Comments on: 10 Reasons Why The Last Duel Is Terrible

By: Taylor Holmes

Taylor Holmes — Wed, 24 Sep 2025 02:55:15 +0000

Where were you 10 years ago, or however long ago I wrote this post to clearly enunciate the ins and outs of this movie so I could actually understand it? Hahaha. I like how you made the various interpretations and misunderstandings make more sense – and that it was driven by the various characters of the story and how fundamentally different their perspectives were. Good on ya! Man. I should rewrite this… right after a rewatch!

By: Lea J Gillette

Lea J Gillette — Mon, 22 Sep 2025 22:05:10 +0000

OK so I actually loved this movie. -And “the point,” which everyone seems to be waving around on various flags of various colors, was to me very clearly that someone could truly, with utmost conviction and absolute faith, up to the moment of their death, believe in their own skewed or altered reality. Le Gris truly believed he did not rape Marguerete. That was was the point, and a disturbing one at that, one that stuck with me for nights afterwords.

When asked in an interview after the film was released whether Le Gris was innocent or not, Ridley Scott retorted that anyone who was unsure was “an idiot.” The retelling of the story 3 times, each with sometimes only subtle differences, shows us to what extant reality is subjective. Carrouges truly believed he was admired, at least respected, by his wife. Le Gris truly believed he was both irresistible in his charms and totally innocent, that the act of rape was consensual, though Marguerete’s retelling of the story makes clear that it was anything but. It also allows us to see where the misinterpretations and misunderstanding in each character come from. It allowed us to see the subtle influences that can render one person’s memory of an event completely different from another’s. That was radical. And I think most viewers maybe just missed that point, thinking it was a #metoo statement or even more ridiculous, “that medieval women were not appreciated.” No. This was about perspective and the subjective nature of reality.

By: Taylor Holmes

Taylor Holmes — Fri, 31 Dec 2021 15:35:42 +0000

In reply to Julianna.

Woot woot a promising young woman call out!! Read that walk through of mine and you’ll see how much I agree w you on this point…! https://taylorholmes.com/2021/01/04/promising-young-woman-a-societal-revenge-flick-explained/

By: Taylor Holmes

Taylor Holmes — Fri, 31 Dec 2021 15:04:39 +0000

In reply to Hayden.

I had forgotten Hayden – so thanks for the reminder. Mainly was thinking about the the intellectual property I suppose and what Ridley did with it all these years. But yeah, you are right, he didn’t direct #2.

Thanks for being such a religious reader, I appreciate it Hayden. You should consider visiting the chat discord server. You don’t have to Patreon to join in. Just saying. Anyway – thanks for the kind words.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Fri, 31 Dec 2021 14:06:27 +0000

I wholeheartedly agree with the above comment. This film is a dissertation on rape that could have only been made by men. And the acting was so over the top ridiculous that it completely overshadowed the actual rape. I have no idea if this actually happened or not because tales like this were most likely written down from a male point of view and then translated down through centuries, so who the heck even knows if this truly happened at all. This story could have been told in about 45 minutes and even that is pushing it. I can’t imagine any woman actually liking this film or thinking it is anything but a sensationalist depiction of something terrible that possibly happened a very long time ago. It should have never been put to the screen as it just shows how completely out of touch some still are about this subject. I’m guessing they were all patting each other on the back for being so “woke” to make this miserable film. Ridley should stick to science fiction and leave the period films to others who might show a bit more decorum when putting them to the screen.

