One For Them, One For Me - Ridley Scott's 2021 - "The Last Duel" vs. "House of Gucci"
Thursday, April 7, 2022 at 2:22PM
A series by Christopher James.
Do one for them; do one for you. If you can still do projects for yourself, you can keep your soul.
— Martin Scorsese: A Journey
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How great would it have been if "The Last Duel" was between Margurite and Patrizia Reggiani?
Though Ridley Scott was not nominated for either of his movies in 2021, they still cast some shadows on Oscar night. House of Gucci star Lady Gaga rounded out the night presenting Best Picture alongside living legend Liza Minnelli, a nod to the 50th anniversary of Cabaret. His other film, The Last Duel, was the subject of a joke by host Regina Hall, saying: “Now, I’ve got the screener for a never-before-seen film, not even by the director. It’s called, The Last Duel.”
A year ago, both movies were expected to factor heavily in the Oscar race...
While the poor box office hurt The Last Duel, House of Gucci was a major contender up until Oscar nomination, particularly in Best Actress. In the end, Scott’s films earned a total of one Oscar nomination - Best Makeup & Hairstyling for House of Gucci.
Scott's two 2021 pictures could not be more different, sharing nothing more than a long running time. Set in 14th century France, The Last Duel tells conflicting views of a trial between Knight Jean de Carrouges (Matt Damon) and his squire, Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver). The crime - Jacques stands accused of raping Jean’s wife, Marguerite (Jodie Comer). Just one month later, Scott’s House of Gucci hit theaters. The film put Gaga in a crazy Italian accent as she played a woman who marries into the Gucci family, only to be the source of death and destruction. So which was his “one for them” and his “one for me”?
Okay, we all should've realized Matt Damon's character was a dunce when we saw the beard and mullet. Impeccable character choices.
The Last Duel is a strange patchwork quilt of a movie. While the logline seems concise, the two-and-a-half hour runtime suggests a more involved viewing. However, the length comes from a Rashomon style conceit where we see the points of view of all three leads. In essence, it’s an extra long episode of The Affair, only with a bigger budget and less bonkers twists. This setup leads to some repeated beats, but also some interesting character throughlines that build to a satisfying conclusion in Comer’s final segment. Perhaps the best arc comes from the audience slowly realizing that Damon’s Sir Jean de Carrouges is not the noble knight that he seems himself as, but rather the biggest boob mankind has ever seen. This characterization comes from Ben Affleck’s King Charles VI, a hedonistic ruler who takes a shine to Jacques and feels that Jean’s greatest crime is being a humorless bore.
The twists and turns of The Last Duel improve the movie as it wears on. Still, it’s hard not to see the film as a group project where almost everyone worked independently only to stitch together a movie at the last minute. This mostly feels like a function of the script, co-written by Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Nicole Holofcener. It’s as if Affleck and Damon wrote their medieval epic only for Holofcener to read that and offer a 40 minute extra act reframing everything we just saw. As a director, Scott does what he can to massage it into one vision; however, one wonders whether it would’ve just been stronger to have the whole film be from Margurite’s perspective. We have to wade through a lot of set-up for the eventual payoff. Plus, Ridley Scott’s delight for blood letting proves to be a fatal double edged sword. Yes, the titular last duel is a violent, yet entertaining, affair. In fact, it may be the best action sequence of the year. However, why do we have to see Marguerite raped twice, with varying levels of brutality? This seems to undercut the very message The Last Duel is trying to convey.
Ridley Scott was looking for a "brava" for "House of Gucci."
At one point in House of Gucci, Jared Leto’s Paolo Gucci warns us to not mistake chocolate for shit. If only Ridley Scott had heeded that warning. The definition of camp has been argued to death for years. By whatever definition, House of Gucci fails to sustain itself as true camp, hitting it in short bursts only for sporadic moments. The premise feels ripe for juicy drama with a side of murder and intrigue. Patrizia Reggiani (Lady Gaga) is just your average social climber who winds up attracting the affection of Mauricio Gucci (Adam Driver), heir to the Gucci family business. Upon their marriage, Patrizia flexes her newfound influence, convincing Mauricio to cut various members of his eccentric family out of the business, including his devious Uncle Aldo (Al Pacino) and his bumbling son Paolo (Leto). Once Mauricio starts going rogue and straying from Patrizia, she teams up with a TV psychic, Pina Auriemma (Salma Hayek), to kill Mauricio.
