I felt like showing her story last was intentional, not dismissive. It sorta shows that behind the rhetoric, behind the justification, the duel was a vehicle for their egos. Ultimately, despite mask of justice, her opinion as the victim in all this is, is the last thing in their mind.

My cousin - the type of guy who makes his own chainmail, he was giving me historical critique the whole time - and I watched it together, and we both absolutely glowed when she told HER story, and we just saw her MANAGE THE ESTATE. That was the first time we were invested. We both turned to each other and said "Why were we even paying attention to the men?" And that's when I knew it didn't work as a Metoo film, the men just weren't interesting to follow. They tell stories we've already seen. Her story was the one that hadn't been told before. The cruelty of Hollywood was it couldn't just be her film.

If accuracy was taken into account, Adam Driver would play the count. The book describes Le Gris as a man who is nearly 50.

I've only read the book, but 'If Beale Street Could Talk,' is the only novel I've come across that deals with false accusation in a sensitive or nuanced way. It's about a black man who is falsely accused though it's heavily implied the woman was raped, just not by him. It's mostly told from the perspective of the man's pregnant lover. It's more about the incarceration system, than rape specifically, but it's there.

In terms of good Me Too movies: The Assistant is the first one to come to mind. It's very slow and quiet, but I think it adds to its power. I do think it's interesting that the story isn't told from a victim's perspective (at least directly, she's a victim of the culture that leads to the SA but isn't directly a victim of it, from what I can remember), but I like that the film focuses on someone who does try to report the events, tries to be there for one of the victims, and is being affected by this culture in other ways.

As someone who has also read the reddit threads on Succession, one thing I definitely won't miss about the show is reading people's bizarre Shiv takes

One thing I found fascinating about the three tellings: The one the wife tells has her hair covered (other than in the section where she's attending the formal picnic and wearing a respectable formal braided hairstyle) indicating her respectability. The de Gris section has her hair uncovered the most. As a contrast, Carrouges's mother is never shown without her hair covered. As someone who read A Distant Mirror when it was first published, I found the hair a fascinating detail.

I've read an interview in which Ridley Scott proudly declares "I don't make movies for the unwashed masses" which frankly is rich coming from the guy who made Gladiator, which is probably one of the lowest common denominator historical epics that sacrifices historicity for the sake of drama and effect. Yes, it does it incredibly well, but don't tell me that's a movie for an intellectual audience. Especially galling since Gucci does exactly the same thing, he takes an old money center Italy family but bends them out of shape into Italian-American parvenu immigrants stereotypes (which 1- being Italian American obviously are still conditioned by the "American" part and 2- most immigrants were lower class and from the south, so a lot of their mannerisms aren't the same as what is an *old money* family from *Tuscany* ) from a bad Saturday Night Live skit, and he thinks *that* isn't a movie for "unwashed masses!?" Something tells me that Scott is probably not as smart as he thinks he is about the subjects of his movies.

I feel like that simple change--having her story first and actually showing the assault--would have made such a drastic difference. Visceral, relatable, entirely believable account up front, then both these weaselly ass men overhauling the story to save face, culminating in a cathartic battle to the death. It could have been way more impactful.

My disinterest in Last Duel stemmed from not really trusting that Matt Damon and Ben Affleck would be able to meaningfully tackle the subject matter, nor do I think they’re the right people to do so considering their very long relationship with Harvey Weinstein and Ben being accused of assault himself. I love a historical epic, Green Knight was one of my favourites of the year, but this wasn’t the story or storytellers I wanted to tackle this subject.

Honestly id say The Last Duel's box office failure might have more to do with its unironic casting of Matt Deimon

This is a weird video and I enjoyed it greatly. Just as an aside, "edging with pathos" is by far the funniest explanation of courtly love I've ever heard. Thank you.

Considering Sean Young said ridley scott forced a rape scene on her in Blade Runner as punishment for her not fucking him, it doesn't shock me his so-called me-too movie misunderstood the assignment

The problem with the film is that the 3 different versions of the story aren’t different, where the film’s third title cards make out that the 2 men’s stories are false, they’re not different enough in any major way, Adam Driver being led on in his version for example.

