Review | Venice 2021: The Last Duel movie review – Matt Damon, Adam Driver in Ridley Scott’s historical epic
- Damon plays a nobleman who wins the hand of a beautiful woman but loses much else to an erstwhile friend, played by Driver, who is then accused of her rape
- The king orders a duel to settle the affair. Scott, whose very first movie was 1977’s The Duellists, also set in France, doesn’t hold back on the violence
 (1).JPG?itok=0BHk6odg&v=1665981271)
4/5 stars
Gladiator director Ridley Scott returns to the historical epic genre with The Last Duel, a resonant drama about truth, lies and belief that also reunites the acting and writing talents of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.
Working with Nicole Holofcener, the former Oscar winners for Good Will Hunting have adapted Eric Jager’s book The Last Duel: A True Story of Crime, Scandal, and Trial by Combat in Medieval France, which recounts a fight to the death between two noblemen.
The setting is late 14th century Normandy. Divided into three chapters, the story begins as warrior Jean de Carrouges (Damon) is drawn to the lovely and learned Lady Marguerite (Killing Eve’s Jodie Comer).
Yet, despite his good fortune in marriage, he has lost favour at the court of Count Pierre d’Alençon (Affleck), who has taken his captaincy and land owed and given it to de Carrouges’ former friend Jacques LeGris (Adam Driver).
After a disastrous campaign in Scotland, de Carrouges returns to discover that his wife has been raped by LeGris. “Say nothing,” Driver’s character hisses at her, but he fervently denies any wrongdoing in public. The callow, cackling King Charles VI (an excellent Alex Lawther) decrees that a duel take place between the accuser and the accused.
Intriguingly, the script then switches from “the truth according to Jean de Carrouges”, as Chapter 1 is dubbed, to the perspectives of LeGris and then Lady Marguerite. Who is telling the truth in this sordid affair?
Language is twisted out of all recognition – Comer’s character is lambasted for a passing comment to a friend in which she called LeGris “handsome” – and scenes are replayed from subtly adjusted perspectives, whether it’s a brief kiss on the lips and the effect it has, or the terrifying assault scene.
Comer is excellent throughout, offering a dignified impression of a woman navigating suspicion, not least from her husband, whose behaviour grows more thuggish and vain as we leave his account behind.
Scott, whose very first movie was 1977’s The Duellists, also set in France, doesn’t hold back on the violence. This is a wintry, muddy and bloody world he conjures with the help of his cinematographer Dariusz Wolski, who captures a stark beauty in the candlelit interiors and frosty landscapes.
With Driver and Damon going all alpha male, and a blonde-haired Affleck seemingly revelling in his role as the repellent Count, there’s full-blooded commitment here. In a post #MeToo world, this story of sexual violence and the way the victim must fight to be heard feels utterly timely.