By: Julianna

Julianna — Fri, 31 Dec 2021 03:15:47 +0000

Oh my God a man saying they disliked this movie! Thank God there are more sane people in this world! This film made me sick to my stomach. Ok I’ve always been a Ridley Scott fan, but The Last Duel is Ridley Scott’s: An Opus to Rape. Only in 2021 would rape be used as a male-centered-plot device, and then praised by critics (surprise mostly male critics) as being a commentary on modern rape culture. This film does in fact the exact opposite, and sensationalizes, and hyper sexualizes rape culture specifically for the male gaze. Instead of minimizing the scenes, it makes them the center pieces for the film, and it lengthens them, and you get to watch a woman crying, and being repeatedly raped over and over again. She is made an object in 2 men’s feud over her pain, and it becomes secondary. In fact, her story is entirely over shadowed by the duel itself. All of the beautiful cinematography, sets and costuming can’t conceal the fact that this film was creepy, sadistic, and misogynistic. I’m glad it tanked in the box office. If you want a woman’s perspective on rape culture watch Promising Young Woman instead. That was actually directed by a woman, and obviously one who understands rape culture, because she didn’t film one getting violated and crying for a huge portion of the film from virtually 3 of the same (2 of them male) perspectives. 1 in every 6 women have or will experience sexual assault in their lifetime, and women make up more than half of today’s population, which means a lot of women who watch that film will be triggered and re live their assault. If a film is triggering and traumatizing for part of it’s audience, it’s not a commentary, it’s further victimization. Ridley Scott just disenfranchised a chunk of his fan base. I will be forgoing the pleasure of all Ridley Scott’s future releases. If you want to look at the modern take on rape culture, all you need do is look at the responses generated to this film. Praising and capitalizing on a woman’s pain shows just how desensitized modern culture is, and how modern are we really? The response suggests nothing has changed. You can’t combat violence against women by showcasing excessive violence against women. This world is so lost. I can’t believe I paid $6 to stream it. I feel sick…..

By: Hayden

Hayden — Wed, 08 Dec 2021 16:46:55 +0000

Hey Taylor when u were mentioning ridley’s greats I’m not sure if you meant this, but you know aliens, the second, was a James Cameron film. Now the reason I mention this aside from just wanting to make sure you were 100 percent, because I can say I have not seen ann error before on this incredible site that I check more religiously than any other, and yes that is a compliment because… you deserve it, and I mean that. The other reason is just to basically agree with you, to point out his style in general which I just don’t feel would entirely apply could he have said he was responsible for the second alien movie. I’m not sure why, perhaps it’s because of what I’ve always found to be a completely lackluster personality and apparent lack of a source of creativity the man is. Whenever I have heard him speak on a movie it seems like he’s responding after just being woken up at 3 in the morning, not one insightful word have I heard from him and giving him any credit for one of the very few if argued by any wholly successful sequels must not stand. A thing that David Fincher, while not entirely his fault at all, was unable to reprise in the third installment. Fincher, actually has gone well out of his way to distance himself from the third alien, out of all the material in any one of the many dvd box sets you will hear from everyone and their grandmother who had a hand in any of the aliens but you will not hear a word from Fincher, he doesn’t appear once in the all that making of content, thank God he didn’t stick by his initial decision to never be involved in a film again, which is probably the only thing one might hear from him when mentioning the movie at best. Taylor thank you again for creating this site, there is nowhere else on the web where one might find a steady source of solid films one after another, so don’t stop!

By: Lisa

Lisa — Sat, 04 Dec 2021 00:42:10 +0000

I forgot to mention this- Adam Driver is supposed to be the hunk that makes all the ladies swoon in this movie? Are you kidding me? Out of all the extremely good looking people in Hollywood, this is who Ridley chooses as his hunk? No. Just no. I’m not saying he isn’t a great actor (he generally is, just not in this film) but he’s tall and gawky and really not hunky! Plus Damon and Affleck are almost nearing the age where they could be grandparents so they were seriously miscast as well. Every time Affleck came on with that blonde hair I was cracking up. And Damon with that perpetual scowl just made him look constipated!

By: Lisa

Lisa — Wed, 01 Dec 2021 23:41:17 +0000

Was he innocent or not? This movie was so terrible, I didn’t even care. Frankly, even if it wasn’t so terrible I couldn’t possibly get worked up about something that happened in the 1380s so I’m unsure why this story even had to be told. It certainly wasn’t very interesting being that it was told 3 different times in 50 minute segments with maybe 10 minutes for the actual duel. If the story isn’t even interesting enough to carry it over an hour then I hardly see the point! Plus the other things you mentioned-terrible accents, ridiculous cape swooshing like this is supposed to be some kind of parody or comedy and just awful costumes and makeup. Ridley clearly called up some of his A list buddies and randomly asked them to act in this thing and either they are all losing their edge or didn’t take the project seriously at all because if they had then at least one of them could have told him to maybe hire some actual French people. I only finished this movie because I knew your flame piece was forthcoming and I wanted to be able to hurl the tomatoes with you. So yeah, this movie is poop and I have no idea how it has any good reviews at all. It seems many of the critics are reviewing it much higher than it should with honest opinions coming from us regular folk.