An amazing drama, and quite honestly the best drama I've ever seen, in regards to sexual assault is the turkish drama, Fatmagül'ün Suçu Ne? (What is Fatmagül's Fault) While the story does go into the different perspective of everyone around her, including her assaulters, the story is HER story and it is done incredibly well. We get to see her mental and the growth of her character through therapy and real conversations. It is graphic for the first episode and the evil dies a very slow death, but I promise you, you won't regret watching it. I have yet to see anything come close to this drama.

I really liked the movie when I first watched it. I was happy that they were finally doing Marguerite's side of the story and presenting it as the truth, but your commentary made me realize I was accepting the bare minimum because of how little I expect when it comes to these types of stories and how they've been done in media. As you point out, the movie still does 2 sexual assault scenes and the mens POV, particularly Les Gris, which just gives certain people a chance to argue that the situation was vague and use it for Les Gris favor. I am glad you pointed out how much they actually watered down the historical account to make Les Gris POV more vague. I had read the book it was based on as well, and it was anger inducing to realize how much they left out to not make him "too" guilty and deplorable. I imagine the casting of Adam Driver, who has many fans, was also used to paint a more sympathetic view of him, people are quicker to forgive or listen to attractive and charming people, when the real guy was actually in his 50s and Marguerite was like 20. Side note: I got Nebula just because I was so excited for this video that I did not want to wait, but so glad I did because found so many more creators and videos I would not have otherwise so thank you and cannot wait for what you do next

Woof. Combo of fundermemtal mistakes and good old fashioned dumbass mistakes went into this movie huh?

man I REALLY loved the film and loved the 3 pov because Legris's pov serves to deconstructs de Carrouges's self agrandising's story and set up what is ultimately his true character. It's definitely a bit of a male target audiance and more ABOUT Marguerite then Marguerite's movie but I'm glad it got made and I got to watch it.

Thank you for this. I saw both this and The Northman in theaters (I really thought that The Northman was underrated), and I absolutely hated this movie and how long it was and how much of it was devoted to the dude POVs and how very little of it is even memorable. The only detail I remember that isn't just the broad strokes is how in Le Gris' version of the story, she stops to take her shoes off before she runs up the stairs to get away from him. I remember going, "Is this supposed to be some subtle consent signal or something?" Especially considering that even in Le Gris' version, the assault comes off as an assault to me. Probably because I just take a person saying "no" at face value.

I cannot HANDLE you showing BBC Merlin behind the courtly love section, of COURSE Arthur and Merlin exemplify this extramarital romance, I am reeling from this realization

I guess I'm weird, but I thought seeing the men's incorrect perspectives was great for giving the final perspective more weight and giving a clear insight into how people can twist the truth, I also liked that it wasn't a stereotypical, super obvious r*pe because it will hopefully open people's eyes to what it's often like, rather than it being only considered legit if it's an ugly stranger in an alleyway being super violent.

While I don't think her story was lessened by being placed last (and it could have been even more impactful for it, framing her story as the true last word) I agree that it ultimately did still feel secondary to the story of these two men. I understand there's the source material and historicity to take into account, but the focus felt too evenly split, even if the two men both looked like fools by the end. Any commentary this movie might've had about assault felt dulled by the glossing over of De Carrouge's assault after Marguerite informs him of her rape, and the fact that end barely felt like a victory for her. She had nearly no agency in her vindication, and was only believed (if she even truly was) because her awful husband happened to win a fight that felt more like a question of his honor rather than her truth. The whole thing just rang a bit hollow.

Engagement for the engagement god! Subs for the sub throne! Watched this early on Nebula!

The Last Duel is one of the films that was made for a much different time than now. Everything about it looked old, stale, and rehashed---except for Jodie Comer. Ridley Scott is running on fumes as a filmmaker, and Comer's departure from his newest flick, "Napoleon" was the smartest move she's made as she emerges from the wreckage of Killing Eve's final season.

even from the aggressor's POV i found their "sex scene" to be disturbing, so to be forced to see it again was very hard for me. i couldn't look away i was just so baffled they'd do that

Totally agree when you say that once you introduce doubt about what happened it doesn't go away. Although it's obvious to me (and hopefully most of the audience) that Marguerite's version is THE truth, I've heard others say things like "well the movie shows that at the end of the day the truth is just a question of point of view", and that's not right lol. Also loved the Merlin clips playing in the background during the explanation of courtly love. Great video!

