James R | On 03, Dec 2021

Director: Ridley Scott
Cast: Matt Damon, Jodie Comer, Adam Driver
Certificate: 18

The idea of an alleged sexual assault being replayed from multiple perspectives is the kind of thing that perhaps would only be conceived by a man. And so it is that Eric Jager’s non-fiction book from 2004 about the last official duel in French history is adapted for the screen by Ridley Scott.

The medieval epic has all the elements that we’ve come to expect from the Gladiator director, including bone-crunching action, grubby period detail and an unflinching understanding of masculine egos colliding. We begin in 1386, as preparations commence for the fateful showdown – one in which God himself will purportedly determine who is the rightful winner. The dispute? Marguerite de Carrouges (Jodie Comer) accusing Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver) of raping her, prompting her husband, Jean de Carrouges (Matt Damon), to take up her claim and defend her honour.

We then flash back to see the events in question, but do so three times from the perspective of each key player. First is Jean, whose put-upon knight fights for coin but still believes in his own nobility. Then it’s the turn of Jacques, the garrulous knight who finds his way in life eased by his charm and connections – it’s no surprise to him that Count Pierre d’Alençon (Ben Affleck) should take him under his wing, and even less of a surprise that he should find himself in the bedroom of his former friend’s wife.

The contrasts between their accounts, some subtle, some less so, are wonderfully wedded to their contrasting personalities, from Jean’s conscious sense of entitlement to Jacques’ unthinking privilege. Matt Damon is gruff and pained to a fault, his scarred face not needed to remind us of Jean’s frustration at not being recognised for his sacrifices made in battle. He believes he saved Jacques’ life in the Battle of Limoges, which opens his narrative – and is miffed that his repayment turns out to be Jacques stealing his land as well as coveting his new bride.

Adam Driver is horribly confident and cheerfully cruel as the comrade-turned-enemy, smugly reading Latin at an evening shindig before swanning upstairs for a party of another kind in which women are treated as property to be bartered and played with. It’s a pleasure to see Ben Affleck having the most fun on screen in years as Pierre, who advises Jacques to “deny” all allegations because “the crowds have no capacity for nuance”.

But these sections (written by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck) are striking less because of their conflicting perceptions of events but because of how similar they actually are. It soon becomes apparent that Jean views Marguerite as a piece of property too, his affront stemming from his own pride rather than concern for his wife’s well-being.

This is thrown into sharp relief by the smart third segment, which is penned by Nicole Holofcener. The Enough Said director is a shrewd observer of human behaviour and The Last Duel’s strength stems from her involvement here, bringing a rounded depth to Marguerite that’s noticeably absent – indeed, purposefully so – in the film’s first two thirds. Combined with Jodie Comer’s superb performance, changing seamlessly from apparently quiet and flirtatious when seen through male eyes to exploited and dismissed when given the storytelling reins, her apparently welcoming smiles mere politeness and her outrage at what is done to her only validated by Jean’s support of her accusation.

Scott handles the inevitable showdown with riveting brutality, but the impact lies in the fact that its absurd futility has been underlined before it finally begins. It treads a path paved by sharp, topical comments on class as well as gender inequality, fuelled by the kind of empathy sorely lacking from Last Night in Soho, another recent male-directed picture about female trauma. The result is a heavy-handed epic that comes with a surprising, refreshing nuance – a sensitively told saga that packs a serious, pointed punch.

 

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