The Last Duel (2021)

Starring: Matt Damon, Adam Driver, Ben Affleck, and Jodie Comer
Grade: B

Ben Affleck steals this movie much more than you would expect.

Summary

In France on December 29th, 1389, we see Marguerite de Carrouges (Comer) being fitted for a black dress. Next, she goes to this arena, and we see a bunch of onlookers, including King Charles VI (Alex Lawther). At this arena, the “Last Duel” will commence, and it will be between knights Jean de Carrouges (Damon) and Jacques le Gris (Driver). They put on their armor, gather their weapons, and mount their horses. As they charge at each other and strike, we cut to Chapter One:

The truth according to Jean de Carrouges.

Back on September 19th, 1370, we go to the Battle of Limoges. Jean de Carrouges, along with his fellow soldiers, watch as opposing forces behead a bunch of innocent women in front of them. Though Count Pierre d’Alençon (Affleck) gave them orders to hold the bridge, Jean bravely defies the orders and heads straight at the bad guys, forcing Jacques le Gris and all the other soldiers to follow. During the fight, Jean even saves Jacques from certain death. After everything cools down and the soldiers camp out, Jean says that though Limoges was lost, he’s still proud of everyone. However, since they’ve been losing elsewhere, Count Pierre has ordered everyone back home. Privately, Jacques and Jean talk, and Jacques thanks Jean for saving his life. Next, we jump to Fort Belleme in 1377 for a ceremony headlined by Pierre. Jean, Jacques, and all of the knights come to the fort, as Jean’s father is the captain of it. Jean mentions that he’ll probably assume his father’s captaincy of the fort. Once inside after greeting his parents, Jean (and Jacques) joins a line of soldiers there to greet Pierre. Each soldier goes to Pierre on one knee to swear their undying loyalty to him. Pierre clearly favors Jacques, as we see him smile when Jacques greets him. When Jean greets him the same way though, Pierre’s expression changes to a more negative one, and he gets noticeably short with him. Later, at Jean’s home, Jacques comes to collect debts for Pierre, with the reasoning being for military defense. Not only does Jean not have the money because the plague cut down his workforce (and killed his wife and son), but he’s also offended because Jacques reiterates the importance of having military money.

Obviously, Jean of all people knows how important it is, so he gets kind of irritated. Jacques says he’ll try to talk to Pierre but says he can’t leave without getting something from him. They talk about the fact that Jean currently has no heir to his land and how everything will go to Pierre if he never gets one. They also talk about how Jean is pretty much broke at the moment and that’s why he’s going back to war.

We then see Jean fight at Normandy in 1380. Afterwards, we cut to a celebration hosted by Robert de Thibouville (Nathanial Parker), a known traitor who was pardoned. At this celebration, Jean meets Marguerite de Thibouville, daughter of Robert. Obviously, Jean finds her attractive but since there’s potential promise of a large dowry, and considering his financial woes, he talks to Robert about the details of the dowry and her. The deal includes a lot of land. Everything looks promising and soon after, Jean and Marguerite get married. Sometime later however, the land that was promised as a part of Marguerite’s dowry is given to Jacques by Pierre, in reward for collecting debts and working on his accounts to help him make more money. Later, Jean and Marguerite discuss the land, and Marguerite notes that selling that land to Pierre was the only way her father was able to get out of debt. Jean will not take this lying down, and he goes straight to some officials with a petition, but it’s immediately denied. After this, he gets news his father died, so he goes to see his mother Nicole (Harriet Walter). Nicole tells him that in a month, she will be forced out of Fort Belleme. Jean tries to reassure her that he will take over his father’s role as captain. However, she’s got some bad news. Because Jean sued Count Pierre, Pierre took the captaincy rights away from him and gave it to Jacques.

