The Last Duel | Review
When The Last Duel was first announced a few years ago I was hesitant. Based on the historical book of the same name by Eric Jager, the film tells the true story of the last officially recognized judicial duel fought in France, ignited by accusations that one of the dueling men raped the other man’s wife. The film is directed by a man, Ridley Scott, and co-written by two men, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, who are reunited nearly 25 years after winning the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for Good Will Hunting. And considering the fact that Affleck has had a couple of sexually inappropriate allegations lodged against him doesn’t help the matter. So it’s a relief that the film doesn’t actually end up being a problematic mess. Instead, it’s a film with an interesting storytelling conceit fueled by strong performances.
Scott has shown himself to be a capable director of any genre, with a prolific filmography that includes Alien, Blade Runner, Thelma & Louise, Prometheus, and The Martian. He appears comfortable in The Last Duel’s late 14th century setting, akin to his previous work in historical epics like Gladiator and Kingdom of Heaven. The main draw of the film, however, is the decision to split the narrative into three chapters, each told from the perspective of a different character. In addition, each of the three chapters is written by a different writer, with Affleck and Damon writing the men’s perspectives, and Nicole Holofcener (Can You Ever Forgive Me?) writing the woman’s.
Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver) and Jean de Carrouges (Matt Damon)
The trio of characters are Jean de Carrouges (Matt Damon), a squire who works his way up the ranks to eventually become a knight; Lady Marguerite (Jodie Comer), de Carrouges’s wife; and Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver), de Carrouges’s best friend and fellow squire whose fortune grows as his relationship with Count Pierre d’Alençon (Ben Affleck) grows stronger. When Marguerite tells her husband that Le Gris raped her, he challenges Le Gris to a duel. Le Gris accepts, but maintains his innocence. Should de Carrouges lose, Marguerite will be tortured and burned at the stake, for it will have been God’s will, and God will only allow the truth to prevail.
The Last Duel’s biggest strength—its Rashomon-type narrative—is also its biggest drawback. The decision to tell the same story from three unique perspectives could’ve led to intriguing character studies with dramatic interpretations of specific scenes or even more subtle and nuanced moments. The expectation is that the main characters are unreliable narrators, each holding the perspective that they’re the hero and did nothing wrong. Surprisingly, this isn’t the case. The first two chapters follow de Carrouges and then Le Gris, yet in each of their respective chapters, their depictions are not positive.
De Carrouges clearly sees himself as the hero who has been wronged. His chapter shows two decades of slights, including losing land that he is “rightfully” owed, that he believes is the work of Le Gris. To de Carrouges, he has worked hard to get where he is, risking his life for the crown, whereas his best friend-turned enemy Le Gris is constantly showered with riches and affections thanks to his close relationship with d’Alençon. A jealous and fiery type, de Carrouges is a man who always appears as if he needs to prove his worth, sniping at people who don’t call him “sir.” While de Carrouges’s chapter does show him as a victim, he’s also shown to be a petty jerk who couldn’t care less for his wife, whom he only wed to produce an heir.
Jodie Comer as Lady Marguerite
Le Gris’s chapter depicts de Carrouges as even more of a loser, an ill-tempered and illiterate man who is undeserving of such an intellectual and beautiful wife. The scenes between Le Gris and Marguerite are flirtatious, a better fit than Marguerite with de Carrouges. But instead of Le Gris’s chapter depicting him as the hero of his story, he clearly turns out to be a villain in his pursuit of Marguerite’s love. When the scene at the heart of the film arrives—the one in which the question “did Le Gris rape Marguerite” arises from—he doesn’t look good at all.
The final chapter, dubbed “the truth,” is also the best, following Marguerite and showing her to be a good and dutiful wife despite not being in love with her husband. Their scenes together show de Carrouges to be a cold and cruel husband. When de Carrouges is gone on one of his many battles, Marguerite’s talents are finally able to shine, with her doing a better job at taking care of the family’s livestock and other housekeeping her husband is usually in charge of. Her chapter shows her having a life outside of her relationships, or lack thereof, with the other two men. And when we finally get to her assault scene, fair warning, it’s pretty brutal. But at the very least, the film wisely confirms whether or not she was raped, leaving no grey areas to be debated.
Ben Affleck as Pierre d’Alençon
While the film’s unique storytelling device never lives up to its full potential, teasing two unreliable narrators who aren’t actually that unreliable of narrators, and variations of scenes that aren’t all that different, this flaw is overcome by the impressive performances. Damon and Driver are solid as the two men at odds, but it’s Comer who absolutely shines as Lady Marguerite, portraying three different versions of her character in relation to the two men. While she was relegated to a supporting role in the first two chapters, the third and final chapter shows her as a force to be reckoned with, portraying a character who is historically voiceless (women are property of their husbands) and risks her life to speak the truth. Also excellent is Affleck, who plays a scene-stealing Count Pierre d’Alençon in all his flamboyance and debauched hilarity.
And what about the eponymous duel? To no surprise, it’s quite thrilling (Scott knows how to shoot great action sequences). It’s aided by the fact that Marguerite’s life is at stake because, otherwise, I wouldn’t have cared who wins because both men are so unlikable.
