The Last Duel (Ridley Scott)
 

Re: The Last Duel (Ridley Scott)
 

it looks pretty good, jodie comer does amazing job on killing eve tv series also

I watched it about a month ago, it must have been. Good stuff, Jodie is good and Ben Affleck is just incredible (never thought I’d say that), I guess being around Damon brings out the best in him.

Re: The Last Duel (Ridley Scott)
 

seems cool

Erm, why is this here?

have u watches killing eve? shes on it its really good show

Yes, have given it a try. It’s fine, but not for me. I’ve been over-exposed to all things spies, so now find them a bit boring. Also I find all iterations of “two people lethally obsessed with each other” laughable.

i only watched first season then stopped watching it =/ yea thats true some spies shows can be boring sometimes.

Much darker than I expected and contrary to agrippinax I thought Affleck was a bit off with his swagger and accent but overall probably one of the best 2021 releases I've seen so far. Great performance by Jodie Comer. 78/100.

Ridley Scott ranking:

1. Alien
2. Gladiator
3. Blade Runner
4. The Martian
5. Kingdom of Heaven
6. American Gangster
7. The Last Duel
8. Black Rain
9. Prometheus
10. Legend
11. Thelma and Louise
12. All the Money in the World
13. Black Hawk Down
14. Exodus: Gods and Kings
15. Matchstick Men
16. Robin Hood
17. Alien: Covenant
18. Body of Lies
19. Hannibal
20. G.I. Jane

Couldn't agree more. I watched it yesterday and it was amazing.

Ha, maybe I just have a very low bar for him to clear (likely). I’m very conflicted on the morals in it & who “has a point”, as it were (not going to be a popular opinion, that), which may have muddied the waters. Have just rewatched and it’s definitely better on second watch.

Re: The Last Duel (Ridley Scott)
 

I enjoyed the film, I was on the side of Matt damon character despite being a dick sometimes couldnt stand his so called friend and ben afflec characters.

Killing Eve started very strong, but I think it was season 2 when I bailed out.

Almost finished The Last Duel. Never thought I would make it through 2-1/2 hours of a period GOT-like movie, but I will. Jodie Comer very good in this.

It’s not bad, but the skirting around of the rape scene (3 times) annoyed me. And Adam Driver can only have sex from behind? Confusing.

Wonder why Ridley Scott, et al. thought this movie would recoup the $100,000,000 spent on it. Seems such a waste of energy & money for a not too exciting story. (Don’t get me started on the accents that were all over the place.)

I agree with you on all of the above - especially accents and the “skirting around the rape”. I know we aren’t fully aligned on it but I do think rape portrayals can be better than this. It was fairly graphic though which I did think was quite fitting (especially in this instance).

“Sex from behind”. Yes, poor thing.

I don’t think Ridley expected to recoup it. Just a little passion project.

@Stirchley
@AgrippinaX

I watched this on release, so my memory is fuzzy. Could either of you elaborate on the "skirting around rape" criticism? I read skirting as dismissively trying to step around the subject. Or are you meaning more along the lines of, "OK, yeah we get it! Why show it three times?!"

At this risk of proclaiming irreparable ignorance....

If the latter, then I'd argue that the rape (or at the very least, the accusation of rape) is the central theme of the movie given its historical significance. If her husband failed the duel, she would have been burned at the stake until dead for being a liar. If her husband was proven victorious, well, then it was his victory and still her character gained nothing in the eyes of her husband or the people, I would assume.

The rape and all that followed, to me, were incredibly focused points to show how men and women were so far apart in regards to any standing or even basic human rights. Her husband seemed more interested in his ego and defending his own honor far more than any consideration to her injury, physical, emotional, or social. Did he not also take his wife, sexually, after finding out so as not to allow le Gris to be the last man to have her? Even that was all ego and territorial.

Iderno. The rape (all three instances) felt important to me and quite difficult to watch by the third, true iteration. It made me sick. But the thing is, my response was one that no man at that time would have ever considered. Her mother-in-law even scolded her for drawing attention to herself implying that she (the MIL) had been raped and by bringing her accusation to court, she was risking dishonoring her husband. Which is all just kind of jacked up and near unrelatable! But, I think that's the point. It all is very unrelatable from within what we consider to be civilized society. Granted, what we consider civilized is relative and we are far from ideal.

I guess my ramblings boil down to a dynamic between lack of such awareness of the time that this story was set, reflected in a potential audience today to the act of rape itself. Hm. I'm drifting. I think, as hard as it was to watch, the final shots of her rape were necessary to draw contrast in awareness. Even as a man, today, that is such an abstract concept. But it's not! It is a reality far beyond my comprehension, I would think. So because I cannot relate, this movie forced ME to face such a reality. One that I might otherwise not consider often past a fictional narrative element. I'm being extreme there to make the point of disconnect.

I suppose it's a similar dynamic to so many tragedies such as genocide, famine, abuse, etc., etc., where we know it exists but are so insulated from such suffering that it tragically becomes a side thought. This movie placed her tragedy right damn in front of me and I couldn't have avoided it if I tried. While I could never understand (well, I suppose I could), I can at least empathize somewhat more than I could before seeing this movie.

Yeah. Maybe I misread!!! Either way, I'm stepping back. I cringe, mousing over to the Submit button...

Re: The Last Duel (Ridley Scott)
 

I quite enjoyed it. 8/10

Jodie Comer is a rising star and brilliant in "Help" last year.

I don't think anyone will ever direct 2 films about historic duels 45 (or so) years apart ever again.

This surely was the longest post ever by ynwtf. Good points & I have time only to discuss my comment raised above.

Two rape scenes that pulled no punches are, of course, Irrèversible & the original Straw Dogs. To my mind, they are graphic enough & their brutality was sufficient to make rape the core of each movie. The Last Duel pussyfooted around the issue even though the “issue” drove the movie forward.

gracias.
From time to time, the spirits stir.
Re: rape #1 and #2, agreed. By the time #3 showed, I was already worn out though. Perhaps that's partly why it hit me has hard as it did relative to the other two. Maybe another point is if it seemed weak, could be that this film had the potential to attract a wider audience of those who enjoy historical sets, knights, and the cast. Someone coming in expecting Braveheart would have freaked! Given its box office take, perhaps they should have gambled on a more extreme version using the headlines to draw in curious audiences.

oh well. I guess you can mostly ignore my earlier post then!

Re: The Last Duel (Ridley Scott)
 

Two questions for those who’ve seen the movie:

Whose baby did Marguerite have? Jean her husband or Jacques?

Did Adam & Matt film the final scenes by themselves or were stunt doubles used?

Re: The Last Duel (Ridley Scott)
 

The toddler was blonde like Jean- her husband.