Jean de Carrouges is a respected knight known for his bravery and skill on the battlefield. Jacques Le Gris is a squire whose intelligence and eloquence makes him one of the most admired nobles in court. When Le Gris viciously assaults Carrouges' wife, she steps forward to accuse her attacker, an act of bravery and defiance that puts her life in jeopardy. The ensuing trial by combat, a gruelling duel to the death, places the fate of all three in God's hands.
Every once in a while, a film comes along that uncovers a seemingly lose tale that reignites an amazing yet powerful story and does so in such a way that yearns to be watched and experienced - this is the latest film in the long line of these. The Last Duel covers a story of a trial fought to decide a case brought by Sir Jean de Carrouges against squire Jacques Le Gris, with the film covering the full story over a span of just under a 2 and a half hour runtime. The film stars several big names too, with Jodie Comer, Ben Affleck, Adam Driver and Matt Damon to name a few - so before even walking into the cinema I was enthusiastic about how it would play out. Did the film live up to my expectations though, or did it seemingly fall of its horse and die? Here are my thoughts.
One of the fundamental parts of making a successful film set in historic times is to transport audiences into this time and world and to build a story that is both enjoyable yet immersive. What initially impressed me is how well this film seems to transport us from the cinema seats directly into the 14th century and the scenery of the film. Some of these methods are more obvious than others, but from the very beginning where we are initially thrown into the action sequence of the duel - the film has a very special energy to it, and the film offers a lot to help aid this.
It is simple things but from the initial view of Paris and the duel arena to how gender plays a part in character relationships and interactions, and even to the dialogue when referencing religion and supposed science facts believed at the time - the film starts perfectly by throwing us right into the ecosystem of the film from the very beginning and it sure doesn’t look back after this. Arguably as compelling though is the storyline of this film, and the manner in which it is told. As you may expect from a 2.30-hour film, it isn’t brief in its storyline but where this film exceeds is in its storytelling. The film starts by immersing us in Jean de Carrouges’s story of winning battles, betrayal and ultimately the rape of his wife. But it isn’t just a normal tale of events, the film engrossed us in Jean’s perspective, ranging from his feelings and relationships during battle, to how he cares for and treats his wife. So much so that by the end of his chapter, I was left wondering how the film would fill the remaining few hours!
The use of chapters is fantastic, because whilst individually the same story told from 3 perspectives may seem repetitive and boring, this is a core, fundamental aspect of why the storyline is so great. The perspective of each character is contained in a separate chapter, and whilst the story of one perspective was told in a way that had us emotionally attached, seeing the various perspectives of different characters helped to fill gaps in the stories throughout the film in a drip-fed process. I love how this film used sequential chapters to tell the stories through the 3 main characters eyes because not only does this feel like a risk that pays off (due to the reasons previously outlined), but it also keeps the storyline feeling fresh and exciting seeing familiar scenes but through unique perspectives and how characters respond to the same situation. This then gives us a much better interpretation of characters emotions, relationships and more importantly, helps tell the story.
Additionally though, I not only found the story to be exciting and incredibly engaging but it was also very well told. Whilst the inclusion of chapters helped with this, I found the general story to be exciting and enjoyable - seeing transitions between fast-paced battles to arguments and even to love and lust was executed in a way that gave us a great story but also in a way that missed out just enough detail for this to be covered in a separate chapter. Also though, it is important to mention that whilst exciting and enjoyable, the film is somewhat easy to follow and track, and is made simpler as the film progresses by seeing the same scenes played out again from different perspectives.
I also think that the story evoked emotional reactions extremely well too, the shock of myself and the audience during rape scenes, and nail-biting scenes of the duel to name a few. The film was able to tell the story from such a harsh reality that emotionally, it was really easy to get swept away by the strong ecosystem of the characters and scenes of the film - with scenes that aimed to evoke a reaction, doing this without needing to try too hard or desperately. The raw nature of the story gave us an exciting, yet immersive view of the story that made the film feel exciting but also shocking to watch from start to finish. In short, though, I loved the story and how well it was told, and whilst the inclusion of chapters is by no means a new thing, the manner in which the story included the element of perspective using these chapters was fantastic and made it a pleasure to watch from start to finish.
