The Last Duel (2021)

[Capt D McMars]

Title: The Last Duel

Tagline: The true story of a woman who defied a nation and made history.

Genre: Action, Drama, History

Director: Ridley Scott

Cast: Matt Damon, Adam Driver, Jodie Comer, Ben Affleck, Marton Csokas, Harriet Walter, Nathaniel Parker, Tallulah Haddon, Alex Lawther, Adam Nagaitis, Zeljko Ivanek, Serena Kennedy, Clare Dunne, Michael McElhatton, Zoé Bruneau, Ian Pirie, William Houston, Sam Hazeldine, Brian F. Mulvey, Caoimhe O'Malley, Clive Russell, Julian Firth, Bosco Hogan, Kevin McGahern, Simone Collins, Paul Bandey, Thomas Silberstein, Florian Hutter, Daniel Horn, Corinne Delacour, Estelle Baldassin, Oliver Cotton, Bryony Hannah, John Kavanagh, Christian Erickson, Quentin Ogier, Martin Vaughan Lewis, Stephen Brennan

Release: 2021-10-13

Runtime: 153

Plot: King Charles VI declares that Knight Jean de Carrouges settle his dispute with his squire by challenging him to a duel.

the_last_duel_2021 - rotten tomatos is just one of many platforms tauting the many qualites of this upcoming feature film. Upon reading the storyline, it reminded me of the 1950 classic by Akirs Kurisowa "Rashamon"? ( rashomon ). These both are the personal experiences of the 3 major charactors and their perspectives of the same experiance. A rape occurs in both sinerios and the interactions and repercussions that follow. watch. watch

 

[TonyD]

Is this a topic on the New Ridley Scott movie?

 

[benbess]

I'm usually an admirer of Ridley Scott's work, but I found this one difficult to sit through on different levels. It has some good elements and good performances, and it provided some illumination into the era, but overall it wasn't my cup of tea. My rating: C+

 

[Capt D McMars]

I'm usually an admirer of Ridley Scott's work, but I found this one difficult to sit through on different levels. It has some good elements and good performances, and it provided some illumination into the era, but overall it wasn't my cup of tea. My rating: C+

Thanks Ben, sometimes it’s just a situation or the state of mind you’re in or sometimes it’s just a bad movie, LOL. I’ll try and check it out maybe becomes on HBO max or something not something I would rush to the theaters for.

 

[TonyD]

The previews haven’t done anything for me to want to see this one.
I saw a preview for the next Scott movie in front of No time to Die and that looks much more interesting.

 

[Malcolm R]

It doesn't seem to be generating much interest. Duel's per-screen average on Friday was only 1/10 that of Halloween Kills.

 

[Capt D McMars]

Sounds like they’re sampling the wrong crowd, LOL

 

[Josh Dial]

I watched this on opening night and thought it was fantastic. A surprising amount of scenes dealing with medieval French law.

It's told in a Rashomon-style. Three chapters, one for each main character's point of view.

The duel scene was nail-biting.

Excellent performances from everyone. No weak performances.

9/10 for me.

 

[Capt D McMars]

I watched this on opening night and thought it was fantastic. A surprising amount of scenes dealing with medieval French law.

It's told in a Rashomon-style. Three chapters, one for each main character's point of view.

The duel scene was nail-biting.

Excellent performances from everyone. No weak performances.

9/10 for me.

Thanks Josh, appreciate an awesome review. Sometimes you just Gotta go for it despite too much information sometimes. I always like to be able to see it for myself if there’s any interest in the film. It was done right, it could be really interesting if it’s in that Rashomon style even more so. Again thanks for your observation.

 

[Joe Wong]

My wife (a history major) and I saw this today. I thought it was OK. She had some issues with the historical accuracy. Not the events that transpired, but how married women wore their hair, etc. She's a stickler for those types of details.

