#epic historical drama
I have complicated feelings about The Last Duel. There’s no way I can deny the affection I have for Ridley Scott as a director. I love Alien. I love Blade Runner. Legend, fuck yes. Thelma and Louise? I love. G.I. Jane, I’m looking respectfully. Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, Kingdom of Heaven, American Gangster, Prometheus, The Counselor … I enjoyed Alien: Covenant. And I’ve watched with excitement all of his other work. I don’t care if it isn’t “great.” I like what he does.
So I was interested in any new Ridley Scott movie purely on the level of being a Ridley Scott fan. It’s also fair to say I’m not a fan of Ben Affleck or Matt Damon. I don’t find their abilities as actors compelling. If there is a lesson to take from them it is to write your own material and make yourself marketable as a player/coach, so to speak. That’s not something they invented. I think Sylvester Stallone is a great example of write-your-own-great-story and cast yourself. Again, it isn’t to suggest that’s easy, but that writing is a good skill and possibly a way to break through, but writing is also a positive emotional outlet.
The Last Duel is based on a book by the same name. The book very carefully lays out how the law works at the time of the tale’s telling. It explains the custom of trial and the recognition of rape as a crime, although it is a crime of property and EW to that. But the book is the kind of detailed, popular history work, that’s accessible to lay readers, like me. I’m not writing a thesis on medieval rape culture of the 14th century but I can follow the twists and turns of the case thanks to the book’s attention to detail.
The movie doesn’t have that depth. Some of that is due to the limits of nuance that movies can convey, but the script is also at fault. I watch this movie and think, “Ohhhh, Damon and/or Affleck came across this book at a galley and thought ‘Ooooh 14th Century #MeToo.’"
The book is fair and unambiguous is believing Marguerite’s account of her rape. The movie lays out Jean’s, and then Le Gris’s account before her’s. To its credit, the movie actually subtitles her account as the "Truth.” But the clearness of her rape and Le Gris’s guilt is apparent early in the book. Giving the game away does not a good movie make, so we have the movie’s three account structure to keep us hooked.
Regarding the limitations of the script I still can’t help but wonder if it was acted by players other than Damon and Affleck would the movie have been better. Indeed, the moments when Jodie Comer and Adam Driver are on screen together feel like a different movie because they are that much better actors.
Ridley Scott blamed millennials for this movie not performing at the box office. Even as a millennial, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and say that he made those comments during the promotion of House of Gucci and his words were less a millennial slam than a marketing ploy. Ironically I didn’t see House of Gucci at the movies, but my Boomer aunts and uncles did.
Having said all that, it does feel really fucking satisfying to see a rapist beaten in a duel to the death and strung up by his boots.
Ridley Scott’s The Last Duel is good, but the book by Eric Jager is better.
