Movie Review: The Last Duel is a medieval rendering of #timesup

Matt Damon as Jean de Carrouges in 20th Century Studios' The Last Duel

*****

A short synopsis of The Last Duel (18s), which opens in Paris in 1386, could very easily be misleading: the story of how Sir Jean de Carrogues (Matt Damon) sets out to avenge the dishonouring of his wife Marguerite (Jodie Comer) by his friend Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver) sounds like the stuff of medieval romance, complete with noble quests, distressed damsels and knights riding to the rescue. Indeed, the fact that Le Gris and Marguerite at one point discuss the fantasies of the latest French novels of chivalry is a deliciously ironic touch, for The Last Duel is brutally realistic, its story soaked in the mud, blood, and ordure of medieval France.

Written by Damon, Ben Affleck and Nicole Holofcener, and directed by Ridley Scott, the film unfolds in three ‘chapters’, each telling the truth according to Jean, Jacques and Marguerite. We first meet Jean and Jacques as brothers-in-arms, but when Marguerite — who has no legal recourse herself, as a woman who is merely her husband’s ‘property’ — accuses Jacques of rape, the vengeful Jean seizes the opportunity to right the wrong he believes has been done to himself. 

What follows is a gripping tale that is both epic in scale and superb at eking out the tiny, telling nuance, and particularly in terms of its contemporary resonances: at its core The Last Duel is a medieval rendering of #timesup. The mise-en-scene is beautifully depicted — the frequently snowclad setting, the mournful castles — and the script deftly folds in its period detail, including the historical backdrop of plague and France’s interminable war with the English, while the various battle scenes, and the concluding duel itself, are jaw-dropping in their physical intensity.

There are terrific performances from the three leads, with Ben Affleck also strong in the supporting role of the endlessly corruptible Count Pierre; all told, The Last Duel is a wholly absorbing drama of a time when ‘there is no right, only the power of man'. (cinema release)