The Last Duel
This gritty historical drama, depicting the events leading up to the last officially recognised trial by combat in France, pulls few punches in its portrayal of a woman’s place in medieval society, while the excellent cast and Ridley Scott’s visceral direction make for a gripping and tense viewing experience that sadly still has much to say about contemporary society’s treatment of rape allegations.
Premise: In 1386 in France, Jean de Carrouges (Matt Damon) challenged his former friend Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver) to trial by combat, to “let God decide” who was telling the truth over the allegation that Jacques raped Marguerite de Carrouges (Jodie Comer), Jean’s wife. In flashbacks, the events leading up to the duel to the death are shown from the differing perspectives of the three protagonists.
Review:
I won’t lie that when I first heard that three men (Ridley Scott, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck) were writing and directing a film based around a rape allegation made in Medieval France, it did lead me to question whether three men were the best people to handle such material. Thankfully, it appears that they themselves realised that a project of this nature needed to include authentic female perspectives, and so I felt much better when news broke that Oscar-nominated writer Nicole Holofcener would be co-writing the script alongside Damon and Affleck, and that Emmy award winning actress Jodie Comer was cast as the female lead in the film.
It also helps that The Last Duel is based on historical events – for one, it prevents the film from feeling exploitative (as the events in question really happened), and secondly, it means that the film feels fairly unpredictable throughout, as the true-life events don’t necessarily play out according to screenwriting conventions. Because I wasn’t already familiar with the historical events in question, I wasn’t sure where the film was going, and I had no idea what the eventual fates of the main characters would be.
“…the execution of the story is what makes this such an engaging drama…”
Given that this was the first time that Matt Damon and Ben Affleck had co-written a screenplay since winning the Oscar in 1997 for Good Will Hunting, there was a fair amount of anticipation for The Last Duel, and it does not disappoint. Yes, the story itself may not reinvent the wheel (and, sadly, the events depicted were probably not isolated incidents by any stretch of the imagination), but the execution of the story is what makes The Last Duel such an engaging drama.
Structurally, after an opening scene establishing the duel itself, the film flashes back almost a decade to explore the events the led up to the trial by combat. What’s interesting is that the rest of the film is then shown in three overlapping “chapters”, each from the perspective of a different character. The opening chapter is shown from the perspective of Jean de Carrouges (Matt Damon), the second from the perspective of Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver), and the third is from the viewpoint of Lady Marguerite (Jodie Comer). By the time viewers have seen the first two chapters, there should be no doubt in their minds as to what really happened, but the final chapter adds further layers and nuances to the story, and is clearly intended by the filmmakers to be the definitive version of events (the words “the truth” from the caption “The truth according to the Lady Marguerite” linger deliberately on screen as the caption fades).
“…all three leads are great at differentiating the different versions of their characters…”
The shifting perspectives give the cast an opportunity to play three subtly different versions of the same character. Matt Damon’s Jean, for example, is a wronged man of honour in his own eyes, but an offish (if well-meaning) fool in the eyes of Jacques and his patron, Count Pierre (Ben Affleck). Adam Driver’s Jacques, on the other hand, is seen as a duplicitous sycophant by Jean, but is a romantic warrior-poet and a loyal friend in his own story. Both of the male protagonists also have very different ideas of who Marguerite is, with Jean seeing her as a grateful and dutiful wife, and Jacques seeing her as a coquettish and flirtatious kindred spirit, but neither of them seeing her as a person in her own right, outside of what she may mean to either of them.
All three leads are great at differentiating the different versions of their characters, and it’s fascinating to see how subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) differences in the way that the same scenes are played out can completely change their meaning. Ben Affleck also apparently turned down the chance to play Jacques while they were working on the script, opting instead to play the more comical (comparatively speaking) role of the local lord, Count Pierre. In that supporting role he also gets a chance to play up the different facets of his character, so that in Jean’s eyes Pierre is a dour and unjust tyrant, while in Jacques’ chapter he’s a fun-loving philanderer who is simply fed up of dealing with Jean’s nonsense.
“…Jodie Comer brings all of the emotional weight to the film…”
As rounded as Jean, Jacques and Pierre are, and as gripping as the royal court politics are, there’s no question that this is Marguerite’s story, and Jodie Comer brings all of the emotional weight to the film. Be warned that the rape itself is shown twice (from different perspectives) and is not meant to be easy to watch (nor should it be). But in many ways, what’s just as distressing is the public humiliation and dehumanisation that Marguerite has to endure during the “trial” – the questions regarding her private sex life and whether she had previously remarked in public that the defendant was handsome are upsettingly similar to the victim-blaming faced by rape victims in modern cases.
Visually, the production design of the film gives it an authentic and lived-in feel, and it benefits from extensive location shooting, while Ridley Scott’s visceral direction of the battle scenes and the final duel itself feel bloody and gritty, and impressively staged without feeling overly choreographed. But as impressive as the action sequences are, it’s Ridley Scott’s direction of the other quieter moments that is just as effective, particularly in the way that subtle changes in the direction of the same scene from different viewpoints helps to show events in a completely different light. And his direction of the rape itself is unflinching (without being too graphic), forcing the audience to endure the scene without cutting away.
“…a character study that explores issues like perception & institutional misogyny…”
Overall, the film may not be what some viewers were expecting, and despite the title (and the tone of the trailers), the film is not about the duel itself and is not particularly action heavy. In fact, by the time we actually see the duel, it’s no longer an entertaining action sequence, but an embodiment of idiotic and self-centred masculinity. So rather than being a historical action epic in the vein of Ridley Scott’s Gladiator or Kingdom of Heaven, The Last Duel is instead a character study that explores issues like perception and institutional misogyny, while never leaving you in any doubt as to who the filmmakers consider is the true protagonist of the film. And although some concepts may have thankfully evolved since medieval times (like the idea that a woman only has legal rights as the property of a man), others issues like consent, coercion and victim-blaming are sadly as applicable today as they were then.
