Last Testimony

I wasn't that hot on seeing The Last Duel (2021), but the lure of a costume drama and the direction of Ridley Scott, combined with it showing up at the library, swayed me. Anyway, Adam Driver is in it.

The movie is set 14th century France, and is based on testimony from a real case. It has three parts, where the three principals tell their side of the same story. It starts with Matt Damon, a French knight. He is brave but rash, and jumps into a battle against orders. He is joined by Adam Driver, another knight, and the rest of their group. They save each others lives, win the battle, but lose the war. This seems like a thing for Damon. 

At home, he sees lovely Jodie Comer, and weds her. Since her father was deemed a traitor to the king, Damon got him to put up a large dowery, including a particularly nice holding. But the king decided to give this spot to Driver. Then, their lord, Ben Affleck, decides that Damon won't get to take over his father's post. Rather it will go to Driver as well.

Oh well, at least he's got Comer, who he clumsily shtups as regularly and quickly as possible. But alas, he does not get her pregnant.

Damon goes off to campaign in Scotland, gets his ass handed to him. After he comes back, he makes up with Driver, and goes off to Paris to get paid. When he comes back, his wife tells him Driver raped her. 

He tries to go through the courts, but his last chance is to fight Driver in single, judicial combat.

Which brings us to Driver's story. It's pretty similar, except he sees Damon as a bit more of a buffoon. He also spends a lot of time whoring with their lord, which is a good way to stay in his good graces. For the rape scene, he indeed schemes to get her alone, breaks into her house, chases her to the bedroom, does her over her loud objections, and leaves with threats if she talks. I'm not sure why he thought that this absolves him of rape...

Comer's testimony is pretty similar. It shows the rape in exactly (?) the same way. So, case closed? 

No, the hitch seemed to be that Comer became pregnant after the rape. (Of course, Damon also "took back what is his" when he found out, so either man could be father.) The biology of the day postulated that a woman couldn't conceive unless they had an orgasm during sex. So, after years of not conceiving with her husband, she gets pregnant after a rape - she must have enjoyed it! This isn't really spelled out, but seems to be the upshot. Driver claims she was asking for it, and people think he has a point. 

And so the duel. This is a nice Ridleyian fight scene, with lances, swords, knives and fists. In the end, Damon kills Driver (SPOILER).

And the epilogue shows Damon and Comer with their little blonde child. Blonde like Damon, not dark, like Driver. I guess.

There's a lot more to this story - Comer learns to manage the estate while Damon is out warrioring, and is darn good at it. Her mother-in-law is a big jerk, both to her and her son, for some reason. There are a couple of good battle scenes. But all in all, I was not impressed. 

There was a nice sense of "the past is another country", with honor, politics, and women's roles being different from what we understand now. But the rape at the center was hard to deal with. I was expecting a Rashoman-type situation, with very different viewpoints. But Driver's own account, that he did a lot of whoring with the lord, then raped his friend's wife, pretty much tallies with the other accounts. I don't get it.

I probably don't get a lot. For example, I assumed that seeing the blonde child meant it was Damon's. But Ms. Spenser reminded me that a lot of children are blonde when young. Heck, I was. So who knows.

All in all, we found this movie a bit unpleasant. Maybe someone should just spell it out for me. 

In conclusion, how about Scott's 1977 film, The Duellists?