Character page for The Last Duel.
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Marguerite de Carrouges, née de Thibouville
Played by: Jodie Comer
Dubbed by: Olivia Luccioni (European French)
The daughter of Sir Robert de Thibouville, who marries Jean de Carrouges, and is later raped by Jacques Le Gris.
- Age-Gap Romance: She's significantly younger than her husband Jean, with their actors sharing a twenty-three-year age gap. Justified, as Jean lost his wife and only son, and married her specifically for her youth and perceived fertility.
- Awful Wedded Life: Her marriage to Jean is not a happy one, although she doesn't actually fear him (even saying he's a good provider). However, Jean is neglectful, thoughtless, and has little respect for Marguerite as a person. He largely views her as a tool for his own selfish gain. Their sex life is also rote and passionless, with Jean listlessly pounding away at Marguerite with the hope that she'll finally conceive a child.
- Babies Ever After: Eventually, she does conceive a son. But, as to who the father actually is, nobody knows.
- Badass Bookworm: It's shown she's better at handling Jean's accounts than he is.
- Dumb Blonde: Inverted. She's blonde and one of the smarter characters in the film, being very well-read and skilled with accounting, able to run Jean's estate very effectively while he's away, getting them through hard times.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Marguerite endures a marriage to a blunt, thoughtless man with no respect for her, constant bullying from her mother-in-law, and the unwanted attention of Le Gris (which leads to her violent rape), which she's humiliated repeatedly for afterward and told was her fault. Eventually, however, Le Gris is killed and Jean himself dies in the crusades a few years later, freeing Marguerite to live a happy and peaceful life with her beloved son.
- Everyone Loves Blondes: Noted to be very beautiful, and has long blonde hair.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: She's blonde and a very sweet-natured person.
- Hidden Depths: Trapped in a loveless marriage. Marguerite finds a sense of purpose and happiness managing Jean's estate whilst he is away on a campaign and proves to be very good at it. She can also read, an unusually rare skill for the time, and speaks multiple languages.
- Innocent Blue Eyes: Has a striking pair which the camera emphasizes a lot.
- Law of Inverse Fertility: Was wed specifically to give Jean children and future heirs, but the two haven't conceived despite years of trying. When she finally does conceive, she faces the possibility that her long-time desired baby may very likely be a Child by Rape.
- Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: The film leaves it ambiguous whether Marguerite's son was fathered by Jean or Jacques.
- Nerves of Steel: She barely blinks during a fairly brutal cross-examination by unsympathetic priests mere feet in front of her own rapist. While she's visibly withholding tears during a graphic description of the grisly execution she'll be faced with should Jean lose the duel, she doesn't actually cry and keeps herself composed. When given the chance to recant, she holds firm to her truthful testimony that Le Gris raped her.
- Nice Girl: Marguerite is a kind and sweet-natured person who is good to others. This only makes what happens to her even worse.
- Nice to the Waiter: She's shown as being polite and respectful to servants and workers who toll on the estate.
- Silk Hiding Steel: By all appearances a dutiful, learned, and proper noble wife. She later displays an aptitude for managing her husband's household. After she's raped, she retains propriety and nerves of steel throughout all the highly invasive questioning, cruel Slut-Shaming, and the final and very grisly duel.
- Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Marguerite is a slender blonde whose beauty is commented on many times, in contrast to her husband, who is older, battle-scarred, unwashed, and in possession of a very unflattering haircut (by modern standards).
Jean de Carrouges
Played by: Matt Damon
Dubbed by: Damien Boisseau (European French)
A hot-headed squire and later knight, who has inherited some titles and land from his father and grandfather.
- Aesop Amnesia: Jean seems to suffer from this after he wins the duel, even though at first he and Marguerite embrace and he then presents his wife before the cheering crowd, seemingly having had a Heel Realization and taken what she told him to heart, so they can acknowledge her victory as well, however as they get on their horses and ride out of arena and through the crowd, Jean seems to quickly forget about Marguerite and gets swept up basking in his own glory while his wife is left to ride behind him silent and unnoticed.
- Age-Gap Romance: He's much older than Marguerite with their actors being twenty-three years apart. It's justified as he lost his former wife and son to the plague and is now looking for a new heir, meaning he needs someone young enough to bear a child.
- Anti-Hero: Is this due to how he treats his wife, although in the end, he did manage to save her life.
- Berserk Button: He does not take any affronts to his pride or ego well.
- Beauty Inversion: Matt Damon's good looks are obscured by extensive scars and a rough appearance owing to decades of fighting in brutal conditions.
