The Last Duel review: Heavy-handed historical epic saved by Jodie Comer’s superb performance

A talented screenwriter and on-screen star, Matt Damon rarely puts a foot wrong. But in his new movie, he’s the weakest link.

Ridley Scott’s historical epic The Last Duel is a puzzler.

On the one hand, you can see exactly what this film is trying to do, how it’s done it and why.

On the other hand, all those necessary choices add to up a really dull first half which makes the movie, already two-and-a-half hours long, feel as if time has stopped.

With a Rashomon-style split perspective, The Last Duel is played out in triptych – three versions of the same story, from Jean de Carrouges (Matt Damon), Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver) and Marguerite de Carrouges (Jodie Comer).

The Last Duel is based on a historical event from the 14th century, the last legal duel in France, fought between a knight, de Carrouges, and his former friend, Le Gris, after Marguerite accuses Le Gris of rape.

Ostensibly, de Carrouges takes up arms against Le Gris on his wife’s behalf, but the truth is that under the law, a rape is not a crime against the woman but against her husband, classified as a property offence.

Adam Driver and Matt Damon in The Last Duel. Picture: Patrick Redmond/20th Century Fox

Technically, de Carrouges is the wronged party. But his motivations are less about professed honour and justice and more about old grudges, wounded pride and male entitlement.

These self-perceptions of the truth – “your truth” as it were – unfolds through The Last Duel’s structure, which begins with de Carrouges’ version of events, of how he sees himself and his relationship to the events.

Everyone truly is the hero of their own stories.

Starting with de Carrouges would have been the miscalculation by Scott, and screenwriters Damon, Ben Affleck and Nicole Holofcener, if it wasn’t so necessary for the overall story.

As portrayed by Damon, de Carrouges is a self-righteous knight whose hubris is as great as his grievances. He sees himself as both the champion and the victim, a man whose worth is undervalued and undercut by the louts Le Gris and his protector Count Pierre (Ben Affleck).

Matt Damon also co-wrote the screenplay. Picture: Patrick Redmond/20th Century Fox

It’s a terribly frustrating way into the story because de Carrouges is not someone you want to spend the first 40-plus minutes with, and that’s when he’s presented in the most flattering light. It’s a rare misstep for Damon, whose performance is flat and prosaic.

The energy picks up in the next segment as it shifts into Driver’s perspective as Le Gris. In his mind, Le Gris considers himself a good friend trying to save de Carrouges from himself and the wrath of the Count.

Driver is always an interesting performer, even when the script doesn’t give him much to do, and Affleck as the bacchanalian-loving, hedonistic Count is the only person having any fun in the proceedings, providing levity at the right moments.

But the heart of the film lies in the final section, Marguerite’s story, which the film declares as the real truth of everything that went down. It’s only here that you understand the true natures of de Carrouges and Le Gris, and not how they see themselves.

Jodie Comer saves The Last Duel from being a cold, formalist exercise. Picture: Patrick Redmond/20th Century Fox

The culmination is not the duel itself – which is bloody, violent and stark – but the rape.

It’s an awful scene that emphasises Marguerite’s horror, and it connects it to the common experiences of women over millennia, of being brutalised and then disbelieved, of the lies men tell themselves and the world.

But it’s also a very heavy-handed film that almost shouts its feminist sympathies. You end up admiring The Last Duel more for its formalist and structural building blocks – and you can see the seams of how it’s put together – than for any emotional impact.

It’s Comer who saves it from being a cold, intellectual exercise in storytelling. The subtle modulations in her performance within each segment is more effective than the film’s violent ending.

If there’s any reason to see The Last Duel, it’s for Comer.

Rating: 3/5

The Last Duel is in cinemas from Thursday, October 21

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Originally published as The Last Duel review: Heavy-handed historical epic saved by Jodie Comer’s superb performance