I'm imagining a John Wick movie where you are shown in graphic detail the bad guys beating his dog to death, but John Wick doesn't get to take any revenge or do much of anything himself, and the bad guys get to smirk and lord over him until somebody else, who merely kicks dogs, defeats them.

I didn’t see the last duel, but I remember the trailer very well. It seemed to me that they were trying to keep it a mystery, like… is she lying or not? That’s basically why I didn’t want to watch it. I didn’t know the story was shown through multiple perspectives.

The funniest part is when Scott blamed the 'Millenials' for his movie's failure who they are now in their 30s. Crazy old fool.

It took me way too long to realize that you were saying courtly love an not Courtney Love. Time to rewind

The biggest problem of this movie is: the writer has not understood the whole concept of the "Rashomon effect" in storytelling. The "Rashomon effect", named after the classic Akira Kurosawa movie, "Rashomon", works like this: You have an event, that is being told by different characters who were part of it and every version of the story is different and often contradicts the other version and it´s told from that person´s perspective, adding another "puzzle piece" so to speak and in the end, we get the "whole picture". In many cases, it is even left ambiguous what really happened and we as the viewers have to decide what actually happened. In Kurosawa´s "Rashomon", a bandit is accused of murdering a Samurai & r*ping his wife. We get 5 different, contradicting versions of what happened and only in the end we get the whole picture and Kurosawa even leaves it a little bit ambiguous, if that 5th version is even how everything happened. In "The Duel" we have a similar scenario. Noble woman accuses another noble, that he r*ped her. We get: 1). the version of the events from her perspective 2). the version form the perspective of the accused 3). the "truth", which is basically version 1 all over again! It´s baffling how bad the writing in this movie is, from a story telling aspect!

I just wanted to comment that though I've loved your channel and your insights for a while now, I did used to struggle with the naturalistic and freeflowing presentation with my ADHD brain. However your recent videos have gotten more and more accessible to follow while still keeping the same grounded style. I did notice the silent title cards helpfuly marking the transitions in topic, but I think there's more that I'm not enough of an editor to notice. I just want to share my appreciation for the evolution of your presentation. Hyper-editing can hack my brain quicker, but I really like that I can watch a more grounded style of video essay without having to struggle comparitively. So thank you!

So I do agree that ultimately this story is probably better if it centers marguerite and wastes waaaaay less time on the two dudes. That said I think it does something kind of unique in showing us how rapists see themselves vs the actual reality of what they do. In most movies rapists are random criminal psychopaths that revel in pain and destruction. In reality most are just people you already know who don't care enough about consent and are willing to bend reality to justify themselves. "She was kissing me earlier so it must be ok to do this now" "she would have said yes if she was drunk" "we've done this so many times before its gotta be ok now". This movie shows us that kind of rapists perspective and contrasts it with the actual reality of what happened. I do think there's a much better way to make this point that doesn't add that layer of doubt into marguerite's story and has a lot more empathy for her and less for legris. But I was kind of impressed they even tried? Maybe my standards are too low.

thank you for making this and including the details about le gris and his actual legal argument. I felt weird after this movie (carried heavily on Jodie's shoulders) but that really illuminates a HUGE shortcoming. And how someone could spend 100 million dollars and just include such a jarringly weird and inaccurate version of le gris perspective :?????

omg where did you get the betty and veronica shirt it’s so cute 🥹

"edging with pathos" is my new favorite phrase (and incredibly accurate)

Something that I think you touched on a bit but could have been expanded is the framing around "here's all the sides of this story" inherently devalues the actual crime. Yes, it's weird that it starts with the two men's stories before it got to the woman's story, but even if it started with her perspective it's still framing SA as.... a series of stories and perspectives rather than a crime that happens, y'know? Like it discusses SA inherently from an outsider perspective - it's not an objective thing that happens in reality or a thing that can or even has happened to YOU, the audience member, it's a series of stories that you hear from other people. I hope I'm making sense here lol

Hey, Princess Weekes! I'm 10 days late, but as a moderator of the r/AdamDriver subreddit, I wanted to comment how much I appreciate you taking the time to tackle "The Last Duel" as a film. It seems like most historians tend to either love or hate the film for the reasons you mention, with David Perry, Sara McDougall, and myself being in the "hate it" camp.

