What filmmaking techniques does The Last Duel use?

CineCode breaks down 5 techniques in The Last Duel (2021): Unreliable Narrator, Repeated Event Retelling, Perpetrator Perspective, Institutional Honor Critique and Period Instrument Score.

Who directed The Last Duel?

Ridley Scott directed The Last Duel, released in 2021. CineCode also covers The Duellists (1977), Alien (1979), Blade Runner (1982), Legend (1985), Black Rain (1989), Thelma & Louise (1991).

What films are similar to The Last Duel?

Films that share techniques with The Last Duel include The Shining (1980), Fight Club (1999), Schindler's List (1993), Harakiri (1962).

Drama · History

The Last Duel

Ridley Scott, 2021

In 14th-century France, the knight Jean de Carrouges accuses his old friend Jacques Le Gris of raping his wife Marguerite and demands a fight to the death. The film tells the story three times, once for each person. Watch how the same events change in each version.

3 Narrative 1 Editing 1 Sound

At a glance

The Last Duel is a 2021 drama and history film directed by Ridley Scott. This breakdown covers 5 techniques (3 narrative, 1 editing and 1 sound), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, The Shining uses several of the same techniques.

Narrative

Unreliable Narrator

Telling the story through a character you can't trust, because they are lying, mentally unwell or fooling themselves. At some point, you have to rethink what you were told.

How this film uses it

Each of the first two chapters follows a man who believes his own version. Both remember themselves as the wronged or sensible one. The third chapter, from Marguerite, is presented as the clear account, which makes you doubt everything that came before.

Where to see it

The chapters: The film tells the story from Jean, then Le Gris, then Marguerite, and each version shows the other men and the same events in a different light.

Editing

Repeated Event Retelling

Showing the same event again from a different position, character or time. Each replay adds or changes information and shifts what the audience believes.

How this film uses it

Scenes such as the meeting between Le Gris and Marguerite return in each chapter with changed details, like who seems friendly and who seems pushy. You spot the difference without anyone pointing it out. By the third telling you know who was seeing clearly.

Where to see it

The assault: The attack on Marguerite appears in more than one chapter, and the detail that shifts most is whether Le Gris sees it as consent.

Narrative

Perpetrator Perspective

Telling the story from the side of the person doing the harm, and letting you inside their head. You start to understand them, which is more uncomfortable than simply condemning them.

How this film uses it

The Le Gris chapter lets you inside the head of the man who commits the crime. He truly believes Marguerite wanted him. Seeing his self-deception from the inside is more unsettling than a simple villain would be.

Where to see it

The Le Gris chapter: Le Gris's version shows his charm with Marguerite and his belief that his advances were welcome.

Narrative

Institutional Honor Critique

Building the story around an institution's code of honor, often a military one, and showing the gap between what it claims and what it does. The code ends up protecting power.

How this film uses it

The judicial duel is supposed to let God show who is right, yet it ends up protecting the powerful. Marguerite is told she will be burned for lying if her husband loses. The code of honor treats her as an object to be defended or punished.

Where to see it

The duel: Jean and Jacques joust, then fight on foot, and Jean wounds Jacques and kills him after Jacques insists he is innocent. Marguerite watches while knowing her life depends on the result.

Sound

Period Instrument Score

Building a score from instruments and sounds that match the story's era, like ancient lyres, bronze and folk singing. The music feels made from the world on screen.

How this film uses it

Harry Gregson-Williams's score features the a cappella group Voces8 alongside orchestra. The voices give the story a medieval, churchlike weight without sounding like a museum piece. They set a serious tone for a story about power and belief.

Where to see it

The score: Throughout the film, choral voices and mixed instruments underline the three characters and the build toward the duel.

Questions

The Last Duel: quick answers

What filmmaking techniques does The Last Duel use?: CineCode breaks down 5 techniques in The Last Duel (2021): Unreliable Narrator, Repeated Event Retelling, Perpetrator Perspective, Institutional Honor Critique and Period Instrument Score.
Who directed The Last Duel?: Ridley Scott directed The Last Duel, released in 2021. CineCode also covers The Duellists (1977), Alien (1979), Blade Runner (1982), Legend (1985), Black Rain (1989), Thelma & Louise (1991).
What films are similar to The Last Duel?: Films that share techniques with The Last Duel include The Shining (1980), Fight Club (1999), Schindler's List (1993), Harakiri (1962).

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