This is a no-spoiler review of Ridley Scott’s “The Last Duel.”
Set in 14th Century Normandy in the wake of a European outbreak of the Black Death, during the reign of Charles the 6th, this story is a tale told in three parts. It opens with a sneak preview of its ending – a story-telling palindrome of sorts. Each of the three parts tells the main conflict of the story from the perspective of each of its three central characters – two males and one female. It isn’t a love triangle as such; it is more complicated.
The backdrop is feudal Normandy with squires who are sworn vassals to a lord. One of the squires goes on to become a knight, and the other is a Sith Lord. Adam Driver, aka Kylo Ren from the final Star Wars trilogy, is the Sith, of course. Matt Damon is the archetypal Knight. The route to achieving each of these two statures involves the violence and cruelty of Medieval military conflict. Did I mention that yesterday’s Times Morning newsletter pangram was ” Medieval”?
I don’t know how well this film did at the box office; I saw it on HBO Max. The critics gave it an 86 on the Tomatometer, and the audience gave it an 81. I give it high marks – higher than the critics. C’mon, Ridley Scott knows how to tell a story.
Oh, I think I forgot to mention that Ben Affleck plays the role of the Lord to whom the other main characters are vassals. I highly recommend this one, if you haven’t seen it. 🙂