The Last Duel: Ridley Scott Moves On To The Revenge Saga With Matt Damon

the last duel
the last duel

It could turn out to be the best movie in Ridley Scott’s vaunted career as he builds upon a strong female character to deliver a brutal look at masculine fragility. While it appears to be a movie about 2 men fighting over an assault on one of their wives, it turns into a deeper movie.

The Last Duel draws viewers into a nasty, brutal, men-dominated world dominated by men that has a parallel to our own. 6 centuries after the events in The Last Duel, the movie brilliantly depicts the truth as seen not through the truth colored by the imperfection of fragile men.

Rather, The Last Duel is seen from a woman’s perspective. Her survival rests on seeing the world for what it is and not dependent on the misrepresentation of love, honor, and myths.

The Last Duel Reveals A World Of Real Men And Women

The script by co-stars, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, who also happen to be the co-writers along with Nicole Holofcener. They have managed to move away from the Hollywood staple of the Arthurian-style romance of knightly virtues, chivalric code, and courtly manners. Instead, in The Last Duel, Scott reveals a more real world of men and women.

Matt Damon plays a nobleman down on his luck who fights on behalf of his king. He marries Marguerite, a younger woman. He goes away to war and returns a year later to find that she had been assaulted by a fellow knight and friend, Jacques LeGris.

The story is divided into 3 chapters with each becoming the point of view of each of the three main characters, Jean, his wife, and friend. Jean takes the cast to the court of Charles VI, demanding a duel.

While the story is weighted towards the dueling noblemen, the character of the women involved has equal participation in the tragedy.

The use of multiple narratives creates three different points of conflicting views. Marguerite’s point of view shifts the whole story, including how she sees the assault and her husband. This upends the traditional point of view that upends women from the narrative.  Scott presents a cold and unforgiving world in The Last Duel where few come out clean and looking good. The movie presents a world of destructive male power where women come a distant second. But Marguerite manages to make a strong mark on the movie.