The Last Duel (2021) * *

 

Directed by:  Ridley Scott

Starring:  Matt Damon, Adam Driver, Jodie Comer, Ben Affleck, Zeljko Ivanek

The Last Duel subjects us to this listless, lifeless story not once, but three times.   The tale of how France's last sanctioned duel came to pass is told first from Jean de Carrouges' (Damon) point of view, then through Jacques Le Gris' (Driver), and then from Marguerite de Carrouges' (Comer) viewpoint.  Aside from some slight differences in character perceptions, there is little to distinguish between them.  Because of that, The Last Duel plays at a bloated 153 minutes instead of a taut and tense 100 minutes if it hadn't decided to go all clever on us.  

Asking us to spend this much time with these people truly overestimates our goodwill.   The Last Duel has zero scenes which aren't played to overcast skies and a gray pall pressing down on everything.  It is a nasty piece of business; brutal, bloody, and without anyone to care about.   Marguerite has the unfortunate fate of being coveted by these two men who began as friends but soon grew to be blood enemies fighting to the death when Marguerite accuses Jacques of rape.   The only dispute is whether Jacques committed sexual assault or consensual rough sex.   Upon further review, if it looks like rape, it likely is rape.

The Last Duel could have been told without all of the extra subplots involving Count Pierre de Alencon (a blonde Affleck) and even all of the business about land bequeathed to Jean but soon usurped by Pierre and given to Jacques as payment of debt.   The friendship was already torn apart by the time Jacques decided to chase Marguerite all over her home in hopes of assaulting her.   There could have been more captivating dramatic possibilities if the two men weren't already at each other's throats before Marguerite appeared on the scene.   These guys were itching to fight anyway.

Directed by Ridley Scott, The Last Duel's high-quality technical elements are overshadowed by the ugliness of the violence and the characters' unlikability.   Mind you, characters don't have to be loved, but we should at least care about them.   The movie takes so long to arrive at the duel that we forget there is one.   The duel happens, one of the fighters is killed in a particularly gruesome way, and then the happy ending occurs when we read about another character's fate in the epilogue.   We wait all this time to have to read our happy ending on the screen.