What The Last Duel is really about
Ridley Scott's The Last Duel isn't your typical sword-and-sandal epic. Set in 14th-century France, the film centers on a real historical event—a judicial duel meant to determine guilt or innocence—but the brilliance lies in how Scott and his writing team (Nicole Holofcener, Ben Affleck, and Matt Damon, adapting Eric Jager's 2004 nonfiction book) structure the narrative around three wildly different accounts of the same crime. Matt Damon plays Jean de Carrouges, a war-hardened knight whose wife Marguerite (Jodie Comer) accuses his former friend and squire Jacques le Gris (Adam Driver) of rape. What follows isn't a straightforward courtroom drama but rather a fractured mirror held up to medieval power structures, where truth itself becomes a weapon in the hands of those with the most to lose.
The film's central conceit—presenting the same events from three separate viewpoints—echoes Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon, and that comparison isn't accidental. Each act reveals how perspective warps reality, how the same night can be remembered as consensual seduction by one man, brutal violation by a woman, and something murkier still by another. It's a bold structural gamble that could've felt gimmicky in less capable hands. But Scott commits to it fully, letting each version breathe and contradict the others, forcing viewers to sit uncomfortably in ambiguity—which, honestly, is exactly where medieval justice lived.
Behind the making of The Last Duel
The Last Duel arrived in October 2021 as a prestige historical drama from one of cinema's most accomplished directors. Ridley Scott, the mind behind Alien, Blade Runner, and Gladiator, assembled a powerhouse cast that includes not just Damon and Driver but also Ben Affleck (playing Count Pierre d'Alençon, a scheming nobleman), Harriet Walter, Marton Csokas, and Alex Lawther. The screenplay was a genuine collaboration—Damon and Affleck worked alongside screenwriter Nicole Holofcener to adapt Jager's meticulously researched historical account, bringing both star power and creative input to the project.
The film runs 153 minutes, giving Scott ample room to build the world and let scenes breathe. It's rated R for violence and some sexuality, which makes sense given the brutal content at the film's core. Commercially, The Last Duel underperformed, earning just $10.8 million worldwide—a significant shortfall for a $100 million production from a major studio. That box office disappointment has overshadowed the film's critical reception, which was notably stronger. The picture earned 5 awards wins and 44 nominations across major ceremonies, and critics were far kinder than audiences: it holds an 85% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a 67 Metascore, and a solid 7.3 on IMDb from over 202,000 votes. Those numbers suggest the film found its audience among serious film enthusiasts, even if multiplexes didn't embrace it.
Why The Last Duel stands apart as medieval drama
What makes The Last Duel genuinely work—beyond its structural audacity—is the quality of the performances and Scott's unflinching commitment to showing the brutality of the period without romanticizing it. Jodie Comer's turn as Marguerite is the emotional spine of the entire film. She doesn't just play a victim; she embodies a woman trying to survive in a system designed to silence her, and her scenes in the final act carry an almost unbearable weight. The thing that's remarkable about Comer's work here is how she manages to convey both vulnerability and steel—you believe Marguerite's fear and her determination simultaneously.
Matt Damon and Adam Driver, meanwhile, deliver interpretations that feel lived-in rather than performed. Damon's Jean is a man caught between wounded pride and genuine concern for his wife's trauma, while Driver's Jacques is something far more complicated—a man who may or may not be guilty, whose charm and privilege have insulated him from consequence. Ben Affleck, in a smaller but crucial role, brings a reptilian elegance to Count Pierre, the kind of nobleman who corrupts everything he touches through sheer indifference to anyone below his station. Critics and reviewers have consistently praised how the ensemble avoids caricature; these aren't cardboard medieval types but complex humans operating within brutal constraints.
What's striking about Scott's direction is how he uses the three-perspective structure not as a gimmick but as a genuine exploration of how power shapes narrative. Each version of events is visually distinct—the lighting, color palette, even the way scenes are edited shift based on whose story we're hearing. It's a technique that could feel heavy-handed, but it works because it's in service of a real thematic point: that in a world where men control the law, the church, and property, a woman's truth becomes almost immaterial. Movie OTT tracks where films like this are currently streaming, and understanding the context of The Last Duel—its ambitions and its willingness to sit with uncomfortable questions—helps explain why it's developed a devoted following even as it struggled at the box office.
Where to stream The Last Duel online
The Last Duel is currently available to stream on Prime Video, making it accessible to anyone with an Amazon Prime subscription. The film's 153-minute runtime means you'll want to set aside a solid block of time—this isn't something that works well in fragments. The R rating means it's intended for mature audiences, which tracks with both the sexual violence at the film's center and the graphic medieval combat sequences. If you're browsing Movie OTT's streaming availability widget at the top of this page, you'll see the current platforms where the film is offered, but Prime Video remains the primary destination for this particular title. The film's visual ambition—Scott's use of color, composition, and cinematography to distinguish each perspective—really does benefit from a decent screen size and sound setup, so streaming at home is actually a reasonable way to experience it.
Frequently asked questions
Q: Is The Last Duel based on a true story?
Yes. The film adapts Eric Jager's 2004 nonfiction book The Last Duel: A True Story of Crime, Scandal, and Trial by Combat in Medieval France. The duel between Jean de Carrouges and Jacques le Gris actually occurred in 1386 France, though the film takes some creative liberties with dialogue and minor details.
Q: Who directed The Last Duel?
Ridley Scott directed the film. It's one of his most ambitious recent projects, reuniting him with major stars and allowing him to explore themes of power and perspective that have interested him throughout his career.
Q: How long is The Last Duel?
The film runs 153 minutes (two hours and 33 minutes), giving Scott time to develop each of the three perspectives thoroughly and build the world of 14th-century France.
Q: Why did The Last Duel flop at the box office if it's so well-reviewed?
The film earned just $10.8 million worldwide against a $100 million budget, making it a commercial disappointment despite critical success. Several factors likely contributed: it's a challenging, structurally unconventional film that doesn't fit neatly into genre expectations, it arrived during a crowded awards season, and medieval historical dramas have a limited theatrical audience compared to franchises or lighter fare.
Q: What's the difference between the three perspectives in The Last Duel?
Each act retells the same events from Jean's, Jacques's, and Marguerite's points of view. Their accounts contradict each other significantly, reflecting how power, shame, desire, and self-interest shape memory and narrative. The structure forces viewers to grapple with the unreliability of perspective.
Final thoughts on The Last Duel
The Last Duel isn't easy viewing—it's deliberately challenging, morally complex, and at times brutal. But that's precisely why it matters. In an era when historical dramas often flatten their subjects into heroes and villains, Scott's film insists on ambiguity and contradiction. Jodie Comer's performance alone makes it worth your time, but the film's real gift is how it uses medieval France to ask questions that feel urgently contemporary: Who gets to tell the truth? Whose version of events counts? What does justice look like when the system itself is designed to protect the powerful? Don't expect a comfortable experience. Do expect to be challenged and moved by something genuinely ambitious.
