The Last Duel

Based on real events, this bleak medieval epic finds director Ridley Scott on (mostly) familiar ground. At first, the plot is simple: Norman knight Jean de Carrouges (Matt Damon) returns from battle to discover that his friend, squire Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver), has raped his wife, Marguerite (Jodie Comer). De Carrouges then challenges Le Gris to the titular duel. But the screenplay, by Damon, Ben Affleck (who has fun in his own role as a sex-crazed count) and Nicole Holofcener, is smartly split into three acts, each telling "the truth" according to a different perspective. Where parts one and two show the men's points of view, the final act provides a searing rebuttal on behalf of the wronged Marguerite. Comer is incandescent as our persecuted hero, fighting to survive in a world that treats women as literal property, and the film springs to life whenever she's on screen. The drama overall is a tad stagey, but Scott's climactic set piece is spectacular: brutal, gory and impeccably choreographed.