- Blood Knight: He tends to be very enthusiastic and vicious in combat.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance: While he's shown as perfectly virtuous in his own narrative, his wife emphasizes how - like most men of his time - he mostly regards her as a means to achieve wealth and heirs. Other factors come into play after his wife is raped.
- Dissonant Serenity: Spends a few seconds staring ahead while fire arrows rain down and kill his allies before charging the attackers alone.
- Dumb Jock: He's an excellent fighter, but lacks the social skills or intelligence to flatter his peers when he's not on the battlefield, which is one of the reasons the Count doesn't favor him.
- Fatal Flaw: His pride and his inability to control his emotions. Almost every issue he faces is borne from his inability to tolerate any perceived slights and his refusal to take a more pragmatic approach to his conflicts, mainly with Pierre and other members of the royal court. Even he acknowledges it as a problem in his own recounting of events.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: He's a courageous, honorable, and devout man-at-arms turned knight, but he's also reckless and impetuous both on the battlefield and at home and has a volatile temper and takes any perceived slight extremely personally. These traits make him more isolated from the court than Jacques who is considerably more charming. None of his compatriots even clap for him during his dubbing in Scotland.
- Good Is Dumb: Shown in his very first scene. The English are threatening the lives of female hostages to get him and his men to break formation from defending an important bridge. He takes the bait when he sees one killed and leads a heroic charge, but it's implied that doing so lost them the bridge and from there, the battle. De Carrouges cares more about what feels right at the moment than what would be best long-term.
- Good Is Not Nice: He's a brave, honorable man who is firmly on the side of good throughout. He's also stubborn, short-tempered, self-centered, and extremely prideful. Even Marguerite, while admitting his good qualities, notices his flaws increasingly throughout time and grows emotionally apart from him as a result.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: He gets angry very easily and lets it override his good judgment on more than a few occasions. Even he acknowledges as much in his own recounting of events.
- Hot-Blooded: Oh yeah. He's always passionate and emotional.
- Hypocrite: Gets angry at Jacques for raping his wife when he did the same to her throughout their marriage.
- It's All About Me: His first response when Marguerite reveals she had been raped is to talk about how such a claim would affect him and he sees the resulting trial partially as a way to settle old scores with Jacques; who he never forgave for falling under Pierre's sway and taking the land he was promised as a dowry for marrying Marguerite. Marguerite outright tells him that he's risking her life to protect his pride. Fittingly, after defeating Jacques, he spends his time basking in the glow of adoration and barely pays a sullen Marguerite a second thought.
- A Lighter Shade of Grey: Jean may be pretty despicable by modern standards, but he still stands by his wife undoubtedly, served his king with distinction and valor, and at least isn't susceptible to the vices of his peers.
- Mama's Boy: He's pretty defensive of his mother, even when she says pretty despicable things towards Marguerite.
- Marital Rape License: Implied. When de Carrouges first learns of the rape, he aggressively insists Marguerite have sex with him so that Le Gris will not have been the last man to have "known her", and Marguerite reluctantly complies. Months later, Marguerite has finally become pregnant, but due to the timing, it's unknown who the biological father is.
- Pet the Dog: His own version of events has him offer to make his home more like Marguerite's home in an attempt to please his wife. Little things he does throughout Marguerite's own version of events such as telling his council how "they" (Marguerite and himself), his tone of saying he is fighting for her, and standing by her in generaly show he does care about her to some extent as a person and not quite as cold as others think.
- Outliving One's Offspring: It's mentioned early on that he lost his wife and son to the plague.
- Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: He's noticeably very rugged with battle scars that reflect his status as a battle-hardened warrior in contrast to his wife who is slender and very beautiful.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: How he wins the duel. He pretends to be weak from blood loss and falls on his knees; when Le Gris approaches to strike the final blow, de Carrouges slices him across the legs and takes the upper hand.
- World's Best Warrior: He's certainly the best we see onscreen. The first twenty minutes show him charging into battle first multiple times and using all sorts of techniques. Part of why he appeals to Trial by Combat is because of how sure he is that he'll win due to having much combat experience.
Jacques Le Gris
Played by: Adam Driver
Dubbed by: Valentin Merlet (European French)
A squire of comparatively humble origins, who rises to influence under the patronage of Count Pierre d'Alençon.
- Alas, Poor Villain: His death is by no means portrayed as triumphant but rather the tragic end of a man of humble origins whose Toxic Friend Influence and a lifetime of rejections led him to becoming an unrepentant rapist.
