--- title: "The Last Duel" year: 2021 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-last-duel" fi1m_id: "the-last-duel" imdb_id: "tt4244994" tmdb_id: 617653 fi1m_score: 65 critics_score: 62 critics_reviews: 31 published: "2026-09-24T21:56:52.629656+00:00" updated: "2026-09-24T21:56:55.829659+00:00" region: "AT" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # The Last Duel (2021) Directed by Ridley Scott · 2h 33m · Drama, History, Thriller ## Identity The Last Duel - **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/the-last-duel - **Type:** Film - **Fi1m ID:** the-last-duel - **IMDb ID:** tt4244994 - **TMDB ID:** 617653 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4244994/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/617653 **Fi1m score: 65** · Critics 62 from 31 reviews *In a sentence:* Matt Damon has a mullet, Ben Affleck has a goatee and Jodie Comer has the film > Ridley Scott tells one accusation three times, and only the third telling, Jodie Comer’s, earns the method. The rest is handsome, blunt and too long, with a final duel savage enough to make you forget, briefly, whose story this was. ## Synopsis Normandy, 1386. The squire Sir Jean de Carrouges (Matt Damon) returns from campaign to be told by his wife, Marguerite (Jodie Comer), that while he was away Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver), once his friend and now the favourite of Count Pierre d’Alençon (Ben Affleck), raped her. Carrouges has lost land, a captaincy and the count’s goodwill to Le Gris; the first chapter follows the years of soldiering and slights that led there, including his marriage to Marguerite, daughter of Sir Robert de Thibouville (Nathaniel Parker). With no hope of justice from Pierre, Carrouges takes his case to the boy king Charles VI (Alex Lawther) and demands a duel to the death, God to decide. Two more chapters follow, one for Le Gris and one for Marguerite. ## Review Ridley Scott’s *The Last Duel* goes to Normandy in the 1380s for the story of a squire, his wife, his former friend and the trial by combat that settled the matter between them. The screenplay, by Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Nicole Holofcener, tells it three times: as Jean de Carrouges remembers it, as Jacques Le Gris does, and as Marguerite de Carrouges does. The idea is sound. The film is 153 minutes long, and those two facts are at odds for most of the evening. It is worth seeing for the third chapter and for the fight at the end, and it makes you sit through a good deal to reach either. Chapter one belongs to Damon’s Carrouges, played as a man permanently owed something: a scar down the cheek, a mullet, a jaw set against the world. The script understands that a medieval grievance is about land and money before it is about honour, and it keeps count of both. Adam Driver’s Le Gris is the clever one, the count’s man who reads Latin and keeps his accounts, and Driver gives him a stillness that reads as good manners here and as something else later. Affleck’s Count Pierre, blond, bored and cruel for sport, is the one performance that knows it is allowed to be enjoyed, and we enjoyed it. Chapter two runs the same years again through Le Gris’s eyes, and Claire Simpson cuts the repeated scenes so the small differences register as corrections: a look held a beat longer, a kiss at a reconciliation that in his memory Marguerite returns. That much of the method works. Then the chapter shows the assault, at length, and the third chapter shows it again. We understood the argument, that the second version is a man’s lie about himself and the third is what happened. We still felt, sitting there, that the film had decided it could show us the thing twice and so it did. The third chapter is the reason to see the film. Marguerite has been standing at the edge of the frame for two chapters, and Jodie Comer makes it clear how much was going on there: the estate she runs while Jean is away at war, the rents she collects more efficiently than he did, the mother-in-law (Harriet Walter) who keeps the house like a garrison, the friend Marie (Tallulah Haddon). Comer plays her as clever, watchful and tired of being discussed, and when she tells her husband what happened to her, his first thought is for himself, and she notices. The chapter’s title card holds on the words “the truth” a second after the rest has faded. It is the film’s best joke and its only quiet one. Dariusz Wolski shoots it all under a low grey sky, mud and wet stone outside, candlelight through slit windows inside, and after two