Then, to a lesser extent, the pandemic had a role in its poor performance and, lastly, yes, the public is to blame a little too; as we choose to go to the big screen only if the newest superhero flicks are on.
I am by no means a Ridley Scott fan. In all actuality, I was not impressed by him as a person at all. Take for example this Hollywood Reporter 5 directors talk. As a director, however, he has brought us dozens of good or great movies. From sci-fi to espionage, from action-horror to medieval epics. In the latter, you might recall Gladiator (2000) and the Kingdom of Heaven (2005) films.
With The Last Duel, Sir Scott aims to freshen up the genre which admittedly isn't so much en vogue as it was 15-20 years ago.
Blame it on millennials
I am a big fan of medieval films (big surprise). And every new entry into the genre gladens me. But this is not what made me consider The Last Duel a good movie. In fact, the movie's first act left me a tad confused. The action scenes seemed disparate, the editing was choppy, and the subject was not clear. I had seen the trailer some months back but going in I had no idea what the subject matter was. In retrospect, this has been a good thing for me as a spectator.
Once the second act started there was the realization that now we were about to see the same story from a different character's point of view. So now the script began to make sense. If in the former we perceived what happened from the point of view of Jean de Carrouges (the husband, played by Matt Damon solidly, but a bit confusing); now we witnessed Jacques Le Gris's perspective (the accused, played by Adam Driver very convincingly).
Lastly, the third act presented Marguerite de Carrouges's story, the wife and victim played by Jomie Comer sublimely.
Why the last duel? Because it is effectively the last duel recorded in history that aimed to resolve a dispute. Welcome to the 14th century! Women are men's property, the law is made by men and subordinate only to the Church, and a dispute can be resolved by a fight to the death; in the sense that God would not let the guilty win. The paradigm is a masculine one almost entirely.
Based on a book
The script was adapted from the longer-named book The Last Duel: A True Story of Crime, Scandal, and Trial by Combat in Medieval France; whose author tells us that at least 75% of the events are historically accurate. The movie then becomes one about truth in a world of men. A retroactive #metoo some might say but a first if we were to judge using a temporal logic. In any case, it reflects modern problems in a historical mirror stained by a lot of red.
But the great talent of Ridley Scott and, by extension, of this movie, is its ability to grasp the attention of any type of viewer. It starts off with a little bit of medieval warfare. It portrays the respective age by way of customs, laws, mannerisms, mentalities, and so on; gently transitioning into drama, rivalry, and court intrigue.
As the minutes pass by we also get to see more and more of the character Marguerite and, if you pay attention, you get to observe how this cold world becomes warmer and nicer because of this feminine element. We also get a little bit of thriller due to the unfortunate and painful event. And it all culminates in the best sword action scene I have ever witnessed in a film. I was literally grasping the arms of the chair I was sitting in. The suspense that builds up, in the end, is tremendous. Who is right, who will win, who will get punished?
Innuendos galore
The finale is a big climax, and the structure and narration of the film permit an analogy with the orgasm - an important topic in the movie presented in dialogue and happenings: the wedding night, the debauchery of the lords with women who are not their wives, giving birth and pregnancy or the lack thereof, the investigation of women being able to reach the orgasm or not, the rape, the mentality of the clergy who declare that women get pregnant only if their reach said orgasm...
But an orgasm that makes you think about it long after exiting the cinema. How's that for sexual wording? LOL! Getting back to the sexual assault scene I have to mention the one done in the HBO show Shadows (2019). I have never seen something so impactful, so visceral. Andreea Vasile and Laurenţiu Bănescu deserved an award for that scene alone...
Here, the merit goes to Adam Driver and especially Jodie Comer who I had hoped would get an Oscar nomination for this scene in particular, and the role in general. I thought her range was incredible: from an innocent, delightful princess to nervousness, anger, being a victim, and so on. You have to pay attention though as most of this is done by subtle eye movements and facial expressions. Very easy to miss.
Medieval art and film
Not that I know too many but my favorite painter is Edmund Blair Leighton. Because of the style/era he chose to depict - the medieval fairy tale setting. One of the most popular, and perhaps his best-made pieces is 'God Speed'. And I think The Last Duel captures the time period accurately as well. And perhaps even gives an homage to the painting mentioned above with the leaving-for-war scene. Although, there is no red ribbon. Maybe I'm reading too much into it... But my mind did wander to those paintings while watching the film.
Criticized for the similar narrative structure as Rashômon (1950), a movie that approaches the same remembering of events in the case of rape, The Last Duel has sufficient motives to let that pass. That is to say, we live in an era where 90% of the movies we pay to see are rehashes of the same superhero template.
Good entertainment and an even better history lesson, The Last Duel is not quite a masterpiece. However, the way it draws you in with its visuals and then brings it back to hook you again while at the same time gently pulling you onto its emotional track more and more is quite praiseworthy. So, if you succeed in enjoying the high-value production and depiction of the era and its warfare, while at the same time grasping the emotional track of Marguerite's character in the end you will be doubly rewared.
The big conclusion
And director Ridley Scott succeeded in transmitting all of this while the ordinary spectator will not observe most of it. So maybe here lies most of the reasoning for its box office failure. Reading a review for the movie that rated it as an 8 but says that it is not too enjoyable makes me think that we have become intolerant to digesting something else. Not everything has to be 'fun'.
The Last Duel is a mature film that makes you feel real stuff. One that presents various aspects of the complexities of human life; of differences in perspectives. But not just in the masculine-feminine dichotomy - relevant here is the first meeting between Marguerite and Le Gris. For her, it was cold and short; for him, full of flirt. But also young versus old, noble versus pleb, legal versus non-legal, religion or church versus truth.
Written by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck (he plays too but does not manage to really impress me, like in most of his movies) and Nicole Holofcener for the feminine character perspective, The Last Duel can simplistically be summarized as a film about feminism in the 14th century, whose message is more important than its denouement or finding out who was right.
It's both clear and unclear, as it should be, in this litigation matter which five centuries later is still being debated, specifically on this case, but in current social matters and events too.
