The Last Duel
King Charles VI declares that Knight Jean de Carrouges settle his dispute with his squire, Jacques Le Gris, by challenging him to a duel.
- Released: 2021-10-13
- Runtime: 153 minutes
- Genre: Action, Drama, History
- Stars: Jodie Comer, Matt Damon, Adam Driver, Ben Affleck, Marton Csokas, Harriet Walter, Clare Dunne, Zeljko Ivanek, Nathaniel Parker, Michael McElhatton, Alex Lawther, Zoé Bruneau, Ian Pirie, William Houston, Sam Hazeldine, Brian F. Mulvey, Caoimhe O'Malley, Clive Russell, Julian Firth, Serena Kennedy, Bosco Hogan, Kevin McGahern, Simone Collins, Paul Bandey, Thomas Silberstein, Florian Hutter, Daniel Horn, Corinne Delacour, Tallulah Haddon, Estelle Baldassin, Oliver Cotton, Bryony Hannah, Adam Nagaitis, John Kavanagh, Christian Erickson, Quentin Ogier, Martin Vaughan Lewis, Stephen Brennan, Adam Goodwin, Sylvain Lablée, Chloé Lindau, Oliver Cotton, Aurélien Lorgnier, Thomas Silberstein, Adam Goodwin, Ian Pirie, Daniel Horn, Michael McElhatton, Sam Hazeldine, Clive Russell, Julian Firth, Sylvain Lablée, Zoé Bruneau, Chloé Lindau, Adam Nagaitis, Elise Caprice, Fiona Maherault Valinski, Tassia Martin, Camille Mutin, Caoimhe O'Malley, John Kavanagh, Zeljko Ivanek, Simone Collins, Clare Dunne, Christian Erickson, Alex Blanchard, Gin Minelli, Cécilia Steiner, Serena Kennedy, Quentin Ogier, Paul Bandey, Martin Vaughan Lewis, Brontis Jodorowsky, Peter Hudson, Alexander Pattie, Dimitri Michelsen, Stephen Brennan, Colin David Reese, Bosco Hogan, Kyle Hixon, Florian Hutter, Sam Chemoul, Jim Roche, Martin Gogarty, Ronan Leonard, Shane Lynch, Peter Kirkby, Kevin McGahern, Lorris Chevalier, Mark Atkin, Janet Grene, Chloe Harris, Karl Hogan, Tyrone Kearns, Brian Manning, Brian F. Mulvey, Fady Naguib
- Director: Ridley Scott
Comments
- wheatley-20230 - 29 April 2024
More relevant than it should be
This is a highly believable depiction of the medieval world, blessed with stirring action, fine acting and great direction.
But it is the fact that it is thought provoking that dominates my view of the film, which is something of a surprise. After-all we all know that the medieval world treated women very poorly. Those antediluvian views and actions are clearly depicted. But I did not expect them to carry so much relevance to today. We have moved on, haven't we?
What was challenging is the thought that we have not moved on as much as we should. That part of our society continues to treat women poorly. And that those of us who think we are better have not completely lost every one of the attitudes we would like to have discarded. Being better than we were does not make us good enough. - modedus - 12 March 2024
Generic plot, Outstanding Acting.
This movie could of taken place in the old west, in now-a-days, in any time in history. The fact that this movie took place in the Middle Ages is absolutly irrevelant.. The plot is generic with no twists or reversals--- However, I do like how the movie went through different perspectives of the characters even though some scenes were repetitive. The Acting was Absolutly superb and better then most movies actors, espically Adam Driver, who is quickly becoming my favorite actor--- He delivered this movie and if he wasn't in it I would of shut off the movie before it got interesting... The beginning of this movie was a bit boring until they switched perspectives... The Action scenes were very good as well however short... I would reccomend this movie for the Acting alone, but take away Adam Driver and it is just your run-of-the-mil borring story... - allovernorth - 11 January 2023
Good
Good film. Is it worth watching? Yes. It is good for us to get a context of history. How things operated way back. Is it entertaining? Yes. Does it pull you in? Yes. Does it present women as being smarter and better than men? Yes. Are most all of the men cruel or babbling buffoons? Yes, of course, what else do you expect from Hollywood. Now, I am totally assuming that narrative liberties were taken-if this is even a true story, one would wonder how easy it could've been to add more positivity. And at that-700 years ago, adding some kind of actual care or kindness to the males in the story may have just simply been more accurate. But no. Perhaps the story really was about a terrible man and his wonderfully perfect wife who handled her truth perfectly well. And she did handle the truth wonderfully! However, is this the norm? Are we to believe that all men only care about their names, honor, riches, and property? Do they never care about their women? And the women, they always live their lives perfectly, and without failure or loss due to their own negligence? As I said, welcome to Hollywood. - kluseba - 13 December 2022
Period Drama with Rashomon Effect
Do you know what the Rashomon Effect is? You really should because The Last Duel is essentially using said effect through roughly two hours of its total running time of two and a half hours. The effect is derived from the title of a Japanese movie by Kurosawa Akira in which a crime is depicted from different perspectives, leaving the viewers to put the pieces of the puzzle together and come to their own conclusions.
