Review of The Last Duel (2021) by Filmanwalt — 23 Feb 2022

You can literally split the tension built up here with a sword. The Last Duel is a medieval drama set in France with a heavy and drastically staged theme.

Structured in a change of perspective, the film tells the perspectives of the individual protagonists. Although scenarios are repeated here, they are always supplemented with interesting thoughts and statements. It is a game with how one's own perception can deviate very massively or even very slightly from the perception of the other person.

A film that is shot very cold and somber and partly in its rather few action sequences it is full of it and can be uncomfortable. At the beginning the film needs some time to get going, but then it even turns into comedy at times. But if you internalize the narrative structure, the tide turns and the tension increases more and more and finds its climax in the story of Marguerite de Carrouges, played incredibly well by Jodie Comer. But the rest of the cast is also strong with the outstanding Adam Driver (I've become a real fan of his), Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.

For me it's a great film that ends in a brilliant finale and only has some starting problems 9/10 perspectives.