The Last Duel
The trailer for The Last Duel made me skeptical because it comes across as a dry film. What persuaded me to see it in the theater is Ridley Scott directing.
A quick overview of the film's historical background: The Last Duel is set during Medieval Times in the latter part of the 1300's during the Hundred Years War between France and England. A war fought over England wanting to reclaim land in France, and also King Charles IV of France died without a male heir and his nephew King Edward III of England tried to claim the throne in France.
At the core of the film is the relationship between two squires Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver) and Jean Courrages (Matt Damon). They have been best friends for years, fought in battles together, but start to have a bitter falling out when Jacques rises within the courts of both Count Pierre d'Alençon (Ben Affleck) and King Charles VI of France (Alex Lawther).
Being the favorite squire of Pierre and helping him straighten out his bank accounts, Jacques is gifted the land that is owed to Jean through his wife Marguerite's (Jodie Comer) dowry. Jean tries to sue, but is denied. In retaliation Pierre gifts Jacques again with Jean's family Fort Bellême, that he is supposed to inherit. Jean tries to sue for a second time but fails again. Desperate for money and pushed to the brink socially Jean agrees to go to battle in Scotland. Upon returning home months later Marguerite tells Jean that she was raped by Jacques and wants justice. Unable to get a fair trial in Pierre's court, Jean is forced to appeal the judgment to the King of France and his judicial court in Paris to enable him to fight Jacques in a duel. The film is broken into three chapters: the truth through Jean, Jacques, and Marguerite's perspectives.
The film opens with a glimpse of a duel, and then we suddenly cut to a battle. I expected there to be text at the top of the film giving us contextual background on why France and England are battling each other constantly, and the chaos that France has been through up to this point. Without this I felt lost in having an anchor to what is going on in the world of the film.
Based on dialogue we know that Jacques and Jean are best friends, but emotionally I didn't feel the weight of their history as the brotherhood begins to deteriorate. Matt Damon and Adam Driver give great performances in this. But at the same time they weren't exactly right for the roles. I didn't believe Matt Damon fit in with the era of the 1300's.
To structure the film around each character's versions of the events was unnecessary making the film long winded and repetitive. We didn't need to see Marguerite get raped twice or Jacques justification for why he thought he was entitled. Seeing Jacques predatory behavior in Count Pierre's chambers is enough to understand how he sees women as objects for his own pleasure. We only needed Marguerite's version where we cut away to Jacques and Jean throughout the film.
The cinematography, production design, costume design were all incredible and transported me back six hundred twenty years. However, that isn't enough for me to like a film, and due to the structural issues this movie is average.
The Last Duel is currently playing in theaters.