Oh that Hundred Years War which actually lasted off and on for 150 years.

Excited to watch this 1000% more than the film. Appreciate your essays. Thank you!

Another great video!! I always come away with a new perspective from a Princess video : ) and I’m obsessed with the Chibi Usa Helios I spotted in the background. Obsessed.

Already watched on nebula. Watching again here because, duh.

Yet another A+ take! You're also right that Nanisca killing that asshole was indeed satisfying as hell. I'd be super duper interested in your thoughts on the new Django series when/if you get a chance to watch it! The Reconstruction era feels way underutilized as a setting for historical fiction and Django has fun with the spaghetti-western vibes while at the same time being thoughtful about multiple characters' perspectives on the political context.

Thank you for this examination of the film. I didn't see the movie (mostly because I did not want to watch a movie all about sexual assault). I think your analysis makes good points, and it was a helpful introduction to the film.

Yes yes yessss! I agree with everything and loved listening to this analysis. I'd immediatley been uninterested in the movie due to the subject matter but then when Scott and the think pieces basically came out complaining that the MeToo supporters weren't showing up to this Truly Monumental and Important Film really had them showing their ass. They totally thought that this was just an underserved demographic of particularly vindictive feminists auddenly being able to complain about their Pet Peeve, instead of... Thousands of women using the hashtag to signal the bitter reality that indeed, they too had experienced sexual harrassment or assault. It was a way of making a statistic many of us are aware of, more tangible and visible, and to show solidarity with other victims while still being able to say as little as possible in order to protect yourself, that was the "moment" this movie was made as a "reaction" to, and it while it's clear they misunderstood, it feels more that they blatantly miscalculated how easily they could take advantage of this latest trend. It read to me like the dude wanted an extra project, or paycheck, found an audience of old rich guys to market to for investment, got the dosh, made the movie those same old men would find worthy of their dollars then acted all *shocked* when throngs of traumatized women didn't line up in droves, during a global crisis, to watch another women act out and then relive --in the most catastrophically high stakes scenario of scrutiny one could imagine, mind you-- an assault and the events leading up to it, for nearly 3 hours! It was a ridiculous showing by Ridley Scott, and I say this as an unabashed Prometheus Enjoyer. Edgar Wright was also kind of Like This about Last Night in Soho but thats a whole other kettle of dudes not getting it!

Just watched the Classics video before this, really loved both ❤️ Your analysis is always really insightful and also just super funny 😁 As a minor aside, really loved you referencing loose canon in the Greek classics video 🤩

Fantastic breakdown. Was so glad you dropped all the info on Courtly Love because so few seem to grasp its got a specific structure and 'function' for both the men and the women involved. This is also just more of a pet-peeve and me being very specifically blasé about this, but I think I'm just straight up done with mud&blood aesthetic in historical fiction. Fantasy can still get away with it for me, but I don't give a shit about drab, all-black wearing knights grimacing and talking about the severity of all the war crimes they want to do later. It makes the Medieval Era feel even more dour and patriarchal and just boring as all shit. I don't care for the hyper-macho choices on how these men look and as a historical fencer I appreciate far less their caveman club-swinging choreography to try and make sword fights look more "brutal". I want the colour, both in the actors cast and in the clothing they wear. I want the joy and almost toxic positivity of the art at the time, the way everyone was so obsessed with extreme emotion and expression. And I want the queerness, at least from the modern perspective. Ideal depictions of men back then were basically buff femboys by modern standards (though maybe with moustaches). Finally, I know we're in the Anglosphere, but can we stop with the Anglocentric hallway of history from Ancient Greece to England and France? We only have movies about Greece, Rome, then France and England, recently more often "Vikings", and occasionally something in Renaissance Italy. We know why, they want to cast maximum white actors while pretending it's for 'accuracy'. But I'm done, I'm so done. If we're sticking with Europe give me more Spain, give me Byzantium, and the HRE, and Medieval Greece, the Polish-Lithuanian Empire and Morocco, and do the Crusades from the Muslim Perspective. Give me El Cid but with an actual Spanish or Hispanic actor who isn't the shittiest NRA advocate ever. And then, obviously, how about we DON'T just stick with Europe.

