The Last Duel
Status: Finished first viewing on 02/21/2022
Rating: 4/5
Spoilers
Summary
This movie tells the story of two French knights, Jean de Carrouges and Jacques le Gris. They were comrades in battle and begin the story as friends. Carrouges experiences a sequence of humiliations that lead to his financial and social decline. His loss is le Gris’s gain, who takes ownership of fabulous estates and titles that were originally intended for Carrouges. Over the years, the two men become enemies. Then, le Gris becomes infatuated with Marguerite, Carrogues’s wife. Le Gris rapes Marguerite. Carrogues challenges le Gris to a duel, such that god can decide his guilt. Carrogues kills le Gris.
Up to the point of the duel, the movie tells the above story 3-times, from the perspectives of first Carrogues, then le Gris, and then Marguerite. The Carrogues narrative focuses on how wronged Carrogues was. He tries to be a good soldier for his country and a good husband to Marguerite. Yet, everything keeps going wrong for him.
The le Gris narrative focuses on what a buffoon Carrogues is. It’s not le Gris’s fault that Carrogues is really dumb. Le Gris is actually a pretty smart, charming, and effective guy, so it’s not surprising that he is successful. Then, Le Gris rapes Marguerite, but he doesn’t seem to see it that way. He thinks her protests were just her being a lady, though even based on what le Gris remembers, it is unambiguously rape.
Finally, it shifts to Marguerite’s perspective, and this is when I started enjoying the movie. Carrogues seems to have forgotten several times when he was a really nasty towards Marguerite. It turns out, Marguerite did not want Carrouges to challenge le Gris to a duel, for very practical reasons. If Carrouges dies, the court will judge Marguerite’s accusations to be false, and she will be killed in a gruesome manner. She calls Carrouges out for being a phony, who only cares for his reputation. There are many scenes which show the hell Marguerite is put through in her search for justice.
Fortunately for Marguerite, Carrouges wins the duel. Carrouges is celebrated. Le Gris is dead and disgraced. Marguerite is ignored. Yet, Marguerite is the real winner, because Carrouges ends up also dying a couple years later, and Marguerite lives the rest of her days as a happy rich widow.
Commentary
The three narrative gimmick very effectively supports the movies message. These men lack self-awareness. Le Gris really does not believe that he committed a rape. Carrouges really does think he is acting in the service of Marguerite. They are wrong.
Unfortunately, there are some downsides to the three narrative gimmick. I didn’t enjoy the first two acts very much, because I didn’t see where it was going. The editing in the early scenes felt choppy to me. This is because content is deliberate cut-out, to be shown later. Were it executed perfectly, it wouldn’t feel choppy.
I think Adam Driver and Matt Damon were both supposed to come off as buffoons, and I think they pulled it off. Driver was better. Ben Affleck was bizarre in this film, both in appearance and performance. He kind of reminded me of Chuckie from Good Will Hunting, which had no place in this story. The stand-out performance was Jodie Comer as Marguerite.
This is one of the best movies I have ever seen about systemic oppression. This is mainly because (1) it’s coherent in it’s messaging, and 2) Marguerite is actually a really good character. She makes important choices that matter in determining what happens in the story. She is not just a victim. She has real virtues.