"Old partners" Ben Affleck and Matt Damon teamed up again, but The Last Duel is a feminist film
Reported by Maggie Ma los Angeles
Hollywood's best buddies Ben Affleck and Matt Damon won the Academy Award for Best Screenplay in 1998 for co-authoring "Good Will Hunting," after which they became actors and became famous. After many years, the duo once again teamed up to write the script and personally starred in the new costume film "The Last Duel", which will be released on October 15.
Although the film seems to be a cruel competition between men in the era of cold weapons, it is actually a story with a "masculine" appearance and advocacy of women's rights and status, and its core character is actually a woman who has been raped and dares to stand up for her rights and interests. Even though the story takes place 800 years ago, women still face similar situations, making it easy for the film to spark a discussion about "how to determine rape."
After the rise of the "Metoo" movement in recent years, it has been seen that some women have bravely come forward to say that they have been raped or sexually assaulted. However, because there were no witnesses at the time of the incident, many victims were unable to substantiate their complaints, especially in how to prove "involuntary", it is always difficult to obtain legal public judgment and trust from the outside world. At the same time, the accused men often choose to deny and dismiss, saying that it is not rape but that the woman is voluntary or active. "The Last Duel", although a story that took place 800 years ago, also tells the same problem, and at that time, women were of a lower status, and even if they were to file a complaint, the decision was still in the hands of men.
The Final Duel revolves around a rape case. The knight Jean de Carrouges, played by Matt Damon, is brave and warlike, but has a strong personality, thus offending the king (Ben Affleck) and making countless enemies for himself. Among them, a former good friend of his, the squire Jacques Le Gris (Adam Dreifer), not only sneaks up on the king and robs Jean of his official position, but also takes a fancy to his wife, Margeritede Carrouges (Judy Comer), and rapes her. Margerite did not choose silence, but bravely told her husband about the matter, and hoped that his husband would do justice for her. Jean wanted to take revenge on Jacques and took the opportunity to take him to court. Jacques, of course, denied the complaint. In the end, the two men have to rely on hand-to-hand combat between each other to decide who is the righteous side. In the legal environment at the time, Margerite would not only not receive sympathy and justice, but if her husband lost the final battle, she would also be burned alive in public. Because of this, most women at that time chose to be silent when they were raped, in order to save their lives. As an old woman in the film said, "There is no right or wrong or good or evil, only power." ”
The cleverness of the story is that it is divided into three chapters, telling the whole story from the perspective of her husband Jean, rape suspect Jacques and victim Margerite. The audience can clearly see that the views of the two men on this matter are very different from those of women. Male characters don't look at women in the first place and don't care about their feelings. Jacques would dismiss Margerite's polite smile and firm refusal as "seduction and resignation," while Jean, as a husband, never experienced whether his wife was really happy, using her as a tool for more power. Eventually, it turned into a battle of revenge and competition between men, with Margerite as a victim who could not be treated with respect and fairness. In modern times, many sexual assault or rape cases also have very different perspectives and testimonies, and it is difficult for women to prove that they are victims.
Matt Damon said at the film's press conference that he first saw the novel and thought that Margerite, despite her weak resistance, was a true heroine, especially in that era, so brave to stand up and testify against rapists. So he brought in his friend Ben Affleck to write the script. But the novel is mostly male, and Margerite's ideas are completely ignored and the characters are marginalized. So Matt Damon brought in Nicole Holofcener, a screenwriter he admired, to write the script together, and asked Nicole to write the chapter on Margerite, trying to tell her story from a female perspective.
Nicole Harofense also said that there are very few records about women in that era, and most of the recorded content is the actions and ideas of men, so she can only rely on limited research to speculate, at least hoping that this chapter can let people see the helplessness, struggle and real feelings of women in that era.
Matt Damon also hired ridley Scott, a well-known director he had worked with, to direct the film, and presented the film's grand scenes of war and duels. Scott had been nominated for an Oscar for Best Director for the costume film "Gladiator", and "Gladiator" was a "masculine" male film, and now in this film, he still attaches great importance to visually restoring the sense of the times of the story, but tries to give the female protagonist more shots. Scott said that in the three chapters, margerite is undoubtedly the only one who is telling the truth, because she is risking her life to defend her own interests.
It is worth mentioning that this kind of film that shows "toxic" men only cares about their own desires and reputations, ignoring women's feelings is common this year's awards season. "The Power of the Dog" and "Annette", which have made their debut at the Venice Film Festival and the Cannes Film Festival, are similar themes and can be said to be representatives of a new batch of feminist films. They are characterized by the fact that often the protagonists are not women, but toxic men, allowing people to see how women can become victims of what they call "masculinity". And this batch of movies also brings together a lot of well-known Hollywood men. In this era, they don't have many opportunities to play a righteous hero to get attention and applause, but instead need to play the "toxic male" villain to show their acting skills.
After the venice film festival, "The Last Duel" was released in North America on October 15, and currently receives 83% media recommendation on Rotten Tomatoes, and the acting skills of Ben Affleck and Adam Dreifer are also highly praised.
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