In a rage, Jean goes to one of Pierre’s random celebratory events and yells at him over the whole ordeal in front of everyone, including Jacques. After telling Marguerite about it and how they aren’t welcomed at the court anymore, we jump forward to a year later. Marguerite delivers an invitation to Jean. Jean’s friend Crespin (Marton Csokas) is hosting a party to celebrate the birth of his son, so Marguerite thinks they should go since they haven’t done anything since the incident at Belleme. Jean agrees, and they go. They see Jacques as soon as they walk in, but Jean reconciles with him, even having his wife kiss Jacques to show them they’re at peace. Later, he goes back off to battle, leaving Marguerite with Nicole and their servants. Before they go to battle in Scotland in 1385, he gets knighted. He comes home with a fever, but he tells Marguerite and Nicole at dinner that he has to go to Paris to collect the money he’s owed by the treasurer. Because of this, he will be gone another week. After he collects it and comes back, he is given horrible news.

When Jean’s mother left to run errands in St. Pierre and took all of the servants with her, Marguerite was tricked into opening the door for some guy she knew, allowing for Jacques to bust in immediately after and rape her. In shock, Jean promises to make him pay for what he’s done. Jean alerts a bunch of fellow friends and people they know of this wretched news and tells them to tell everyone they know. Since Pierre is the only one that can give them a hearing and already hates Jean, this will be their only option. If it becomes big enough news, Pierre will have to grant a hearing. Next, Jean goes directly to King Charles VI and requests a duel to the death. Though this practice has been basically outlawed, it can be granted if a full convening of the assembled parliamentary body of Paris (all 32 members of the king’s court) agrees to it. Even though Marguerite will suffer severe consequences if Jean were to lose the dual, he insists because Jacques must pay. At the Palace of Justice, Jean presents his case and demands Jacques admit to the crime, or he will challenge him to a duel to the death.

Next is Chapter Two:

The truth according to Jacques Le Gris.

Eventually, we will also see Marguerite’s version. We know the duel will happen, but the truth leading up to it is what takes center stage.

My Thoughts:

1300s France is a hard sell for a lot of people. Let’s get that out of the way now. Ridley Scott loves his historical dramas though, so I’m not going to trash his passion. Despite my initial reservations, this was a lot better than I thought it was going to be. I was imagining the usual boring epic, but a lot of the decisions made were enough to make The Last Duel much more engrossing than I expected. With that being said, I definitely don’t regret watching it in theaters.

To be fair, it’s pretty long but the reason for this is that we take a look at three different perspectives of the same series of events, leading up to the duel. This is a difficult task to do without boring us. I’m not going to say they did it to perfection or anything, but it was still pretty entertaining on a lot of levels. Let’s take Jean de Carrouges for example. His take on everything opens the film. We see Jean being a brave knight and loving husband that will do anything for the king and his wife. He’s all about honor, so when we see him being wronged so many times, we want him to get revenge at all costs. The funny thing about going through each account of the story is that the other two versions make Jean look progressively stupider. In Jacques Le Gris’s take, Jean looks like this idiot brute that can’t articulate a point without flipping out. We see this when Jean goes to yell at Pierre and Jacques at the party. In Jean’s version, it’s not shown what happens. He just explains the details thoroughly and intelligently to Marguerite, and it’s assumed he’s right. In Jacques’s version, we see Jean yelling and getting off-topic pretty quickly, with Pierre making him look like an absolute fool to the point where Jean stormed off. Jean’s anger seems to be misguided throughout Jacques’s version and when he tries to problem solve, he quickly resorts to violence or threats rights off the bat. This is something we see in all three accounts actually, with minor adjustments here and there.

Matt Damon plays the rugged knight very well, sporting one of the ugliest mullets you’ll see this year, and though he’s solid as the star, Adam Driver’s performance as Jacques Le Gris, and Jacques’s version of the events, really becomes the best part of the movie.

