Why Men Are Terrible
5/5
Spoilers
After several months of reviewing and only giving out one 5/5 rating, I realise I may have gotten a little generous with my top scores of late. But fear not loyal readers! Ghostbusters: Afterlife is around the corner. It is often around this time of year that the 'quality films' begin to appear. Almost as if in stark contrast to the dying breaths of Autumn, the top flicks spring up like daisies. Film makers know that they have a limited sweet spot to entice the Academy and earn a nomination at the Oscars - that period is now.
Ridley Scott is making a play for the awards season. He has found an historic drama, lined up Hollywood darling Adam Driver in a leading role, and thrown some serious publicity weight behind it. Unfortunately, it is not The Last Duel . His big picture this year, House of Gucci (focusing on the 90s murder of Maurizio Gucci as portrayed by Adam Driver), comes out shortly. The initial reviews have been mixed - I'll confirm myself soon after! This Ridley Scott film, even with the clout of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck on screen and partly behind the typewriter, and a glorious production design most director's would kill for, has slipped by like a carelessly forgotten thought. It is a shame too as The Last Duel is an excellent piece of cinema.
In recent years, Scott's powers have seemed to be waning. No more the visionary mind behind Alien, Blade Runner, or The Hovis Advert; now an artist fascinated by making the interesting dull. Prometheus and its follow-up, Alien: Covenant, managed to make a pretty strong argument against world building, whilst the best thing that can be said about All the Money in the World was that it didn't have Kevin Spacey in. Yet here we had a film that, in spite of a two and a half hour run time, showed how the craft of film making, when handled well, can tell a provocative and thoughtful story.
For those of you unaware of the concept of The Last Duel, and I assume that is many of you as most cinemas have refused to own up to showing it, the film is based on the last judicial duel in France. Jodie Comer's Marguerite is married off to the middle aged Jean de Carrouges (Matt Damon). Their marriage is not necessarily the happiest, though it is marred further by Carrouges' rivalry with Adam Driver's Jacques Le Gris. With Carrouges away, Le Gris forces his way into the Carrouges' castle and rapes Marguerite. She eventually tells her husband who, left with few legal alternatives, challenges Le Gris to a judicial duel to prove her case. The duel's outcome will be seen as the judgement of god - the victor has told the truth, the loser has lied and, obviosuly, is dead. Jolly stuff.
The film's structure is based simply in three acts, each a telling of the tale from the perspective of one of the three protagonists. Jean de Carrouges' version of events serve to portray the man as a courtly knight. He fights battles with honour, he debates his humiliations with humility, and he boldly challenges those who break the chivalric code. His version of the tale is first and, by far, the longest. The narrative cleverly takes you down a series of rabbit warrens. Although most are true, it is clear ultimately that the majority of his story is irrelevant to the heart of the matter, the rape effectively a further insult to Carrouges' honour. Here is a man obsessed with his own status, a man who sees the rape of his wife as another indignity to be shouldered.
The cleverest section comes with the second telling, that of Le Gris. Very easily the writing and shooting of the rapist's story could have descended into a bawdy "he said, she said" tale. The perpetrator's version of events will always show lies and a ridiculous amount of a flirting on the victim's side. Yet, although Marguerite shows kindness upon Le Gris, and perhaps shares a certain affinity with him, she never makes herself available to him or says anything other than "No." Even in his version, he rapes her.
The purpose of this narrative is very powerful. Rather than present Le Gris as a slightly unbelievable pantomime villain, he is made scarily realistic. He knows what he has done - the only main difference between his version and hers being how little she physically struggled, a sign of the brute strength of a medieval knight and his general mistreatment of women (as flagged in an earlier scene with prostitutes that acts as a foreshadow). What this version allows you to see is Le Gris gradually twisting events in his own head, justifying to himself why he had done nothing wrong, and ultimately how he comes to claim with incredulity that he had done nothing at all. The process is written with disturbing realism - a much more worrying prospect than merely denying the event. Although the history falls apart a little here (clearly the very thorough medieval records never recorded Le Gris admitting his actions), the message is strong.
Marguerite's version of the story is perhaps the shortest, although it does segue into the final scenes. The pace, with shortening versions of the story, is well managed to drive you to the end. Her version is declared "The Truth" - as my Dad pointed out, perhaps "God's Truth" would have been more fitting given the film's context. Here Comer is given brilliant space to show what a knockout actress she is. Throughout the variations of events, she brings little nuanced changes to her performance. The simplest of gestures, the turning of the corners of her mouth, a slightly perplexed brow, all tools used to bring us three similar, but differently viewed, Marguerites.
Comer's performance is heart-breaking. As Carrouges and Le Gris fight to the death, you feel a palpable sense of anxiousness, willing Carrouges to triumph over Le Gris. As her husband runs his blade through Le Gris' throat, a sense of relief pours over you, not for his sake but hers. Had he failed, not only would Marguerite be declared a liar but she would have been immediately burnt at the stake. It is the sign of a well structured narrative, led by such a star performance, that the audience can be so drawn into the lives of people long dead.
Much is said about the impact of the 'Me Too' on the world of cinema. I've read articles, tweets, and reviews deploring how it is seemingly 'shoved down our throats'. Unfortunately, women are still treated as such and cannot simply be ignored due to personal discomfort. Such movies as this, which find a remote historic story and show the parallels with our own society, are powerful tools. Here we have a story of men using women to gain power, wealth, land, and sexual gratification. As Carrouges is ridden to Notre Dame in a scene of triumph following his victory, Marguerite rides behind, in his shadows, watching the crowds perversely cheering the fact that her rape was real. Comer's look of hollowness is powerful and speaks to the point. Carrouges' support for his wife served to strengthen his own hand; Marguerite is secondary, her pain easily forgotten, her story still unimportant.
The Last Duel, 2021
Director: Ridley Scott
Writers: Nicole Holofcener, Ben Affleck, & Matt Damon
Composer: Harry Gregson-Williams
Starring: Jodie Comer, Matt Damon, Adam Driver, Ben Affleck, & Harriet Walter
Currently showing in limited screenings across the U.K.
Commentaires