8 / 10
The Last Duel is Ridley Scott’s 2021 American historical drama adapting Eric Jager’s 2004 nonfiction book of the same name. The film depicts the 1386 trial by combat between Norman knight Jean de Carrouges and squire Jacques Le Gris over Carrouges’s wife Marguerite’s accusation that Le Gris raped her. The film employs Rashomon-style structure depicting the events three times from the perspectives of Carrouges, Le Gris, and Marguerite. The combat itself was the last legally sanctioned trial by combat in French history. Matt Damon plays Jean de Carrouges. Adam Driver plays Jacques Le Gris. Jodie Comer plays Marguerite de Carrouges. Ben Affleck plays Count Pierre d’Alencon. Harriet Walter plays Carrouges’s mother Nicole. Alex Lawther plays King Charles VI. Marton Csokas plays Crespin. The screenplay was written by Nicole Holofcener, Ben Affleck, and Matt Damon. The film was produced by 20th Century Studios on a budget of approximately 100 million dollars and grossed approximately 30 million dollars worldwide.
The Last Duel works as Ridley Scott’s most substantial late-career medieval production and one of the more thoughtful Hollywood treatments of medieval sexual violence. The triple-perspective Rashomon structure gives the events three distinct treatments before the final combat resolves the immediate question of who survives. The Marguerite perspective addresses the historical record’s documentation of how medieval women’s testimony was treated by ecclesiastical and royal authorities. The film’s commercial failure relative to its major production budget has produced ongoing discussion about how serious historical material competes with conventional Hollywood entertainment. The material reflects real historical research while the dramatic compression makes particular events accessible to general audiences.
The Rashomon Structure
Scott constructs the film through three sequential perspectives that depict the same events from different viewpoints. The Carrouges perspective shows him as honorable knight whose wife has been violated by his rival. The Le Gris perspective shows him as sophisticated nobleman whose seduction Marguerite eventually invited. The Marguerite perspective shows her as woman whose testimony has been disbelieved by everyone around her including her own husband.
The Rashomon technique addresses how medieval sexual violence was actually adjudicated. The film proves that medieval women’s accounts of rape were typically subordinated to men’s interpretations of events. Marguerite’s perspective receives explicit confirmation as truth through the title card stating The truth according to Lady Marguerite de Carrouges. The film thus takes a position on the contested historical events rather than presenting all three perspectives as equally valid. The picture distinguishes the film from Kurosawa’s original Rashomon (1950) where the film refused to declare which account was true.
For Writers
Multiple-perspective structures can take positions rather than maintaining ambiguity. Worth remembering for fiction. The story that presents competing accounts can declare which account it endorses rather than leaving the question open.
The Trial by Combat
The trial by combat lands as final resolution mechanism that medieval ecclesiastical and royal courts could not provide. The Carrouges accusation could not be resolved through testimony because the case became he-said-she-said dispute. Medieval law permitted trial by combat as final appeal when other resolution methods failed. The combatants would fight to death. The winner’s claim would be deemed truthful by divine judgment. Marguerite would be executed if Carrouges lost on the theory that her false testimony had caused his death.
The system gave Marguerite no meaningful agency in the resolution. She could not testify directly. She could not benefit from any outcome except her husband’s victory. She would die if her husband died. The material captures actual medieval legal practice that constrained women’s options severely. The film shows that the system produced violence that pretended to be divine judgment while actually serving male political interests. The argument has produced ongoing critical engagement. Whether the analysis matches actual medieval conditions has been debated.
For Writers
Historical legal systems carried meanings that conventional historical depiction often softens. Useful for adaptation and historical fiction. The reality of historical conditions can produce dramatic content that mythological treatment would have prevented.
Comer as Marguerite
Jodie Comer plays Marguerite with the controlled intelligence the role requires. Marguerite must operate within the constraints while preserving her own knowledge of what occurred. The performance plays repeated humiliation, institutional disbelief, and physical violation while preserving the character’s underlying conviction that her account remains true regardless of who chooses to believe it.
Comer had made her career through the Killing Eve television series before The Last Duel. The film gave her the serious dramatic material that other feature filmmakers including Free Guy (2021) and various others would extend. Her career has continued to build across multiple later films. The pattern of television performers transitioning successfully to feature work has continued across multiple actors. Television and feature work operate as alternative paths that can support each other rather than as separate career tracks.
For Writers
Strong central performances by women can carry films that depict historical violence against women. Worth remembering for adaptation. The performer who invests in such material gives the experience weight that less committed work would not have generated.
Craft Note
Ridley Scott directed The Last Duel as one of his late-career historical productions. He continues working across multiple genres in his eighties with sustained output that few directors of his generation have matched. His later directors including House of Gucci (2021) and Napoleon (2023) extended his approach. The pattern of long-career directors maintaining productivity across multiple decades requires both physical health and continuing creative engagement.
Verdict
The Last Duel reads as Ridley Scott’s most significant late-career medieval production. The Rashomon structure takes a position rather than maintaining ambiguity through the title card endorsement of Marguerite’s account. The trial by combat captures actual medieval legal practice that constrained women’s options severely. Jodie Comer’s central performance carries the historical violence with controlled intelligence. Worth viewing for anyone interested in medieval period cinema, in Ridley Scott’s filmography, or in productions whose treatment of historical sexual violence operates with genuine seriousness.
FAQ
Should I read the Eric Jager source?
The 2004 nonfiction book provides extensive historical context. Reading it produces understanding of what the film adapted and what it compressed.
How accurate is the historical incident?
Substantially accurate to documented events. The 1386 trial by combat is one of the most thoroughly documented medieval French legal proceedings.
How does the runtime function?
The film runs approximately two hours thirty-three minutes. The long runtime accommodates the triple-perspective structure without compressing any single perspective.
How does the film fit Ridley Scott’s filmography?
The Last Duel represents Scott’s late-career medieval production. Kingdom of Heaven (2005) and Robin Hood (2010) preceded it. The Last Duel operates at higher dramatic register than the earlier medieval productions.
What is the cultural impact of the film?
Moderate sustained impact relative to its considerable production budget. The commercial failure has produced ongoing discussion about how serious historical material competes with conventional Hollywood entertainment.
Is the film appropriate for younger viewers?
The film contains serious violence including the rape and the trial by combat. Adults only.