Jacques Le Gris is one hell of a villain. He’s much smarter than Jean, more cunning, and very smooth. He’s basically the complete opposite of Jean. Seeing him move from being a great friend of his, to becoming his pure enemy, is a sight to see. Early on, Adam Driver uses that charm to really bring you into liking him in that first part of the film. We see how much he genuinely cares for Jean, especially in Jacques’s version of the Battle of Limoges. He’s smart enough to know they’re being baited but after Jean goes against orders by himself, Jacques says that Jean will die if they leave him be. This forces him to charge with Jean, along with all the other soldiers, despite knowing how bad of an idea it may be. Additionally, we see him actually save Jean from getting killed first. In Jean’s version, this isn’t even mentioned.

Once these contradictions start consistently happening, as their two stories are back-to-back, it’s tough to see who’s lying or not. Who’s misremembering these events? The hulk-ish moron or the intelligent ladies’ man?

Well, it’s probably Marguerite’s story, but more on this later.

Jacques’s friendship with Pierre is a joy to see. Though these two are total assholes and they’re a bane to Jean’s existence, I can’t lie to you, some of the most entertaining scenes involve these guys together, as evidenced with all of the scenes at the house of Count Pierre. Ben Affleck’s Pierre injects a lot of life into the story. His performance is not mentioned enough, but he was very good. He also had some of the funniest lines in the movie. He cannot stand Jean, and it’s very funny to see him react to anything the knight does, either rolling his eyes or saying some comeback that absolutely shuts down our not-so-eloquent speaker. Affleck’s underrated comic performance gives us one of the best line deliveries of the movie when he’s given the news that Jean went straight to the king with his case. He just lets out an elongated “Cuuuunnnt”. There’s also the scene in which he has a bunch of whores in his bedroom and when Jacques tries to enter, he says happily to him, “Come in. Take your pants off!”. He was having a lot of fun doing a role this different from his usual stuff and you could tell.

Obviously, the rape scene is the most important in this film, more so than the actual duel. For those that are wondering, it’s shown twice because we have to see Jacques’s take on it and Marguerite’s. As graphic and raw as it is, the differences between the two are interesting. Jacques’s makes his seem a lot less violent than Marguerite’s and before the rape actually happens, he makes it seem like the flirting was very obvious and that it was mutual. Clearly, his arrogance knows no bounds, but it comes with the territory of hanging out with Count Pierre and thinking you can do whatever you want. Jacques even admits to Pierre that it happened, but he denies the accusation of rape. What?! Then, he argues everything is cool because he confessed his sin immediately after. The audacity of Jacques is astounding. Adding on to this is Pierre telling him to deny everything no matter what, and Jacques does so even with his back against the wall at the end of the film. It really mirrors the type of stuff that happens today. With more and more rape and sexual assault cases happening all over the place, you’ll never know if the accused are telling the truth because some will go to the grave with their lies to save face. It’s crazy to watch unfold in a film like this, and Driver is so good in his role, though you’re seething at his pure arrogance regarding the problems he caused, you still find yourself giving him credit for his performance. It’s a testament to his talents.

The comparison we see to today is extremely evident in Marguerite’s take on everything. We’re led to believe that Marguerite is telling the truth, and it makes sense. She has no reason to lie in this situation, and she has a very clear mindset that isn’t clouded with outlying issues like war and such. We know the rape happened no matter who is telling the truth, it’s just her account of everyone’s personalities is very different and much more truthful. We believe her without a question.

Her version is completely different from the other two when observing them, and it’s evident from the very beginning of it. Here, Jean is an asshole from the start. He’s insensitive, selfish, and his focus is all about him and his pride. Once she tells Jean she got raped by Jacques and has to plead with him to believe her, he yells, “Can this man do nothing but evil to me?!”. Can you believe this? Even his wife getting raped is somehow about him. In Jean’s version, he treats Marguerite great, but in her version, he sucks as a husband and is genuinely unpleasant to be around. I don’t think she smiled at all once they got married. She was forced into the marriage because Jean needed land. Actually, the wedding stopped mid-service when Jean argued with her father over the terms of the dowry. Right there, you realize that though Jean may be painted as the protagonist when the film starts, it seems that actually, Marguerite is the protagonist and the hero, despite not being the one on the battlefield. She’s stuck in a loveless marriage and seems to only exist for the callous Jean to have a son. He’s not the loving person and noble warrior he thinks he is. When Jean comes home from one of the battles, he hugs her because he misses her. Even something as small as this could surely be true, right? Unfortunately, he was lying about that too. In Marguerite’s version, he walks straight past her, and he even chastises her back in the castle. I think it was because her dress was too slutty according to him, but I’m not sure.

