Ridley Scott 2021 movies

Sir Ridley Scott is, as of this writing, 84 years old, and he released two big productions within about six weeks of each other in 2021, The Last Duel and House of Gucci.  A few years ago I wrote about how Scott recast J.R. Getty about a month before the release of All The Money in the World and reshot all the scenes that were originally filmed with Kevin Spacey with his replacement, Christopher Plummer.  In this case The Last Duel was filmed partially before the pandemic and then picked up later in 2020.  House of Gucci was made entirely in 2021 but it still is impressive to make big budget period films back to back and be able to release them so close together.

I think part of Scott's proficiency is that like, his fellow elderly directors like Steven Spielberg and Client Eastwood, Scott continually works with a lot of the same crew so he saves time on hiring and has developed a shorthand.  Both Last Duel and House of Gucci were photographed by Darius Wolski, had the production design by Arthur Max, and were edited by Claire Simpson, and the costumes by Janty Yates.  Like both other directors Scott constantly has several scripts in development and often will finish one project and decide which script he will do next rather than create one from scratch each time.  Also, Scott seems to be very decisive, as both Eastwood and Spielberg are, so he probably quickly gets a sense of what works and either has it fixed or moves on.  This saves a lot of valuable production time and money which surely helps studios continue to fund their projects even if they do not always earn back their money.

Spoilers for both films below:

When I heard that Matt Damon and Ben Affleck were writing another script together, based on their last collaboration, Good Will Hunting, about a young working class genius in Boston, I hardly expected it to be a 14th century epic about an assault on a woman told in the style of Rashomon.  The script is based on a book called "The Last Duel: A True Story of Trial by Combat in Medival France" by Eric Jager.  The three main characters are, Jean de Carrouges, a French knight played by Damon, Marguerite, Carrogues' wife, played by Jodie Comer and Jacque de Le Gris, another French knight played by Adam Driver.  Affleck, like in Good Will Hunting takes a smaller but crucial role, as Count Pierre d'Alencon.  

The film is structured in three points of view and replays a lot of the same scenes from different perspectives, as did Rashomon.  The first point of view is of Carrogues, the second of Le Gris and the third of Marguerite, which is titled "The Truth".  Affleck and Damon were wise enough to bring on a female scriptwriter, Nicole Holofcener, to write the section of Marguerite's point of view.  Holofcener wrote and directed another film I enjoyed called Enough Said with Julia Louis Dreyfus and James Gandolfini that had excellent dialogue and told the story of a middle aged a romance with a twist (the female is getting insight on her new boyfriend from his ex-wife).  

An obvious choice might have been for Affleck to play Le Gris but he is much better cast as the shallow playboy Pierre who protects his friends.  Driver, with his long triangular shaped hair and black outfits, brings Le Gris a greater depth and intensity than Affleck could have.  Driver is probably most well known for his intense Kylo Ren from the Star Wars films but I also really enjoyed his work in BlacKkKlansman and Marriage Story.  Also, the well known real life friendship between Damon and Affleck might have played against the animosity that develops between Carrouges and Le Gris.  Comer is impressive as a woman in a loveless marriage who finds her voice in the aftermath of a brutal attack.  Damon's Carrouges is a cold husband who it is suggested, married primarily because of the land he would receive upon the marriage.  When he is wronged by Pierre, his initial friendship with Le Gris gradually sours.  When Le Gris meets Marguerite he takes advantage of a moment when Carrouges is away to get into the Carrouges household and rape Marguerite.  Because of the structure of the film, we see the scene twice, from both Le Gris and Marguerite's viewpoints.  Since Carrouges was not present, we only see his learning about it afterwards in the scenes of his vantage point.  

I had expected Le Gris perspective to show a consensual but perhaps rough sex scene but even that version of the scene shows a violent rape.  The main difference that I saw in Marguerite's perspective is that it is longer and more painful but what I was left wondering is how many other women might have Le Gris done the same to.  Either way the scenes are very uncomfortable but Scott has never shied away from sticky material as in fact had kept a controversial scene in his adaptation of the book "Hannibal" in which Ray Liotta's character is unknowingly fed a piece of his own brain.  

The aftermath of the attack also varies.  Carrouges is slightly more supportive of his wife from his perspective, but from Marguerite's, Carrouges immediately sees it as a dishonor on himself and beds Marguerite to make sure that if she has a baby he could at least not be sure that it is not Le Gris.  From Marguerite's perspective Carrouges only challenges Le Gris to a duel to restore his own honor and does not take into account that due to the laws of the time that if Carrouges is killed, Marguerite, would be burned at the stake.  Additionally Marguerite is shunned by society and cruelly treated by Carrouges' own mother who clearly find it easier to believe Marguerite just had an affair with Le Gris.  Damon clearly conveys Carrouges' indifference to his wife's plight and it is clear that even if he survives, the marriage will not improve at all.  Comer is equally resilient in throwing Carrouges' hypocrisy right after him since she would be at further risk.