Of course, being set in France, everyone speaking in English felt a little "off", especially given this is a 2021 production with Oscar-winning talent. I understand it would not have been as marketable if only French was spoken, so I'll give it a pass, but my wife said that in the middle ages, even the English spoke French in the English courts, as they (the English) considered French a more elegant language!

As for the Rashomon-type structure, I didn't think the 3 perspectives offered enough revelatory differences or ultimate impact to justify the technique. Usually in a story with unreliable narrators or different versions of the "truth", I expect a reveal that can change the outcome. Classic example: The Usual Suspects (1995).

Anyway, just my 2c.

 

[David_B_K]

Of course, being set in France, everyone speaking in English felt a little "off", especially given this is a 2021 production with Oscar-winning talent. I understand it would not have been as marketable if only French was spoken, so I'll give it a pass, but my wife said that in the middle ages, even the English spoke French in the English courts, as they (the English) considered French a more elegant language!

I can't think of why it should have been in French. It is set in France, but so is The Three Musketeers. It is perfectly normal for American or British films to use the language of the actors and audience rather than that of the characters. Scott's first film, The Duellists, is set in Napoleonic France with British & American actors speaking English.

I will probably see the film when it is released to video. I read the book upon which it based several years ago. A friend recommended it to me because I primarily read historical nonfiction. It was a short read, but I did not find the story to be particularly interesting.

 

[Capt D McMars]

My wife (a history major) and I saw this today. I thought it was OK. She had some issues with the historical accuracy. Not the events that transpired, but how married women wore their hair, etc. She's a stickler for those types of details.

Of course, being set in France, everyone speaking in English felt a little "off", especially given this is a 2021 production with Oscar-winning talent. I understand it would not have been as marketable if only French was spoken, so I'll give it a pass, but my wife said that in the middle ages, even the English spoke French in the English courts, as they (the English) considered French a more elegant language!

As for the Rashomon-type structure, I didn't think the 3 perspectives offered enough revelatory differences or ultimate impact to justify the technique. Usually in a story with unreliable narrators or different versions of the "truth", I expect a reveal that can change the outcome. Classic example: The Usual Suspects (1995).

Anyway, just my 2c.

Thanks Joe, with film sometimes you just need to go with it, LOL!! I'm sure every period Roman epic, that none of them spoke with British accents either!! Knowing that a film is "based on" real or related events clears them from the fact checkers...it's just a movie, inspired by historical events not a documentary. Sometimes a movie is just a movie

 

[Capt D McMars]

Is this a topic on the New Ridley Scott movie?

yes

 

[Capt D McMars]

It doesn't seem to be generating much interest. Duel's per-screen average on Friday was only 1/10 that of Halloween Kills.

take your own advice - The purpose of an education is to replace an empty mind with an open mind.

 

[Joe Wong]

I can't think of why it should have been in French. It is set in France, but so is The Three Musketeers. It is perfectly normal for American or British films to use the language of the actors and audience rather than that of the characters. Scott's first film, The Duellists, is set in Napoleonic France with British & American actors speaking English.

I will probably see the film when it is released to video. I read the book upon which it based several years ago. A friend recommended it to me because I primarily read historical nonfiction. It was a short read, but I did not find the story to be particularly interesting.

Since it starred the likes of Damon, Comer, Driver and Affleck, I can understand why it would have been difficult to film it in French (assuming those actors are not fluent in French).

I made the comment because there's been more exposure / acceptance of non-English-language films lately. Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds had whole sequences predominantly in French or German, for example, and more recently Bong Joon-Ho's Parasite won Best Picture at the Oscars.

For Hollywood films made 30, 40 or 50+ years ago, I can also understand why non-English-language stories were in English, since films then were generally marketed more for domestic (or English-speaking) audiences rather than global.

For a 2021 production, which appeared like it was trying to be faithful to the historical record, I thought it may have felt more authentic if the characters spoke in French. But like I said, I understand why it was not in French and I gave it a pass. (Since they were all speaking English anyway, I can accept it as a translated version of the events.)

