The Last Duel

The Last Duel (2021) is about something that actually happened in France in 1386: the last judicial duel the country officially sanctioned. When an accusation could not be proven, the parties fought and God was expected to give victory to the one in the right. Marguerite de Carrouges says she was raped by her husband's friend Jacques Le Gris. He denies it. The king orders a duel. The cruellest part is this: if her husband loses, Marguerite will be burned alive for bearing false witness. The film is divided into three chapters telling the same events three times, from three points of view. The husband's account, Le Gris's account, and Marguerite's. Only the third chapter's title card adds the word truth. That is how the director tells you who is being honest. The differences between the accounts are small, which is precisely why they land. The same scene, the same lines, but the length of a look or the force of a touch changes. Matt Damon and Ben Affleck wrote the screenplay; Marguerite's chapter was written by Nicole Holofcener. It is adapted from Eric Jager's book of the same name. Ridley Scott's explanation for its commercial failure produced an argument of its own. It runs 153 minutes. Good for: historical drama, narrative structure, and Ridley Scott. Less good for: the rape is shown twice, from two perspectives, and it is genuinely hard. It is long.