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It’s been 25 years since a couple of no-name kids co-wrote a screenplay that led to them becoming the youngest screenwriting Oscar winners. Now, with the help of Oscar nominated screenwriter Nicole Holofcener, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck have teamed up again—this time with director Ridley Scott—for their historical drama The Last Duel.
The Last Duel tells the stories of two squires in fourteenth century France. Jean de Carrouges (Damon) and Jacques LeGris (Adam Driver) once fought side by side on the battlefield, only to have their friendship torn apart by ego, greed, and an undisciplined count (Affleck). As Jacques lives a life of decadence and debauchery, rewarded for his loyalty with land and titles that should belong to Jean, his belligerent friend returns to battle and struggles to get by. And when Jacques finally does the unforgivable, Jean is forced to challenge him to a duel to the death.
Every story has multiple perspectives—and The Last Duel tells the story three times, from the perspectives of the three main characters: Jean, the gruff but determined soldier, Jacques, his shrewd friend, and Marguerite de Carrouges (Jodie Comer), Jean’s long-suffering wife, who ends up caught in the middle.
The first two chapters of the story are mildly interesting: the stories of two men who set out from the same place, only to find themselves in very different positions. Jacques ends up in a place of power, enjoying good food, too much wine, and the company of beautiful women. Jean marries the beautiful daughter of a disgraced but wealthy man and continues to put his life at risk for his country. From there, it’s mostly a bunch of male ego and posturing—which eventually gets tiresome. Their stories are told in snippets of action and conversation, none of which helps to develop the characters very far beneath the surface.
It isn’t until the final act—and Marguerite’s version of the story—that things get truly interesting. This is when we get beyond the grunting and power struggles and meet a character who has real depth. Her perspective offers a glimpse of the life of a woman in the fourteenth century and beyond—of her pain, her trials, and her position in her society.
Each chapter of the story tells the story from a new perspective, and the slight changes in words and expressions from one to the next are intriguing. But in the final act, the film really finds itself and its characters. It definitely takes time and patience to get to that point, but the final act does make it feel worthwhile.
More than just another movie about tough guys going to battle, The Last Duel eventually expands into something more layered and nuanced. You’ll just have to wait out the tough-guy stuff to get there.
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