Le dernier duel

Or, contrairement au chef-d'oeuvre d'Akira Kurosawa, où cette structure dramatique creusait des ambiguïtés fertiles, son emploi ici s'avère par moments fastidieux. Bref, ce drame fastueux, auquel Jodie Comer confère ses plus beaux instants d'émotion, ne figurera pas parmi les oeuvres majeures de son réalisateur.

Ultimately, The Last Duel is the affecting story of one woman's quiet heroism that requires you to wade through a lot of blustery accounts of the honor, the pride and the wars of men in order to get to it. Which is kind of like perpetuating the patriarchy.

Great performances and stunning cinematography can't save a would-be'Rashomon" that forfeits its ambiguity.

When it's delivering what the best of Scott and company's work can do--and the imagery, much of it grounded in a palette that could be a tribute to its anti-hero, whose last name translates as "the gray," is frequently startling--the commentary pursued by the movie's scenario isn't entirely subsumed, but it's not paramount, either. 

Duel is a sprawling, lavish testament to that, and all the things done in the name of ego, king, and country. But it's a woman who brings it home.

Co-starring Adam Driver and Jodie Comer, Ridley Scott's A-list epic tries to balance violence, comedy, campiness and heavy-handed message-mongering. It does not succeed.

Everything that is put front and center does the job of absorbing you into a captivating medieval drama, adding several unique touches that allow the actors to keep themselves and viewers on their toes with some of their collective best work yet, which goes so many miles it's hard to fathom. Scott has made smarter, better movies, but only he can make a movie with these hairdos and that facial hair and make it excellent. 

Ridley Scott delivers brutal knight fights, but the emotional arc of Marguerite de Carrouges cuts deepest.

La parole d'une dame est jugée comme cruciale. Le discours féministe plus linéaire dans Thelma and Louise trouve bien des années plus tard écho dans cette plongée complexe dans un Moyen Âge tardif qui n'atteint malheureusement pas l'élégance de The Name of the Rose, de Jean-Jacques Annaud.

Malgré une coiffe un peu déstabilisante, qu'on dirait inspirée de la coupe Longueuil, et une incapacité chronique à prononcer le nom de son personnage à la française, Matt Damon offre une solide performance dans le rôle de Jean de Carrouges, face à Adam Driver, toujours impeccable.