- Ambition Is Evil: Treating the Count's vices as normal to get ahead is what leads to him becoming monstrous enough to rape Marguerite.
- Badass Bookworm: Reads Latin and is good at arithmetic, which endears him to the Count.
- Believing Their Own Lies: He genuinely doesn't believe he raped Marguerite and that their encounter was consensual. At the most, he believes her "initial" protests were only something she would do "as a lady" and that she eventually gave in to his advances.
- The Casanova: Deconstructed. He develops into this under the Count's influence, but it mostly manifests in debauched orgies which don't really take his targets' consent into account. His belief that he can seduce any woman with his womanizing charm, along with his profoundly warped ideas of consent and love, eventually lead to him committing rape.
- The Charmer: He's pretty charismatic and wins people over easily, especially women. His awareness of his own charm is also part of why he can't fathom that his encounters might not be consensual.
- Defiant to the End: When de Carrouges has him at his mercy in the duel and is demanding he confess to the rape, Le Gris refuses and insists upon his innocence. This earns him a blade to the mouth.
- Evil Debt Collector: Along with managing Count Pierre's accounts, Le Gris also goes around to the Count's vassals to collect the rents they owe. He's also not afraid to use force on some of their servants to make a point.
- Freudian Excuse: Jacques' humble origins and squire status have earned him discrimination from the masses. It's the Count who befriends him despite all that but only serves to corrupt him on sexual politics.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Goes from a customary squire to a close confidant of the Count and a rapist, with the implication that plenty of women have been in Questionable Consent situations with him.
- Genius Bruiser: He's a brave and experienced warrior and enforcer and is quite well read and a skilled accountant and speaks multiple languages, impressive skills for the time, especially for a man of his modest background.
- Good with Numbers: He has accounting talents too, which helps improve the finances of Count Pierre a great deal outside of racketeering some nobles like Marguerite's father.
- Historical Villain Downgrade: A minor example. While he is portrayed as being guilty of Marguerite's rape, the film depicts him as genuinely believing that she consented to the encounter. In reality the assault as described by Marguerite was much more vicious than portrayed and could not possibly have been interpreted as consensual (le Gris assaulted her after she explicitly refused to sleep with him, she had to be held down by Adam Louvel to stop her fighting back and le Gris threatened to kill her if she told anybody). Notably, le Gris' defence was not that the encounter was consensual, but that it couldn't have happened because he couldn't have rode there and back in time.
- Hypocrite: For all his so-called love for Marguerite he seemed to have no qualms or concern over the idea that him accepting Jean‘s challenge and winning the duel would result in Marguerite being brutally executed. Also despite telling her in his words “I would do anything for you” and “Everything I have is yours” at no point did he offer to give her back the land that he took from Marguerite’s father by brutalizing his servants for Pierre who then gifted the land to him, despite being aware that it was part of her dowry.
- Lack of Empathy: Interprets his rape of Marguerite as initially reluctant but eventually consensual, when the truth is it was anything but willing. Even in his own version of events, what happened was unambiguously rape as Marguerite was clearly resisting and emotionally devastated following the rape, which he doesn't even notice. Even if he's not shown to be as violent through his eyes as he is through Marguerite's, Le Gris doesn't even consider his actions as possibly being cruel.
- Never My Fault: He adamantly refuses to accept the possibility that he raped Marguerite even when she tells her husband he did and they bring it to court, even though she has nothing to gain from doing so and would even later discover that she will be burned alive if Le Gris wins the duel.
- Obliviously Evil: He honestly believes his encounter with Marguerite was consensual and that he didn't do anything worse than infidelity and betraying a friend.
- Self-Serving Memory: He has convinced himself that he genuinely didn’t rape Marguerite and that it was consensual, however her own perspective clearly disproves this by showing that she was begging him to stop and crying throughout the rape, which his own version of events deliberately leaves out (though even there, she's very clearly not consenting, but he doesn't seem to understand that).
- Sinister Minister: Was educated in the church for a while and considered entering it permanently. Considers entering it again after his accusation to avoid punishment.
- Slut-Shaming: He goes through this in the rare male example of this trope. Because of his Casanova reputation, women don't think he's "the marrying kind", despite his genuine attempts at seeking a more healthy relationship. It's honestly no wonder why his views on sexual politics become so skewed.
- Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Being played by Adam Driver makes him this by default. All the ladies of the court, even Marguerite, are quick to acknowledge his good looks.