House of Gucci feels oddly more concerned with the details of how the Gucci empire was upended at this time rather than the human drama at the center. There are endless, dull boardroom scenes talking about the meaning of the Gucci brand featuring a nameless bunch of businessmen. It takes us so long before we even start talking about how the brand’s fashion changes, with Tom Ford designs reigniting the brand late in the game. The plotting of murder only really begins in the final act. It’s been noted to death that every actor seems to be in a different movie. That could be more fun if it didn’t seem like each actor was green-screened into each scene. Having different styles and personalities clash can render powerful and memorable drama. Unfortunately, everyone seems to be acting opposite the camera, rather than their fellow actor. Gaga’s committed portrait of Patrizia fares best, while Leto’s Paolo is a big swing and a big miss. Strangely, he and Pacino, his on-screen Father, are the only two characters that seem to have a shared history. Everyone else arrived just in time for the camera to start rolling.
Ridley Scott has had quite the number of great muses - Sigourney Weaver, Geena Davis, Susan Sarandon, Lady Gaga.
Assessing which is the “One For Them” and “One For Me” choice for Ridley Scott goes beyond designating one as “bad” and one as “good.” While I classify The Last Duel as good and House of Gucci as bad, I’ve read lots of interesting pieces from critics who would flip that designation. What makes a movie “one for the filmmaker” is that it represents their style, perhaps with them being given less oversight or more of an opportunity to take a risk. Based on that designation alone, it’s clear that The Last Duel represents Scott’s “One For Me.” It’s a purposefully bloated film that crescendos in a titular duel that feels as kinetic and thrilling as some of Scott’s best action sequences, recalling some of the best moments of Gladiator.
Meanwhile, House of Gucci carries that same bloat in stranger places. It doesn’t move, it lumbers. Scott seems to have been tasked with delivering camp, something Gaga and Leto are aspiring to deliver with different results. In trying to fit that bill, Scott forgets to make things exciting. The murder at the center of the film nearly gets forgotten, as if its a coda to this story of squabbling siblings and a family company in disarray. Flashes of Scott’s panache and penchant for spectacle come through, such as a cut between a steamy sex scene between Mauricio and Patrizia to their wedding. The needle drop of George Michael’s “Faith” takes the cut to new heights. It’s bold, it’s absurd and it’s big. Between films like Alien and Thelma & Louise, Ridley Scott has always known how to make tight, character-focused stories feel like epics. The characters are small compared to the vastness of their problems and locations. In House of Gucci, the situations feel small and the characters feel big, creating an uncomfortable, suffocating experience.
One doesn't simply make a 14th century set $100 million movie unless it's a "One For Me."
“We just did two very good things the last 20 months, and partly because of COVID and partly because we’re losing cinema, which is desperately unfortunate, the one should have done much better,” Scott says. “I hope to God [moviegoing] is going to return. I just hope to God that we don’t let it go. One thing’s for sure: We don’t know shit. We are guessing. After my experience, I don’t know, so all I can do is make the best I can.” - The Hollywood Reporter
Based on this quote, it seems Scott himself also thinks The Last Duel should’ve gotten more of a shot in theaters. It’s true, we don’t know shit. Hopefully more directors are like Scott, throwing multiple things that interest them up against a wall and trying to make unique films that deserve to be seen in theaters. Despite uneven results, I’m waiting with bated breath for Scott’s next film.
Are you a Little Monster for House of Gucci or a Holofcener-head for The Last Duel? Which do you think was his “One For Them” and “One For Me?” Let us know in the comments below.
Reader Comments (15)
There's also an alternative.
They were both shitty, overlong, and disappointing.
One more than the other, but still unfulfilling cinema.
And one of those films had Jared Leto so that was a bad idea.
I think THE LAST DUEL was severely underrated - I found it quite involving, much more than I was expecting to. No one can shoot an action sequence like Scott, and the tripartite screenplay worked for me.
That said, I take your point on having to see the rape twice. I remember thinking, after we see it from the Adam Driver character's perspective, "THAT'S supposed to be the take most sympathetic to him? Ye gods, how could it be worse?" And then you see it from Marguerite's point of view, the palpable terror and brutality, and it is...so very much worse. But I don't see its brutality as undercutting so much as reinforcing the larger point.
Also gotta say Jodie Comer should have been in the Oscar conversation. And Affleck was a hoot, in the best way possible. I vastly prefer him when he's playing satirical or snarky.
The Last Duel was long and unexciting, but House of Gucci hurt my head throughout its runtime.
Lynn --same on Ben Affleck! and Last Duel actually. I thought it was super interesting and i was never once bored. Which i cannot say about House of Gucci.
I have quibbles with The Last Duel: Scott shot and color-graded it for a blue-gray tone that obscures the vitality of the period and the sumptuousness of the costumes (Janty Yates did vastly superior work in this film compared to Gucci); and I also agree that the two rape scenes were excessively long/brutal, although the two perspectives are necessary, from my point of view. They both could have been trimmed just a bit.