It’s my 1st time commenting after months of absorbing your content, and I just wanted to say, you're a highly intelligent young woman, who really opens the door of the mind to the type of conversations; in which should be discussed. Thank you for that. ❤

Marge: C'mon, Homer, Japan will be fun. You like Rashoman. Homer: That's not how I remember it.

wait no I need that succession take please

A few random comments about this video: 1. In Ryunosuke Akatagawa's short story _In a Grove_ (from which _Rashomon_ is adapted) there is an interesting plot twist as to who actually kills the samurai. Although he is mortally wounded by a small sword thrust in his heart, he does not immediately die because the sword is left in place. It is not until the woodcutter steals the sword that the samurai dies, as told by the medium. In the movie the woodcutter is shown as compassionate because he adopts an abandoned baby, and it is the second wayfarer at the Rashomon gate who suggests that he had stolen the sword. 2. The nonfiction book _The Last Duel_ is a good read! Two points are brought up that don't figure in the movie: a) In the middle ages it was believed that a woman could not conceive without an orgasm. You would think that this is a win for women, but not so when it comes to rape. Carrouges and his wife Marguerite had been married some time without conceiving, and she was only found pregnant after Le Gris rapes her. (*trigger warnings*) b) Le Gris was eligible to choose to be tried by an ecclesiastical court because he was a cleric, but he did not do so, even though he was urged to by his lawyer. In an ecclesiastical court, if you were to be found guilty you would just be given a slap on the wrist. When he died in the duel, he was not given Christian burial, but was dragged to the gibbets where he would hang for awhile until he received the final ignominy of a common grave. (*end trigger warnings*) 3. The ideal of courtly love originated in the Middle East and was brought back to Europe by the Crusaders (or at least what the Crusaders thought was the Middle Eastern ideal of love). I wonder if this is one of several reasons why Middle Easterners have tried to dissociate themselves from _The One Thousand and One Nights._

excellent video as always, and as always i shall now have the end credits song stuck in my head for the rest of the day 😊 hell yes!

I got irrationally hyped noticing the BBC Merlin series in the background in the explanation of courtly love.

What really got me going about this movie was the fact that she would go to such lengths (even heartbreakingly sacrifying her being a mother to her child) to prove her innocence and to punish who did this to her in a world when nobody cared what happened to her because it was "normal" (like carrouge's mother says), she stood up for herself against a system that set her up for failure yet she was successful in the end, even though such success sadly didn't depend on her. I love the part when she's holding the baby and says "a baby needs her mother more than a mother needs to be right" and I think that perfectly sums up why many (most?) women choose to keep silent, because we think that how we feel is not that important in comparison to our duty as mothers.

I thought the film was ok when I saw it, but just being ok really isn't enough when it comes to watching films post-vaccination. Really, it was the fact that I had a cineworld unlimited card (so I could get in for free) that made it not a disappointment. Also, I fully agree with your assessment. The Rashomon plot structure wasn't necessary. It's like the leads of the film thought that they needed to justify why the men did what they did, and it could've been covered with some testimony at the trial itself. Of course the husband will think that everything was hunky dory and invoke the duel behind his wife's back. And even if LeGris is being honest about how he interpteted things, he's still a creep! It feels like they did the structure just so they got more screen time. Which is a pretty cynical motive.

I loved the book and think you nailed it when you said the meat is in the trial not the set up. I think the book did a great job showing how horribly women were treated. It did it in a way that made me think about how little things have changed.

This just randomly showed up in my sidebar, and I thought I'd watch a few minutes and get bored given I haven't seen the movie, but it was a really interesting video with some points I don't think I'd have had occur to me on my own, even if I had seen the video. Really well done!

Ok more seriousy, this was a great watch, love the references you brought in.

Very well done analysis.

I have no idea how Ridley Scott is still able to convince studios to give him so much money. It has been so long since he made a successful movie and he still gets to work with some really big budgets.

Honestly, nothing about how Last Duel was marketed made me want to see it at all.