Scott, who has filmed many battle scenes in his long career, having done epics like Gladiator, Exodus, Robin Hood more than delivers in the titular duel, which in which both combatants are wearing heavy armour and get tired, dirty, and bloody.  The two combatants first joust and then engage in swordplay and extended hand to hand combat in a long violent battle in which Carrouges, the more experienced fighter, finally wins, but notably not before Le Gris insists that he was innocent.  Driver, with his intensity, is convinces that Le Gris truly believes that, but I wonder how he can given even his perception of what had happened.  The true winner was Marguerite who has a child (which may be Le Gris') but is freed of Carrouges as well when he is killed fighting in the Crusades about ten years after the duel.

The three viewpoints is a useful narrative tool and gives a woman a voice in the context of such a difficult setting for women.  The idea that a woman could be burned alive for reporting an assault is horrifying but shows the extent men would go to in order to protect their own interests.  Damon, a very modern man, has to believably play a character who is more interested in his own honor than the wellbeing of his wife.  The aftermath of the duel shows Le Gris being stripped naked and hung, robbed of any dignity in death. People of the time would have called it justice though it was really bloodlust.    

The film is long and I think one of the weaknesses is the lack of focus on Marguerite's pregnancy.  It is unclear who the father is but Marguerite had notably been unable to conceive prior to being assaulted and is pregnant afterwards.  The baby is born right before the duel linking it to the event.  However we never see Marguerite discover she is pregnant and the baby is just used as a plot device.  Nothing is said of what will happen to the child in the event of the parents' death.

House of Gucci is the story of how a bad marriage removed the Gucci family from their own brand.  In the early scenes, the setting, Italy in the 1970s, and the opulence of the Guccis reminds me of All the Money in the World.  Like The Last Duel the film covers many years as the pieces are set.  Gucci is run by Rodolfo Gucci (Jeremy Irons) and Aldo Gucci (Al Pacino).  Patrizia Reggiani (Lada Gaga) manages to get Rodolfo's son Maurizio (Adam Driver) to marry her and she manipulates him to gradually wrestle control of the company, through both Rodolfo's death and exposing income tax fraud of Aldo.  Patrizia and Maurizio also manage to acquire the shares of Aldo's son Paolo (Jared Leto) when they bring in Investcorp to help run the company. 

The film is also based on a novel called The House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour and Greed, written by Sara Gay Forden.  It was adapted by Roberto Bentivegna, for which this is his first produced screenplay.  Bentivegna was hired by Scott after Scott was impressed by another script Bentivegna has written and sold but which has not been produced yet called The Eel.

As the film is largely about rich greedy people doing things to hurt each other Scott gives the actors a lot of space to have fun and they play their roles speaking English with broad Italian accents which makes the film, with its loads of expensive clothes and cars, a lot of fun despite the focus on business dealings.  In contrast in The Last Duel everyone just speaks in their own accent instead of French accents.  Pacino has a blast playing the family loving Aldo who makes the mistake of overcompensating and trusting Patrizia after Rodolfo senses her true nature and threat but deals with it too harshly.  Leto is very watchable as the pathetic Paolo who has a good heart but no business sense and lets himself be outplayed.  Driver plays a very different character from Le Gris.  Maurizio is a law student who if not for Patrizia would have happily continued his career path and enjoyed the wealth being a member of the Gucci family brought him.  Driver plays Maurizio as a little shy and awkward who eventually, driven by Patrizia, turns against his own family.  Driver shows Maurizio gradually becoming uncomfortable with Patrizia's relentless push for power and starts pulling away.  However Maurizio is still fallible and has an affair while still married to Patrizia, and misspends the Gucci money to a degree that he is eventually bought out by Investcorp.

The role of Patrizia is a tour de force for Lada Gaga.  Lady Gaga was terrific in the film A Star is Born but the character and material were a perfect fit for her strengths as a performer whereas Patrizia is almost comically greedy in her push to not just join the Guccis, but run them.  Patrizia comes from a good family but the appeal of the Guccis is too much to resist.  Scott and costume designer Janty Yates put Patrizia in entertaining outfits, none more than the "casual" outfit she wears in disguise when meeting with the hitmen who target Maurizio.  I was surprised to see that she actually seemed to love Maurizio and was genuinely hurt when he left her as she had come to see them as a team.

The film has some scenes that go on longer than needed, such as when Paolo receives Aldo home after Aldo gets out of prison, and the final time Maurizio and Patrizio speak outside his building.  But overall the film is well assembled and holds the interest.

Both films change their stories a little for dramatic effect.  In real life Carrogues and Marguerite had two more children proving his virility.  The court case was also bigger than presented in the film.  In House of Gucci Maurizio appears to be gunned down right after being released by Investcorp but he actually died two years later.  

Wolski's desaturated cinematography fits The Last Duel but sometimes works against the high fashion and colors of House of Gucci, though there are moments in which the latter looks more glossy.  Yates' has a lot of fun with the costumes.

Between the two films I think The Last Duel is the better overall film but House of Gucci is more rewatchable even if it is more campy.  Both films ***