This is exactly what is happening here. The movie tells the story of the rape of Marguerite de Thibouville in medieval France. The first perspective is the one of her husband, who describes himself as an honourable nobleman attempting to save his family's honour by asking to duel the perpetrator. The second perspective is the one of the perpetrator who claims that the victim was being mistreated by her rigid husband and that the actual rape was actually a moment of romantic passion between two lovers who were meant to be together. The third perspective is the one of the victim who describes her husband as cold, manipulative and selfish and the perpetrator as brazen, psychopathic and violent while depicting herself as a woman fighting against societal restrictions. All these depictions lead to the titular duel between the husband and the perpetrator that is supposed to determine who is telling the truth.
This concept brings its share of advantages and disadvantages. Let's start with the former. The three main characters of this film have much depth since they are portrayed from different perspectives which offer both similarities and differences. The actress and two actors are playing their roles with great care. Jodie Comer convinces as brave survivor making a stand for women's rights. Matt Damon shines as distant husband fighting for his honour. Adam Driver excels as psychopathic manipulator who sees himself as romantic squire while acting like a pitiless criminal.
The disadvantages are also quite obvious. The use of the Rashomon Effect is nothing new for cineasts. The movie certainly overstays its welcome with its excessive running time. There is obviously much repetition throughout the film that is at times hard to sit through.
Except for the excellent acting performances and profound characters, this movie is also saved by director Ridley Scott's attention to details. The locations have been chosen with great care and bring medieval France to life in an authentic way. The dialogues also have a credible archaic character. The beautiful costumes have been chosen perfectly as they portray societal devisions.
At the end of the day, The Last Duel is not the masterpiece that some critics would like it to be. However, it's a decent period drama with great acting performances, profound characters and imaginative settings. The repetitive storytelling is worth going through since the movie ends on a high note with a truly captivating duel. - Kim_Kobusch_Simonsen - 21 October 2022
A Scandalous Tale of Love and Honor with a "Rashamon-ish" Narrative
For the past 2 decades Ridley Scott has been very hit or miss for me. My expectations have therefore become modest, but "The Last Duel" was a welcoming surprise.
I think the choice of using a "Rashamon-ish" narrative was a refreshing way to tell this story. Furthermore, I want to give praise to the editor Claire Simpson, who I will argue made the right choice to trim the scenes that are repeated - reducing the runtime to 155 minutes (which I find to be a long but fitting runtime for this story). I find it very fitting that the individual story lines end at the trial where people disagree on what is true while the audience (to some degree) knows.
Despite being refreshingly different and throughly entertaining, there were a few elements that took me out of the film. Firstly, the story is set in France but is told in English. If the names of people and places had been changed this would not had bothered me at all. Secondly, I found the make-up/costumes peculiar in many instances (especially Ben Affleck) while the actors were still very easy to recognize. If this was fantasy, I wouldn't have an issue with this. But since this is based on an actual event I would have preferred to see less eye-catching make-up/costumes.
For the 2022 Oscar's I am surprised there was much more campaign for Ridley Scott's other film "House of Gucci" (which I would rate as "Meh") instead of "The Last Duel", which I liked and would happily see a second time. - beatrice_gangi - 28 September 2022
Rashomon but bad
Ridley Scott must have decided to put three elements together: first, the desire to ride the wave of a hot concept such as feminism; second, to put a duel as a tribute to the beginning of his career; and third, a Kurosawa's Rashomon-like structure. He gets one thing right out of three, namely the duel. The rest is tired, and quite badly done. The theme of feminism is approached from the perspective of an old man belonging to a past generation, who does not perceive the nuances of this theme. The structure of Rashomon is also badly and rather superficially interpreted, biased in its desire to give preference to one version over the others, thus making the very choice of such a structure lose its meaning. In short, The Last Duel is a fairly forgettable mix, and Ridley Scott really seems to have run out of ideas behind the camera.