That being said, it's still a really good B+ from my view, with a star-in-the-making performance from Comer, interesting work from all three of its male stars (not just Affleck, who has the fun but easy part) either playing with or against (or both) their personas, and consistently excellent work from all its small supporting roles, right down to the women doing the best side-eye background work I've seen in a while.
I loved The Last Duel. Comer deserved to go far awards wise for it imo. Funny enough I really enjoyed how Damon played the most obnoxious "ugh that guy" type of character. He's so damn unlikable even in his own version of events! I think all four of the leads were top notch really. One of Scott's finest in years.
And I will argue that YES it is important to view the assault twice. I'm kind of baffled that people think otherwise. You would think as Le Gris believes himself to be innocent his version of events would be wildly different than Marguerite's but while there are subtle differences it pretty much plays out the same and yet he still thinks himself innocent of the crime. I think that was important to show. That people guilty of such a crime can somehow view it so differently when from the outside it's very clearly assault.
I also liked House of Gucci but mostly because Gaga is such a damn powerhouse and just everything about her in that is so damn entertaining to watch. I also loved Driver's cute floppy wig which is a perfectly valid reason to enjoy a movie imo lol.
I don't know how anyone could be bored when GaGa was onscreen,TLD was entertaining but apart from Comer and Driver poorly acted/
Haven’t seen it, but Regina Hall’s Last Duel screener joke at the Oscars was one of the cruelest / worst performing jokes of the night for sure.
I know it’s already been said, but the Oscars promoting this “we didn’t even watch the movies!” mentality is only going to produce the opposite result of what they claim to want.
Not surprised to see a piece about House of Gucci has more comments than anything else on the front page (or that TFE continues to write about the film). Gaga gave the most discussed performance of 2021, Oscars be damned.
Loved HOG.... and Lady Gaga
Minelli is a legend only to the gays.
This movie is awesome
I don't know if there's much more to say about GUCCI that hasn't already been said. It's dull, severaly ugly and seems completely uninterested in fashion.
THE LAST DUEL, however, is, very good and box office flop be damned should have been way more in the conversation, at least for its technicals if not also for Comer, Affleck and the film itself. I saw it theatrically and it really does look like a work of cinema than GUCCI ever does. The joke they gave Regina was mean, but then I also don't think calling it an "extra long episode of The Affair" does anybody any favours either. It's a complex film that is much more than just Rashamon. The fact that people debated which story was the real one really shows a lot of about contemporary gender roles.
I don't know if there's much more to say about GUCCI that hasn't already been said. It's dull, severaly ugly and seems completely uninterested in fashion.
THE LAST DUEL, however, is, very good and box office flop be damned should have been way more in the conversation, at least for its technicals if not also for Comer, Affleck and the film itself. I saw it theatrically and it really does look like a work of cinema than GUCCI ever does. The joke they gave Regina was mean, but then I also don't think calling it an "extra long episode of The Affair" does anybody any favours either. It's a complex film that is much more than just Rashamon. The fact that people debated which story was the real one really shows a lot of about contemporary gender roles.
I don’t think Ridley Scott does “one for them, one for me”. I think he’s interested in everything he does. Slightly different formats, new collaborators, using one of his skills in a different way, going back to a skill he hasn’t used for a while.
My prediction is that in 15 or 20 years, there will be retrospectives and re-evaluations of Ridley Scott as one of the great classic filmmakers. People will puzzle over why he was so under-appreciated when he was working.
One thing that doesn’t seem to resonate much with American audiences is Scott’s movies always contain social critique. It’s not pontificating or ideological. Scott looks at each time period and place of a story and considers what is crap about living in this time, how does this era screw a person over whether they have money, a measure of power and connections, or none of these things?
Viewers may find the critique extraneous, a diversion, off-topic, padding, boring, “doesn’t belong”.
I really liked how Scott structures House of Gucci. It’s like nesting dolls: the individuals, the individuals within the family unit, the family unit within the family business, the family business among other companies, the companies in the world. And the crumbling of the original people and set up through both internal and external forces.
Re the actors being in different movies: Sometimes a family is described as a random assortment of individuals thrown together by an accident of birth. Who has never looked at a family member and (said/thought) “We are not in the same movie here. You don’t even live in the same world as me”.
Although I thought this set of actors actually belonged together. They all like to dig a little deeper, add something extra, and are not afraid of stylization or going big (yes, Jared Leto overdoes it).
Lady Gaga gave an extraordinarily truthful performance. She found the interior of the character and expressed it in an exterior way. It was impressive, fascinating, unafraid, and I loved it.