The best films are the ones with the simplest stories executed perfectly.
I’ve said this time and time again because I believe it to be true and I’ve seen it in many of the movies I have come to enjoy today. It’s a simple pattern that works on almost any story. The movie I’m talking about today follows this pattern and that’s why I would consider it one of the best of 2021 because it gets a lot of things right. From its pacing and the direction of the plot, to the cast’s portrayal of each character they play, to the sequence the story is told, all contribute to showing us how good Ridley Scott is as director and how well thought out the story was. I will also have to give credit to scriptwriters Nicole Holofcener, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck who all do an amazing job of crafting this compelling epic, action, drama story.
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Looking at the reviews, the film does receive a lot of praise from its critics, but this however doesn’t reflect at the box office and it might deter a lot of people from seeing this film but make no mistakes my friend, this film is a classic and OOHH!! It’s great. For those who don’t know yet the film we will be discussing today is Ridley Scott’s the last duel. The story has this feel to it, it’s hard to describe, like the feel of what a female empowerment film should be. It doesn’t try to generalize characters as primarily good and evil; instead focusing on the nuances of characters and the consequences of their decisions. It shows us the power of narratives and how the truth is often told differently by people all based on their perspective and how they experience events and it also shows us how easily people attribute a narrative as the truth. In the end we all misinterpret truth and we choose to see ourselves as victims and heroes of our own story instead of perpetrators of our own action only to eventually suffer the consequences and blame everyone else but ourselves. The story is broken into three sides,
The truth according to Jean de Carrouges
The truth according to Jacques le Gris
The truth according to Lady Marguerite
The truth according to Jean Carrouges
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In his testimony Jean de Carrouges played by Matt Damon sees himself as a courageous kind, loving husband whose loyalty to his king and to his country is betrayed both by his lord and by his best friend. In his telling of the events, he courageously saves Jacques le Gris’ life in the battle for Limoges a real life battle that happened in the Caroline war of 1369. Subsequently they both establish a friendship after this battle and both go back to Carrouges home to swear fealty to their new lord Count Pierre who has been named their overlord by the king of France Charles V. From Carrouges first interaction with the count while swearing his fealty to him, we see that the count treats him with some disdain as he commands him to come closer when he kneels before him. This brief interaction foreshadows the dynamic of the relationship they would have. The account of Carrouges further leads us to finding out how he came to meet and marry his wife while he was away fighting in the Normandy war. He marries her because he wants to inherit the handsome dowry that comes with marrying her as he is in serious debt to his count. One of the properties a land called Aunou-le-faucon is promised to him as part of the dowry payments but unfortunately it is taken by Count Pierre as compensation for the money owed by lady Marguerite’s father and it is given to none other than Jacques le Gris who now happens to be a close confidant of Count Pierre. This is the first straw De Carrouges is made to bear.
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The next comes when he tries to sue the count for the land he claims to be rightfully his in the name of reclaiming it for his wife since it was the land promised to her. His petition is denied by the king and to further spite him, Count Pierre strips him of his captaincy inheritance which includes his father’s castle and his possessions and gives it to Jacques le Gris AGAIN. At this point De Carrouges loses it and rides straight to the coronation ceremony to give the count and Le Gris a piece of his mind. Time passes by and eventually his wife persuades him to finally come out once again and let bygones be bygones. He meets with le Gris at a child naming ceremony and the two of them publicly settle their quarrel. Not long after he goes to war to fight for his country against the Scottish and it ends in his utter defeat this is just after he has being named a knight and then first battle he goes into as a knight ends in his defeat and the loss of almost all his men. When he returns home in his account he comes with a fever but he travels the next day to give his report to his Count and to get his wages for the campaign. Upon his return he sees his wife distraught and sad when he questions her about it she tells him that she was raped by Le Gris. This is the last straw he can bear from the man he once called his friend and he decides that the best way to end it is by petitioning the king to let them decide either of their innocence by a duel to the death; a petition which the king grants. There’s a lot more to the story that takes place but this is the major events that take place in the first chapter and the first act of the film. The second act follows Jacques le Gris’ account of the story
The truth according to Jacques le Gris
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According to Jacques, De Carrouges is an honourable man but he is a proud, brash, stubborn, unforgiving and dimwitted man, qualities that appear in both his and Lady Marguerite account of De Carrouges. So we quite correctly assume this to be the truth, De Carrouges is not as honourable or as honest as he claims to be. In his account of the story, he saves De Carrouges life after he failed to obey the counts orders which later lead to the loss of Limoges. This helps us understand why the count doesn’t take a liking to him. Also in Le Gris’ account of the story, it is he who saves De Carrouges in the battle of Limoges and it is he who persuades the army to follow him into battle so he doesn’t die alone. He makes this known to us while he recounts the battle report to Count Pierre where we also learn why he favoured by the count, it is because he came under high recommendation. The next scene follows how he warms his way into the count’s heart from being a learned squire as he is able to read latin to also proves to be a capable accountant for the count even making him money during a famine by means of forcing the knights and squires under the Count to pay up their tribute or relinquish property owned by them to the count. One of the knights whose land is taken away in this time is Robert de Thibouville the father of Marguerite and the land that is taken from him Aunou-le-faucon. Mind you it wasn’t the count who specifically asked that this land be taken from Robert but it is Le Gris who specifically demands for this land so that he can have it for himself. This time coincides with when De Carrouges goes to fight in the Normandy war and gets lady Marguerite’s hand in marriage. It is also the time he claims he is promised the land. Subsequently after this the land is given to Le Gris, De Carrouges sues but he is denied and his captaincy and his house is stripped from him and given to Le Gris also. At this point we begin to see it here, how Le Gris greedy and covetousness knows no bounds. He takes the property and the title of the man who he claims to be his friend and soon enough he begins to set his eyes on his wife just a year after he had taken these things from him.
