Small Bulletin Lyon - Cinema Lyon: Drama - "The last duel" by Ridley Scott: Boucherie à l'Arène - article published by Vincent Raymond<

France, fin du XIV^e siècle. Tous deux écuyers au service du comte d'Alençon, Jean de Carrouges et Jacques Le Gris présentent des tempéraments opposés : quand le premier — un va-t-en-guerre impulsif — agace, le second obtient par son esprit en cour les bonnes grâces de son seigneur. Une rivalité va sourdre entre les deux hommes, s'amplifiant avec les années pour atteindre son sommet lorsque Marguerite, l'épouse de Jean, accuse Jacques de l'avoir violée pendant que son mari était à la guerre. Devant le roi et devant Dieu, Jean demande réparation lors d'un duel…

Ridley Scott: "All the characters are important to me"

According to a well -known adage, an author will have (or counterfeit), he will always write the same book.With a simple ball of wool, you can also knit all the forms you want, varying the points ... then undo and redo your work as much as the wire does not break.It is unknown if Ridley Scott teases the needle;What is certain is that it has always scrapped with certain obsessions.Whose "matrix" figure "of the duel - and by duel, we understand frontal, rough and continuous opposition - modeling most of his filmography: Ripley against the xenomorph (Alien), Deckart against Batty (Blade Runner), Decimus against Commode (Gladiator), Mark Watney against Mars (alone on Mars) without forgetting Féraud against Hubert in his first feature film, Les Dullistes (1977).

Three views, and only one death

The temptation is great to mirror this inaugural work with the last duel: in addition to the proximity of the titles, the French framework, the opposition to the (very) long course between two eminent warriors, everything sends us back to it. What contrasts (if one dares) is the era and this paradox which sees in this renowned Middle Ages gray and carrouges compete by exhausting all the appeals of the verb, of the scheme and the legality Before challenging themselves physically - where Féraud and Hubert, supposed to be lit by the philosophy of the Enlightenment, spent more time to scatter than to do. Let us be reassured: the final fight is worth its weight of butcher's shop, with plans swept Hannibal to the rank of vegan farandole. Crystallizing all the rage accumulated by the deceived husband and the jealous favorite, the brutal and bestial rawness of this melee outdated in realism those of Gladiator, too aesthetics to touch the guts. Difficult here not to look away when the blades sink into the flesh - another of the great successes of the Monteuse Claire Simpson.

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Because the last duel draws a large part of its dramatic strength from its construction in chapters, each delivering the gaze of one of the three main protagonists (Jean, Jacques then Marguerite) on the facts;Each offering supplements, counterpoints, clarification enlightening the gaps or ellipses of the previous ones - we think of Rashōmon de Kurosawa (1950).Comparable to the contradictory debate during a hearing, where the voice of each party is understood equally, these three subjective chapters successively recompose an objective truth.And above all overlap on a point which does not support any doubt or ambiguous: the fact that Marguerite was raped.

A reading in “Map of the Tender” mode could suggest that Carrouges performs a pure chivalrous gesture by claiming his duel;An interpretation of #MeToo would encourage to see in the trial a draft consideration for the human human person.The ace !The motivations of the husband are explicitly those of an owner whose movable property has been injured (this is how he considers Marguerite) and who seizes this pretext to settle an old account with the head of the crime.So there are hardly any heroes here, only a victim…

★★★ ☆☆ The last duel a film by Ridley Scott (E-U-G-B, 2h32) with Matt Damon, Adam Driver, Jodie Comer…

The last duel

De Ridley Scott (EU, 2h32) with Matt Damon, Adam Driver, Jodie Comer

De Ridley Scott (EU, 2h32) with Matt Damon, Adam Driver, Jodie Comer

Based on real events, the film reveals ancient hypotheses on the last judicial duel known in France - also named "judgment of God" - between Jean de Carrouges and Jacques Le Gris, two friends who have become over time of hard rivals.