hours we were tired of it. Arthur Max builds the Paris lists as a timber box on frozen ground, ringed with stands. Janty Yates does the sharpest work in the film: Marguerite’s gowns change cut and colour depending on which man is remembering her, and you can tell the chapter by her neckline. Harry Gregson-Williams keeps the score to low drums and a choir and mostly stays out of the way. The dialogue is flatter than the pictures, plain modern English that sits oddly in a French court, and the accents wander from scene to scene. The duel itself is superb and ugly. Scott stages it as horses first, then axes, then two exhausted men in armour rolling in frozen mud, and he lets it take as long as it takes. We flinched more than once. Then we noticed Marguerite in the stands with nothing to do for ten minutes but watch two men decide her fate, which is the history, and is also the film forgetting for a while whose story it had just told us it was. Scott’s first film, *The Duellists* (1977), was about two men who could not let a quarrel go, and this one is closer to that than to [*Gladiator*](https://film.one/film/gladiator) (2000): more intelligent, less fun, longer than both. See it for Comer and for Affleck, and consider watching at home, where a pause after the second chapter costs nothing and the third arrives fresher. It carries an 18 certificate and it earns it. *Fi1m score 65, published 24 September 2026.* ## What the critics say Most critics come down cautiously in favour of The Last Duel. Jodie Comer’s Marguerite is the performance singled out again and again: restrained, intelligent, and the film’s conscience once her own account arrives in the final chapter. Ben Affleck’s sly, corrupt Count Pierre draws a second cluster of praise, and several reviews credit the three-part structure with exposing how the men’s accounts flatter themselves. The brutal closing duel is admired even by some who dislike the rest. The reservations gather around length and repetition. Many find the structure delays Marguerite’s story too long and makes the rape scene, shown more than once, feel repetitive rather than clarifying; others think the modern relevance is pressed too hard. The spread is wide, from warm festival raves to outright rejection. The New Yorker calls it exploitative, faulting Scott for showing the assault rather than trusting Marguerite’s testimony, and The Guardian finds it overlong and buried under spectacle. ## Straight answers **Is The Last Duel worth watching?** *The Last Duel* is worth watching for Jodie Comer's third chapter and for the brutal fight at the end, and we scored it 65. It is 153 minutes long, and much of the first two hours repeats itself under a low grey sky. Consider a pause after the second chapter, so the third arrives fresher. **How long is The Last Duel, and what is it rated?** *The Last Duel* runs 2h 33m. It is a drama and history film. **Where can I watch The Last Duel in Austria?** *The Last Duel* is streaming on Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video in Austria, and it is also available to rent from Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV from €3.99. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service. **How violent or frightening is The Last Duel, and is it suitable for children?** *The Last Duel* carries an 18 certificate in the UK and earns it, and it is not for children. The rape at the centre of the story is shown at length, twice, and the final duel is savage: horses, axes, and two exhausted men in armour rolling in frozen mud. The squeamish should know this before they sit down. **How does The Last Duel compare to Rashomon?** *The Last Duel* borrows the method of [*Rashomon*](https://film.one/film/rashomon), one crime told from several accounts, but Kurosawa's film is the tighter and more gripping of the two. Scott's version only earns the repetition in its third chapter, Marguerite's, where the small corrections finally matter. Watch *Rashomon* for the idea done sharply; watch *The Last Duel* for Comer. **What should I watch after The Last Duel?** After *The Last Duel*, try [*Rashomon*](https://film.one/film/rashomon) (1950, Fi1m 92): Kurosawa tells one crime four ways and started every film like this. Then [*The Nightingale*](https://film.one/film/the-nightingale) (2018, Fi1m 78): A woman pursues her attackers across colonial Tasmania; harder to watch and harder to shake; and [*Women Talking*](https://film.one/film/women-talking) (2022, Fi1m 76): The women of a religious colony decide what to do; almost no men, all consequence. ### Reviews we read (31) - **Sight and Sound** (85/100, inferred): The critic considers the film one of Ridley Scott’s most successful period works, praising its nuanced storytelling on an epic scale. They single out Jodie Comer’s performance as the character who ultimately finds her own voice. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/last-duel-historical-epic-thats-committed-nuanced-storytelling) - **Vulture**, Bilge Ebiri (85/100, inferred): Ebiri finds the film unexpectedly entertaining and sees it as a forceful denunciation of patriarchal power. He especially praises Ben Affleck’s sly, funny performance as the corrupt Count Pierre. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/article/movie-review-the-last-duel-with-matt-damon-and-ben-affleck.html) - **IndieWire**, Ben Croll (B+): Croll finds the film an intelligent, daring epic, though its shifts in tone and style can feel awkward. He praises Ben Affleck’s performance and the film’s collaborative storytelling, while noting Jodie Comer finally gets room to shine in the last chapter. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/movies/the-last-duel-review-1234663613/) - **Total Film**, James Mottram (4/5): The review finds the film thought-provoking and dexterous, though its long running time becomes unwieldy. It singles out Jodie Comer as the cast’s standout and the film’s emotional center. [Read](https://www.gamesradar.com/the-last-duel-review/) - **Los Angeles Times**, Justin Chang (77/100, inferred): Chang finds the film an ingenious, darkly funny indictment of patriarchy, though its perspective-shifting structure can make the rape scene feel repetitive. He praises Jodie Comer’s intelligent, empathetic performance, which makes Marguerite the film’s conscience. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2021-10-13/last-duel-review-matt-damon-adam-driver-jodie-comer) - **The AV Club**, A.A. Dowd (B): Dowd finds the film’s perspective-shifting structure ultimately makes a forceful case against treating the truth as unknowable. He praises its blunt, era-crossing outrage, while noting that Marguerite remains dramatically underdeveloped until the final chapter. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/ridley-scott-offers-his-own-rashomon-with-the-star-stud-1847850421) - **Slant Magazine**, Chris Barsanti (3/4): The critic finds the film smartly acted and insightfully written, despite repetition and some excessive battle violence. They praise the performances and the screenplay’s layered perspectives, especially how Marguerite’s account exposes the men’s self-serving views. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/the-last-duel-review-ridley-scott/) - **The i Paper**, Christina Newland (70/100, inferred): Newland finds the film hokey and its #MeToo reading somewhat surface-level, but ultimately thrilling. She praises its compelling final crescendo and its challenge to the macho perspective of historical epics. [Read](https://inews.co.uk/culture/the-last-duel-review-ridley-scott-hokey-medieval-metoo-epic-thrilling-1248456) - **Empire**, Dan Jolin (65/100, inferred): Jolin finds the film’s final perspective compelling, though its three-part structure can test the viewer’s patience. He praises Jodie Comer’s portrayal of Marguerite while faulting the climactic duel for sidelining her. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/the-last-duel/) - **The New York Times** (65/100, inferred): The accessible page does not reveal the critic’s verdict. It contains no readable assessment or specific praise or complaint. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/13/movies/the-last-duel-review.html) - **Screen Daily**, Fionnuala Halligan (64/100, inferred): The available page does not reveal the critic’s verdict. It provides no specific praise or complaint beyond identifying the film as a medieval epic. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/the-last-duel-venice-review/5163202.article) - **Evening Standard**, Charlotte O'Sullivan (3/5): O'Sullivan finds the film handsome and well-researched but says its critique of misogyny never lands effectively. She praises Jodie Comer’s performance, while criticizing the dialogue and uneven accents. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/the-last-duel-review-move-jodie-comer-ben-affleck-matt-damon-ridley-scott-b960282.html) - **Radio Times**, Jayne Nelson (3/5): Nelson finds the film bleak and mostly familiar, but considers its three-perspective structure smart. She singles out the screenplay’s shifting accounts of the same events. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-ts9f15/the-last-duel/) - **Time Out**, Phil de Semlyen (3/5): The review finds the historical epic overly muscular, despite Jodie Comer’s strong performance. It singles out Comer as soaring in her portrayal of a woman repeatedly wronged. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-last-duel-2021) - **Variety**, Owen Gleiberman (50/100, inferred): Gleiberman finds the film intriguing but overcooked, with its three-perspective structure eventually draining the story of momentum. He praises Jodie Comer’s calm, fiery screen presence and Ben Affleck’s entertaining performance. [Read](https://variety.com/2021/film/reviews/the-last-duel-review-matt-damon-adam-driver-ben-affleck-jodie-comer-ridley-scott-1235059966/) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, David Rooney (45/100, inferred): Rooney finds the film uneven and overlong, though its final act gives the story emotional force. He especially praises Jodie Comer’s nuanced, wrenching performance as Marguerite. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/jodie-comer-and-adam-driver-in-ridley-scotts-the-last-duel-1235011424/) - **Little White Lies**, Rafa Sales Ross (25/100, inferred): The critic finds the film a cleverly crafted but ultimately empty extravaganza, with its treatment of rape and gender imbalance undermining its ambitions. The visceral sound and spectacle of the climactic duel are singled out for praise. [Read](https://lwlies.com/festivals/the-last-duel-first-look-review) - **The Guardian**, Jonathan Romney (25/100, inferred): Romney finds the film overlong and weighed down by spectacle, ultimately failing to make its central story compelling. He singles out Nicole Holofcener’s section for opening up Marguerite’s perspective and providing the most interesting part of the film. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/sep/10/the-last-duel-review-ridley-scott-ben-affleck-matt-damon-adam-driver) - **The New Yorker**, Richard Brody (20/100, inferred): Brody finds the film a failed, exploitative attempt at a #MeToo story. He faults its thin dialogue and criticizes Scott for showing the rape rather than trusting Marguerite’s testimony. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/the-last-duel-reviewed-ridley-scotts-wannabe-metoo-movie) - **Collider**, Rafael Motamayor (A-): Motamayor praises the film as a nuanced, well-acted epic with grippingly brutal sword fights, while noting its female side characters are underdeveloped. He singles out Jodie Comer’s performance and the shifting perspectives as especially effective, but criticizes the rape scene’s length and emphasis. [Read](https://collider.com/the-last-duel-review-ben-affleck-matt-damon/) - **Paste**, Brianna Zigler (8.8): Zigler finds the film a compelling, empathetic medieval epic that examines how men’s perspectives shape rape culture. She especially praises its three-part structure for creating a layered narrative and revealing the characters’ conflicting worldviews. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/ridley-scott/the-last-duel-review) - **Den of Geek**, Don Kaye (4/5): Kaye finds the film gripping and timely, though its three-perspective structure delays the heart of the story. He especially praises Jodie Comer’s quietly powerful performance as Marguerite. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/the-last-duel-review-ridley-scott-historical-epic/) - **Consequence**, Clint Worthington (78/100, inferred): Worthington finds the film an effective, tonally daring indictment of rape culture and male self-delusion, despite some roughness in its early sections. He especially praises Jodie Comer’s restrained, expressive performance as Marguerite. [Read](https://consequence.net/2021/10/the-last-duel-review/) - **/Film**, Marshall Shaffer (8 out of 10): The critic finds the film a lively, accomplished period drama, though its contemporary gender themes can feel heavy-handed. They especially praise Jodie Comer’s nuanced performance and the film’s shifting perspectives on events. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/601360/the-last-duel-review-prestige-period-filmmaking-stunning-swordfights-and-piercing-performances-venice-2021/) - **The Ringer**, Adam Nayman (75/100, inferred): Nayman finds the film intellectually ambitious and more compelling than failed Oscar bait, with a tragic, unsentimental critique of power and gender. He especially praises Jodie Comer’s character gaining subjectivity and the brutal final duel’s memorable, bitter spectacle. [Read](https://www.theringer.com/2021/10/18/movies/the-last-duel-review-matt-damon-ben-affleck-ridley-scott) - **The Playlist** (70/100, inferred): The headline suggests the critic finds the film entertainingly overripe. The accessible page provides no further detail about what the critic praises. [Read](https://theplaylist.net/ridley-scotts-the-last-duel-an-enjoyably-ripe-slab-hokum-venice-review-20210910/) - **NME** (65/100, inferred): The review finds the film gripping and important, but criticizes its structure for sidelining Marguerite for much of the story. It singles out Jodie Comer’s honest, moving performance as the film’s saving strength. [Read](https://www.nme.com/reviews/film-reviews/the-last-duel-review-jodie-comer-3070764) - **HeyUGuys**, Jo-Ann Titmarsh (55/100, inferred): Titmarsh finds plenty to enjoy in Scott’s brisk, visually rich film, but argues it gives its central woman too little voice. She praises the detailed medieval settings and the riveting final duel. [Read](https://www.heyuguys.com/the-last-duel-review/) - **Deadline**, Stephanie Bunbury (40/100, inferred): Bunbury finds the film handsome and well-intentioned but overly blunt and repetitive, with too little nuance or emotional texture. She praises Scott’s sweeping visuals and spectacular final duel, while finding the historical drama’s modern relevance too heavily emphasized. [Read](https://deadline.com/2021/09/the-last-duel-movie-review-ridley-scott-matt-damon-adam-driver-jodie-comer-1234830955/) - **The Wrap** (40/100, inferred): The critic finds the film an inconsistent, ultimately muddled mystery, though still a valiant effort. Damon’s performance and the cinematography stand out as its strongest elements. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/the-last-duel-film-review-ridley-scott-matt-damon-adam-driver/) - **Eye for Film**, Andrew Robertson (15/100, inferred): The critic strongly dislikes the film and doubts its quality, finding its storytelling heavy-handed and unconvincing. They particularly fault the repeated assault scenes and the dull visual palette, while also criticizing the duel’s lack of convincing period combat. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/the-last-duel-2021-film-review-by-andrew-robertson) ## Details - **Director:** Ridley Scott - **Director:** Ridley Scott - **Screenplay:** Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Nicole Holofcener - **Cinematography:** Dariusz Wolski - **Editor:** Claire Simpson - **Music:** Harry Gregson-Williams - **Production design:** Arthur Max - **Costume design:** Janty Yates - **Producer:** Nicole Holofcener, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck - **Cast:** Matt Damon as Sir Jean de Carrouges; Adam Driver as Jacques Le Gris; Jodie Comer as Marguerite de Carrouges; Ben Affleck as Pierre d'Alençon; Harriet Walter as Nicole de Carrouges; Marton Csokas as Crespin; Alex Lawther as King Charles VI; William Houston as Herald at the Duel - **Runtime:** 2h 33m - **First release (Italy):** 10 September 2021 - **Genres:** Drama, History, Thriller - **Budget:** $100 million - **Box office:** $31 million - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgygUwPJvYk ## Where to watch in Austria - Disney+: streaming, uhd - Amazon Prime Video: streaming - Amazon Prime Video: rent €3.99, uhd - Apple TV: rent €3.99, hd - Amazon Prime Video: buy €4.99, uhd - Apple TV: buy €11.99, sd *Checked 2026-09-24.* Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HR, HU, IE, IL, IS, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, SI, TR, UA, US, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *Rashomon* (1950), Fi1m 92: Kurosawa tells one crime four ways and started every film like this. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/rashomon.md) - *The Duellists* (1977): Scott’s first film, two Napoleonic officers who cannot stop fighting, and eighty minutes shorter. - *The Nightingale* (2018), Fi1m 78: A woman pursues her attackers across colonial Tasmania; harder to watch and harder to shake. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-nightingale.md) - *Women Talking* (2022), Fi1m 76: The women of a religious colony decide what to do; almost no men, all consequence. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/women-talking.md) - *The Passion of Joan of Arc* (1928), Fi1m 94: One medieval Frenchwoman, one tribunal of men, and a face the camera never leaves. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-passion-of-joan-of-arc.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/the-last-duel