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At the party where both he and De Carrouges reconciles he is offered lady Marguriete to kiss as a show of good faith between he and his friend [which to be fair is kinda weird but oh well]. It’s at this point as my Nigerian English will permit me to say she started ‘entering his eye’ meaning that this is the point where he starts lusting over her and calling it love. After De Carrouges comes back to Paris to give his report about the loss at Scotland Le Gris claims that Jean treats him spitefully even after declaring publicly to forgive him. I personally don’t believe this. It is also where he hears that Carrouges is heading over to pick his wages from the treasury and that is when he takes the opportunity to go to his home and rapes his wife but instead of seeing it as rape, he says he committed adultery. This is the last straw that breaks De Carrouges back he sues him to a trial by combat and his petition is heard by the king even before Count Pierre his backbone is able to protect him.
The truth according to Lady Marguerite
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The opening of this chapter subtly tries to suggest to us that this might be the closet narrative to the truth by fading the part of it’s opening shot that says the truth last. This story doesn’t bother recounting the battle at Limoges but rather begins immediately at the sharing of the dowry to De Carrouges and the revelation that he didn’t pay the bride price for his new wife as well as him also knowing that the land he wanted Aunou-le-faucon was already seized by the count. This just further tears down De Carrouges honour in our eyes. We find out from her story that indeed de Carrouges is not as caring as he claims to be, choosing to marry her for her dowry and not because he loved her. He treats her more like property instead of an actual person and he is rather stubborn and dimwitted. She is having issues with conceiving a child and though he doesn’t blame her for it, but he really isn’t bothered about her concerns instead he is more concerned about getting a son. He runs his businesses, his horses his estate and his farms poorly and he isn’t in the least concerned about his wife. When he goes for the Scottish campaign, Marguerite takes care of things in his estate doing a better job as she is educated and he is not. In his absence she endures the constant mocking of his mother who scolds her for not having a child for him. When he eventually comes back from his lose she tries to welcome him but he treats her coldly as usual. At dinner he tells her about his trip to Paris the next day directly instructing her not to leave the house and to have her under the supervision of his mother. While he is away however, his mother leaves with all the guards living her alone. It’s on this day that Jacques Le Gris comes in to rape her. When her husband returns she informs him and his first order of business is to threaten her and then to rape too so that Jacques is not the last man to know her.
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She eventually gets pregnant after this incident and it is assumed at the trial that she could not possibly have been raped because and get this…….. a woman cannot get pregnant from being raped and if she did get pregnant it is a sign that she orgasmed during sex. Mehn medieval science is one of the dumbest sciences in history. Eventual she is looped into the decision of trial by combat with her husband. If her husband is to die in the fight then she would be stripped and lashed publicly and she would be burned to death and just to emphasize the horrendous nature of the death, the judge let’s her know that victims usually burn for 30 minutes before they eventually die. It is after this hearing that she gives her husband a piece of her mind. She says to him when he claims to risk his life for her
‘You are risking my life so you can fight your enemy and save your pride and that could render our child an orphan. You are a hypocrite blinded by your vanity’
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A year passes by and the decided day for the duel eventually comes, Jean de Carrouges and Jacques le Gris face off for one last time to determine who is telling the truth. The fight is an intense one with Jacques coming close to triumphing several times even going as far as cutting Jean in the thigh but eventually Jean overcomes him by staking a dagger through his mouth.
Jean’s name and house is saved and restored, Marguerite is saved and Jacques body is hanged shamelessly at the town’s square. All is well and the film ends with Marguerite smiling as she watches her child play in the field and the credits tell us how De Carrouges later dies in a war and Marguerite never remarries.
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Like I said there are a lot of things to learn from this story and I do touch on a lot of them in my introduction but I did genuinely enjoy this film and it made me appreciate Ridely Scott more and the actors, Jodie Foster, Matt Damon, Adam Driver and Ben Affleck really do agreat job on this film and it’s so sad that it didn’t get the recognition it deserves. With that I have come to the end of another lengthy movie post I will see you guys soon