Quartile rating: 8/10 · 1 rating
King Charles VI declares that Knight Jean de Carrouges settle his dispute with his squire, Jacques Le Gris, by challenging him to a duel.
Ridley Scott's Rashomon-structured medieval drama earns high marks for its bold narrative device — retelling the same events three times from shifting perspectives to interrogate truth, memory, and power. The screenplay by Damon, Affleck, and Holofcener is genuinely sharp, and the performances, especially Jodie Comer, are excellent. Novelty is high because the Rashomon approach applied rigorously to a true medieval rape-and-revenge case feels genuinely distinctive in tone and conception. Cinematography is competent but not especially distinguished for a Ridley Scott historical epic — functional rather than visionary. The ending, while historically faithful and viscerally staged, relies on a somewhat conventional catharsis that slightly undercuts the film's otherwise subversive structure.