 

[Joe Wong]

Thanks Joe, with film sometimes you just need to go with it, LOL!! I'm sure every period Roman epic, that none of them spoke with British accents either!! Knowing that a film is "based on" real or related events clears them from the fact checkers...it's just a movie, inspired by historical events not a documentary. Sometimes a movie is just a movie

Totally - sometimes the best idea is to go with the flow.

 

[sfyalek]

My wife (a history major) and I saw this today. I thought it was OK. She had some issues with the historical accuracy. Not the events that transpired, but how married women wore their hair, etc. She's a stickler for those types of details.

Of course, being set in France, everyone speaking in English felt a little "off", especially given this is a 2021 production with Oscar-winning talent. I understand it would not have been as marketable if only French was spoken, so I'll give it a pass, but my wife said that in the middle ages, even the English spoke French in the English courts, as they (the English) considered French a more elegant language!

As for the Rashomon-type structure, I didn't think the 3 perspectives offered enough revelatory differences or ultimate impact to justify the technique. Usually in a story with unreliable narrators or different versions of the "truth", I expect a reveal that can change the outcome. Classic example: The Usual Suspects (1995).

Anyway, just my 2c.

I agree. I watched it last night. In Rashomon, the whole incident happened with only 2 people and 1 deceased. In this movie, the whole storyline happened with so many people around it. It made the changes less convincing. I think this is the weakest point of the screenplay.
This kind of movie will not do well in Asia so N America will be biggest market so it is marketing strategy not to speak in French. Regarding the performances, I personally think that Matt Damon was wrongly casted. His performance is very inconsistent. Cormer has the best performance in the whole cast. The duel scene is nail biting. The sound effect did an incredible job. It will definitely feel better to watch it in the theater. Unfortunately, you have to sit through 2 hours of drag to get to the 10 minutes scene.

 

[JoeStemme]

Ridley Scott's latest is a historical drama based on true story set in 14th Century France. Two warriors, Carrouges (Matt Damon) and Le Gris (Adam Driver), become friends on the battlefield but over the years their relationship devolves into a rivalry. Carrouges marries Marguerite (Jodie Comer) and she too becomes entangled in the soldiers' feud when an assault charge is levied.

The screenplay by Nicole Holofcener, Damon & Matt Damon is more precisely based on Eric Jager's book about the title incident. The script is broken up into a classic Rashomon situation with the movie having three distinct chapters, each told from the three principals' point of view. This basic structure has been used many times since the Kurosawa classic and it's a sturdy one even its applied here in a bit too orderly a fashion.

Many of the events are recounted three times and too often they are differentiated only slightly - three times. It does cut against the flow of the movie. Scott is too formal a filmmaker and isn't able to transcend the strictures of the screenplay and give the story-telling a more deft and flexible treatment. It's all by the book, and the filmmakers certainly put their collective thumb on the scale as to which version is indeed “the truth”. Fortunately, the acting is quite good, and the main trio are able to give each rendering some shading. Affleck has the most fun as the flamboyant Count Pierre who takes Le Gris under his wing. Harriet Walter is a bit too brittle as Carrouges mother and her accent is even more noticeably variable than the others in the main cast (all the actors speak English with a slight continental twang). Acting honors go to Comer who has to traverse being “just a woman” in the two men's chapters while becoming the centerpiece of Marguerite's.

THE LAST DUEL is a well-crafted production and the fairly sparse action scenes are handled with aplomb. The finale is particularly vivid. Scott's craftsmanship is certainly at the forefront even if he can never quite elevate the workmanlike screenplay. It's a solid movie, but a little more artistry could have brought it up a notch or two.

 

[TonyD]

So this isn’t a sequel to The Duellists?

 

[Jeff Cooper]

So this isn’t a sequel to The Duellists?

Of course not.

It would be a prequel.