Equally as impressive though were the characters - whilst all of the acting here was great, Jodie Comer, Matt Damon and Adam Driver stole the show for me. How their characters just felt so real and enjoyable was fantastic - these characters also showed emotion exceedingly well, many of which were subtle. Through the use of raised voices to small bits of dialogue to the faint tear rolling down a cheek, the film was somewhat subtle in showing characters emotions whilst still ensuring that they were shown to us - in all honesty, these 3 characters were incredible and just shone throughout the movie for me.
That’s not to say the other characters were bad though, this couldn’t be further from the truth. I loved how well the characters seemed to support the ecosystem that this film created, using period-specific mannerisms and dialogue (such as scientific ‘evidence’ including that women cannot become pregnant from rape) that all came together to make them feel much more multidimensional and more than typical characters. Characters also demonstrated and relayed their emotions fantastically, and as mentioned the immersiveness of these scenes got to me, where I was visibly uncomfortable during the screams from Marguerite as she was raped and to a much more subtle extent, facial expressions during the court hearings. Not only did these help to tell a story of the feeling of each scene, but they helped to provide us with a more in-depth insight into the personalities of the characters and who they are.
Additionally, though, the characters are just generally great! They feel immersive, exciting and thrilling to watch, and more importantly, everyone plays their part - from the seemingly heartless King Charles VI character cheering for death during the duel and smirking during court hearings to Alice and Marie (friends of Marguerite). The varying roles are clear, but everyone does their part to create an ecosystem type feeling whilst also making every character well represented and enjoyable to watch. I loved the character selection here, and the acting was a joy to watch!
Whilst I thoroughly enjoyed the film and found it to be extremely well put together, there were a series of minor issues and flaws that I found with the film. One of the primary nitpicks I had related to how easy the film was to follow, whilst I found it to be mostly straightforward accompanied by dialogue and on-screen narrative to support this, I couldn't help but feel that in parts, the story (in each chapter) seemed to jump around a bit ever so slightly, for example, the scenes between the rape and the duel threat felt very quick, missing the potential for more scenes to help connect the dots a little better. Although the inclusion of chapters did aim to fix this (and on the whole it mainly did), this feeling of a somewhat jumpy nature still caught my eye, however by adding in additional scenes, the film would potentially run the risk of exceeding the 3-hour mark, and therefore being too long?
Another (extremely minor) issue that I had with the film-related to accents, now whilst the acting was fantastic (as mentioned) - one thing that caught my eye (or should I say ear) was the fairly obvious differences in accents between key characters. For example, Margeurite and Jean de Carrouges are both from Normandy, but their accents seemed to differ so much that it felt as though their birthplaces were countries apart - with Margeurite sounding typically English, and Jean sounding slightly American. As mentioned, it isn't a major issue because it was only somewhat identifiable during the film, and may have only been spotted by me, but it did take away somewhat from the authenticity and spirit of the film, albeit very little.
Overall, I rate this film a 9.5 out of 10. I loved the film from start to end, it was immersive, exciting and shocking when it needed to be. The stories of each character were relayed in such a great way through the use of chapters that kept the feeling of risk. The story was intriguing and excellently put together, resulting in an immersive story that is fairly easy to follow and understand. The characters were also insightful and genuinely interesting, supported by a fantastic cast of actors that helped to create this ecosystem. it is definitely worth mentioning that many audiences may shy away due to the historical nature of the film, but for those that venture to the cinema to watch this, you will be rewarded immensely.
Thank you for reading my review, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did watching the film and writing this review, I hope you have a lovely day! If you would like to check out my Official Facebook page where you can see sneak previous and more film insights then please consider checking out the link below!
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