The Last Duel

Stærkt manuskript, og lige så stærke præstationer. Stærk instruktion af Ridley Scott, der godt kan når han vil. En film om den sidste juridiske duel i Frankrig. Det vil sige en duel, hvor den juridiske sag vil blive afgjort af duellens udfald. Hele omdrejningspunktet er den formodet voldtægt af Lady Marguerite de Carrouges (Jodie Comer) af Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver), som ender med at hendes mand Jean de Carrouges kræver sagen afgjort ved duel. Hele affæren bliver fortalt fra de tre hovedpersoners synspunkt. Filmen er barsk og sætter et fokus på hele den måde, vi selv i dag taler om voldtægt. Det er et virkelige godt fortællegreb, som gør at man ikke ender med et klart svar på hvad der er sket, men jeg endte med at have mist tiltro til Lady Marguerites version. Comer gør det virkelig godt. Hvis man vil have mere af det vil jeg anbefale at man ser Kurosawas mesterværk Rashomon, som er endnu bedre. Stærke præstationer fra både Matt Damon, Jodie Comer, Ben Affleck og i særde

Takes its time to actually get to the duel but when it does, man is it worth it. Such a well shot sequence. No shaky cam and a million cuts. The action is clear to see. Sadly so rare these days. The duel is made all the better by the preceding stories. Not only are the high stakes made very clear, but the earlier parts of the film allows us to really understand the combatants and their relationship as well adding an extra layer to the suspenseful climax.

Really enjoyed this, and similar concept to Kurosawa’s Rashomon. It felt to me very faithful to medieval history with things like the ‘little death’ and ‘four bodies’ and ‘women being the property of men in the eye of the court’. Costumes and sets on top of that were brilliant. Not sure about Matt Damon being cast in this but everyone else was excellent. A little on the nose with the lot of women in this, but it’s important to show that life was unbearably cruel to women throughout history and this movie highlights that injustice quite prominently.