The Last Duel: Ridley Scott's Medieval Tale of Elusive Truth Turns History into Riveting Filmmaking
By Thom Ernst
Rating: A-minus
My shaky knowledge of medieval history can't confirm if the depiction of France circa 1380 is authentic in director Ridley Scott's The Last Duel. But I recognize that if the Devil is to be found in the details, then Scott is a man possessed.
Scott contrives a convincing resemblance to events leading up to the last court-sanctioned duel-to-the-death with a meticulous eye for specifics. He transfers a riveting piece of history into a riveting film—mostly.
Scott's focus on the politics and pageantry of the time comes across as a stealthy sleight-of-hand, as though distracting from a story that initially seems to be mired in a masculine bravura to best showcase its male leads. It’s a disappointing approach for a film that is ostensibly about a woman's accusation of rape.
Adam Driver as Jacques LeGris and Matt Damon as Jean de Carrouges in The Last Duel.
The suspicion that rape is used yet again as a device to justify male rage and avenging violence resonates uncomfortably through the film's first half. But Scott's three-tiered perspective of events eventually serves to balance the narrative into something far less manipulative it first appears.
The Last Duel’s division into three chapters allows each character to take the lead. But lest you say Rashomon, The Last Duel is not a treatise on the infallibility of eyewitnesses. Here the characters aren't giving testimony, but effectively reliving their version of the events—distorted by egos and assumptions around protocol and social etiquette.
PROUDLY SUPPORTS ORIGINAL-CIN
Historically, the last duel is between Sir Jean de Carrouges and Jacques Le Gris. In Scott's film, that duel is between Matt Damon and Adam Driver.
Driver, continuing his run as Hollywood's most unlikely leading man, is Le Gris, a favoured knight with palace noblemen, with an additional appeal to the noblewomen of the court.
Le Gris is considered handsome, brave, intelligent, and gifted with immense charm, but he's a Lothario with little concern for the sanctity of someone else's marriage. Nevertheless, Le Gris is never short-changed by the affections of women—a fact he is quick to affirm.
Damon is de Carrouges, a knight also accomplished in battle. As de Carrouges, Damon loses his amiable grin in place of a burly physique and a face bulbous and scarred.
De Carrouges holds a place of honour in the court, but his temper and unshakable decency (which translates as judgmental) sets him apart from others of the court. De Carrouges is a man in decline, and the more things spiral from his grasp, the more tragic and self-destructive he becomes.
He's no fucking fun!" whines Pierre d'Alençon (Ben Affleck), a witless man helpless in the throes of all the kingdom offers in way of sex, food, and alcohol. He's a bully with no love for de Carrouges, a man he openly mocks while going through the motions of being fair.
Jodie Comer plays Marguerite de Carrouges the young wife of Sir Jean. Her allegation of rape against Le Gris shifts the action from a rivalry between estranged friends into a nationwide scandal with potentially devastating results. The script allows ample reasons for Marguerite de Carrouges to lie about the rape, ranging from fear to deceit. Unless you are a history buff and familiar with the story, the outcome of their stories is never inevitable.
In secondary roles, Harriet Walter gives a pinch-faced performance as Nicole de Carrouges, the uptight matriarch of the de Carroughes family, and Alex Lawther delivers a jittery and foppish King Charles the VI. Although the film doesn't specifically reference it, King Charles is at this point in his life, on the cusp of a mental illness that will plague him the rest of his rule.
The Last Duel is hardly new territory for Scott, whose fondness for stepping out of time reaches as far into the future (Blade Runner, Alien, Prometheus) as it does into the past (Kingdom of Heaven, Gladiator, Robin Hood, Exodus: Gods and Kings). And to add to his career continuity, Scott has thrown down the gauntlet before with his first feature film, The Duellists (1977).
As for culpability, Scott knows who he believes is telling the truth—a truth that corroborates with the research of all but a very few historians.
The beauty of The Last Duel is coming to your own conclusion.
The Last Duel is directed by Ridley Scott and stars Ben Affleck, Adam Driver, Matt Damon, Jodi Comer, Harriet Walter and Alex Lawther. The Last Duel opens in theatres Friday, October 15.