world than we know today.
The costumes also add to the believability. The layer upon layer of clothing that women had to wear, and the weight of the armor men wore going into battle are shown in great detail.
The Duel
I won’t go into too much detail here about the titular ‘last duel’, except to say that it truly makes this film fun to watch.
The name ‘Braveheart’ popped into my mind more than once while watching that scene, as the violence and brutality truly jump off the screen.
The Bad – The Last Duel
The Neverending Stories
While the Rashomon-style narratives show you how different life can be for men and women, and are overall very well done; each persons’ stories go on for way too long.
Each ‘truth’ lasts for 45 minutes of screen time. Jean’s story takes up the first 45 and Jacques’ takes up the second 45; meaning we are an hour and half into the film before we see Marguerite’s point of view.
None of these scenes drag, but the amount of time and story covered is literal decades. Instead of limiting the scope of the narrative, or keeping the screen time down to 25-30 minutes for each story, the film starts to drag.
Damon and Affleck Don’t Share Many Scenes
One of the major selling points for The Last Duel is the cinematic reunion of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. This is the first film since 2004 they’ve acted in together; and the first screenwriting since 1997’s Good Will Hunting that they’ve done together.
However, while they both play major parts in this film; Affleck and Damon share very little screen time together. Instead, Adam Driver’s Jacque LeGris is the connective tissue between the two for most of the story.
There is nothing wrong with Driver’s character as the go-between, especially since this movie is ‘based on true events’. But, for those of us that wanted to see more of Damon and Affleck together on the big screen, AGAIN, it is disappointing.
The Review – The Last Duel
Director Ridley Scott brings something familiar to this Medieval period piece. You can feel the fingerprints of Scott’s previous films Gladiator and Robin Hood all over The Last Duel.
The fact that Scott essentially does a Courtroom Drama without spending much time at the trial is fascinating. I like that we get the different points of view from our three lead characters, but the 45 minute length for each one is far too long and not nearly focused enough.
We spend two hours and fifteen minutes just getting to our final duel, which is way too long. The story would’ve been served well by streamlining the packed plot, and getting to the duel after 90 minutes.
Oddly, it feels like the studio wanted a runtime of 2:30, but instead of cutting down on the subplots, Scott nipped and tucked every shot to get the runtime down.
Free Guy’s Jodie Comer jumps off the screen as Marguerite, with a quiet strength and resilience, without playing into victim stereotypes. She holds her own with legends Damon and Affleck; and brings up Adam Driver’s performance, too.
The final duel is bloody and brutal and a ton of fun. The anger and resentment driving both characters is earned throughout the buildup of the film. Getting to the duel sooner would have been preferable, but there’s no wasted space.
Worth a watch based on the duel alone, but I wish the buildup had been more efficient.
Additional Information
The Last Duel Instant Movie Review
No Time To Die Instant Movie Review
Dragon Movie Guy YouTube Channel
Dragon Movie Guy Review Nation Author Page
Score
Score
Review Nation Score
Matt Damon, Jodie Comer, and Ben Affleck star in 'The Last Duel. The Historical Drama also stars Adam Driver as the cause for the duel.