To the surprise of no one, he’s also selfish lover too, as we see through numerous uncomfortable sex scenes involving Jean and Marguerite where she’s definitely not having a great time. Honestly though, it was kind of funny to see her have to lie to everyone about having an orgasm, even in court, to protect Jean’s pride. You can see the pain in her face as she lies and says it’s great, but we the audience know she’d much rather prefer to scream to the heavens that Jean can’t make her cum.

Now, I don’t know much about Jodie Comer, but she does a very good job in changing every thought you had about this film after watching it for an hour and a half. You think it’s going to be all about the guys (and it very easily could’ve been if they made this movie a decade or so ago), but she changes the whole trajectory of the film. At first, she’s a plain jane wife that exists to give the man a reason to go and fight evil, but she very slowly reveals the layers of the true story and becomes the most important character in the movie. A lot of it comes from Comer’s expressions. She shows a lot of emotion without saying anything, and she has to act it this way. In medieval times, she can’t be honest and tell people off. In this time period, women are second class citizens. It’s argued in the film by a few people that this rape technically can’t happen because it’s a “property” crime, with women not counting as actual citizens. Don’t act shocked though. We know the hypocrisy that existed during this time period, as well as the ridiculously misogynistic opinions of the men in charge during these times. Basically, every male in the movie is a hard-headed sexist that has to be willing to fight at a moment’s notice. This isn’t a critique of the movie or the time period, this is just a fact. The movie does a great job at representing it. What’s weird is that despite me knowing this going into The Last Duel, I was still pissed off at Jacques’s laughable reasoning.

It creeped into parody territory when a man in court claimed that a rape can’t cause pregnancy. This is apparently “science” to them. If you know remotely anything about this time period, you know these morons actually believed this to be true, but you can’t help but say “Wow” when you’re reminded of the fact. It’s actually very well done.

On top of this, the fighting is very bloody and violent. They have a few battle scenes and though you can’t really tell one from the other, they’re decent. The actual “last” duel that the film leads to though is a great battle to end the film, and it means a hell of a lot more after watching the entirety of the movie. It was definitely worth the wait. Side note, I loved Jean’s signature move of putting chainmail around his armored hand and beating the hell out of someone with it. That’s an innovative move. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that in a medieval movie before.

The Last Duel does a lot of things right, but I can definitely see why it didn’t do too well with audiences. It does drag and though it’s interesting to see the little nuances between each person’s stories, it does take a very long time to get through it all. The ending wasn’t as satisfying as you would think for a two-and-a-half-hour film either. The wind kind of came out of the sails. By the end, you’re not really a fan of Jean, you hate Jacques, and though Marguerite is innocent in all of this, she never has the big moment where you’re satisfied with how things turned out for her. You’re just exhausted. At most, I just nodded my head in agreement once the movie was over. I didn’t feel anything once the credits started to roll. I’m just not sure what the intention was. Was it more about the rape or the actual duel? It seems to me that the rape was more important and because of this, the duel didn’t feel as big as it should’ve, despite how good the actual fight was. The characters weren’t even satisfied, and Marguerite seemed a step under indifference towards the whole thing. The final captions made it seem like nothing mattered either. I don’t know. Something just didn’t feel right.

For the most part, The Last Duel was pretty good. It was definitely better than I thought. The acting and performances were great, the narrative was interesting, and the direction was very good, but if I never saw this movie again, I wouldn’t bat an eye. There’s just not enough for me to consider it a great film. It wasn’t the needle mover Ridley Scott clearly thought it was, but it was solid fare in terms of medieval historical films.