- Tragic Villain: While the film never condones or excuses his crime, it does take the time to help the audience understand how Jaques could have done such an awful thing. He started off as a fairly decent man who was close friends with Jean, but by throwing his lot in with Count Pierre he not only played a significant part in ruining their friendship, he also developed a very warped view of sexual politics and consent, unable to distinguish his own fantasies from reality; and so he deluded himself into believing that Marguerite loved him and is horrified to be accused of rape.
- We Used to Be Friends: He and Jean were once very close but Jacques' friendship with Pierre separated them. It's shown in private that Jacques still regards Jean as a friend and regrets the rift that formed between them.
- Wicked Cultured: Improvises nice turns of phrase, but usually while in the process of harassing some lady or other.
Count Pierre d'Alençon
Played by: Ben Affleck
Dubbed by: Jean-Pierre Michaël (European French)
The local authority, and cousin of the King. He engages the close services of Le Gris early on, and at the same time ends up alienating Jean de Carrouges.
- Actor Allusion: Ben Affleck, famously Matt Damon's best friend, spends a whole movie being antagonistic towards him and complaining about how much he doesn't like him.
- The Alcoholic: Pairing with his hedonistic nature, Pierre is usually seen with a glass of wine in his hand.
- Awful Wedded Life: He and his wife can't stand each other and he prefers the company of other women.
- Black Comedy: He's often funny, but usually about things like sexual harassment or dismissing the law.
- The Dandy: Is more concerned with what shoes he should wear than whether he should hear Carrouges' plea.
- Deadpan Snarker: He has a dry remark and witty putdown for every occasion.
- Everyone Has Standards: For all his hedonism and his casual attitude, he takes the accusations against Jacques completely seriously and only lightens up when Jacques assures him that what happened was consensual and the lady was just playing hard to get.
- The Hedonist: Is mostly shown drinking, carousing, and sleeping with ladies and whores.
- Idle Rich: Is never seen really working, mostly delegating the task of actually running his lands to Le Gris.
- Manchild: He's pretty immature and shows little interest in anything beyond drinking and sleeping around.
- Pet the Dog: For all his many faults, his friendship with Jacques is completely sincere and Pierre regularly shows he greatly respects and appreciates his service and he makes clear he doesn't care about Jacques' modest background and always treats him as an equal, something Jacques has never experienced in his life. He's also genuinely devastated when Jacques dies.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Reminds Le Gris that if he's accused of rape at the local level, he - cousin of the king - can make it disappear.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: He has easily the foulest mouth of anyone in the film.
- Toxic Friend Influence: The warped views Jacques develops about women, love and sexuality are due to the Count bringing him into his orgies.
- Villainous Friendship: He genuinely likes and respects Jacques and the two form a sincere friendship, with Pierre not caring about Jacques' modest background and treating him as an equal.
Nicole de Carrouges
Played by: Harriet Walter
Dubbed by: Frédérique Cantrel (European French)
The mother of Jean de Carrouges, and mother-in-law to Marguerite.
- Asshole Victim: She reveals to Marguerite that she was also raped when she was younger but kept silent about it. However this doesn’t stop her from being an unlikable Jerkass due of her petty and cruel behavior towards Marguerite.
- Karma Houdini: She is never shown facing any comeuppance from Jean for having taken all the servants with her for a day and leaving Marguerite alone in the castle, against his direct orders, which is what allowed Marguerite to be raped with no witness or someone to intervene.
- Kick the Dog: After Marguerite tells Jean that Jacques raped her and he decides to bring it to court, Nicole reprimands Marguerite for telling her husband because she believes she should have kept it to herself like Nicole herself had when she was younger.
- Hidden Depths: In the third act, she reveals to Marguerite that she too was raped once, but kept it hidden because she thought it wouldn't fix anything and only give people a reason to scorn her. She isn't happy about any of that.
- Obnoxious In-Laws: Doesn't treat Marguerite warmly, and gives her some crap over not giving Jean an heir, even though that's a two-person job.
- Pet the Dog: Despite her treatment toward Marguerite, she is disgusted at how Jean comments on her looks when he comes back from a raid and is horrified at her fate if Jean loses the duel.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Takes all the servants with her for the day just to leave Marguerite alone and bored, and it so happens that's the very day that Jacques Le Gris comes to "visit" her.
Charles VI
Played by: Alex Lawther
Dubbed by: Anthony Carter (European French)
The King of France.
- Manchild: He looks very enthusiastic while watching the duel.