I just really appreciate what you do. Thank you.

You have many good points. I appreciate your perspectives.

I’m loving the new editing

'Spotlight,' is the only movie I can think of that is good and has an outsider's perspective on sexual abuse and rape.

I watched the Northman in theatres but I have never heard of the Last Duel and I consider myself a very active moviegoer.

the Rashomon-ing was completely not necessary. I did not want to see her get raped on a big screen three times in detail. And honestly... yeah I'm with you, it wasn't her movie, it was all about them menz. I... was not terribly happy with that doubt-planting. That said, I did go on to write a paper for grad school on Christine de Pizan and the "Debate of the Rose" because that woman was NOT THE ONLY ONE that had issues with the Romance of the Rose back then lol.

Thank you soooo much for this video you amazing human being.

As someone who went into the movie completely blind, the way the movie handled the rape scene was really weird. In the 1st story we hear from Marguerite that she was raped. In the 2nd story we see it and, yeah, it was definitely a rape. So we basically have 2 takes on the rape saying that it was definitely a rape and it upset her. I was wondering what exactly the 3rd take of the scene from her POV would add to the understanding of the situation, and the third take addition was…. apparently she orgasmed during the rape. Besides that, pretty much identical to the 2nd version. Like…. OK? Sure? If the filmmaker’s goal was me watching a rape scene again while now desensitized to the event and thinking about this woman’s pregnancy issues with her husband, then they sure did achieve that.

Thanks for making incredible content!!

dancing in my kitchen to your end credits making waffles great vid as usual ❤❤❤

Watch his earliest work. The Duelists with Harvey Cartel. Now that was a good film. Great fencing scenes.

On the subject of The Green Knight, I was so hyped for that movie. I like Dev Patel. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is one of my favorite stories. That said, I HATED the movie. They kept some similar plot points from the legend, but they made Gawain the exact opposite of who he was in the story. The movie also felt like a video game, like it was split into levels. The whole point of the story is that Gawain is the most honorable knight, even when it's easier not to be, and he proves it to Morgana. He also puts himself forward to protect his king. The movie Gawain was a coward and had no honor. They also took the fun out of the crazy story. I thought the green knight looked beautiful, but that's the only thing I liked. They literally showed what would happen if Gawain continued to be a coward and that's why he decided to change and accept that the Green Knight might kill him. He didn't even learn anything on his journey. It was so dumb!

Needed this content!!!

I love your videos Princess Weekes, but for the love of Jodie Comer, please make your audio louder. I have to boost the volume to hear you but then the commercials kill my ear drums.

Loved the video as a whole, but your brief summary of the Green Knight was spot-on to my experience of it.

Theoretical, I would be into The Last Duel, because its this medieval trial and I loved Cadfael growing up but honestly, I really didn't want to see it because why couldn't it be about Marguerite and the trial? Also, I need to see Woman King.

Good video. I dont agree that her story being last is bad. It is done because last is supposed to have the greatest impact.

Great analysis

Ohhhhh I'm early for the tea! I have been wanting to hear your thoughts

I liked the northmen I think it was good at deconstructing the narrative around Vikings & vengeance story. It was better then the last duel. Yea I think ancient historical epic flick is def in a dry spell.

never heard of this movie but it sounds awful. if the rapist alleges he wasn't there, then his POV sequence isn't what he's claiming. so it's supposed to be what he genuinely believes? it's not compatible at all with her perspective so like... what is the point? it seems like it can't be actually his perspective, and it's not his testimony, but it's just a weird romanticization of the events that he knows isn't what happened and also never claimed did happen?

So good as always

What a great video! On top of all that was said Scott also went out of his way to alienate the small core audience that could have been the most vocal supporters: History nerds, HEMA-enthusiasts, reenactors and the like. But we all startet mocking the blue filter, the mud and the ugly ass helmets as soon as the first trailer dropped. And with good reason. Just hire someone like Dr. Capwell as a consultant goddammit.

Interesting. I suppose the fundamental problem here is that the og script and Scott's film, are actually more interested in why Men rape and how they get away with it, than how women experience or deal with it. I think in a way they're interested in how do people end up siding with the men instead of the truth?? But you're right, doing that ends up reinforcing these things not deconstructing them as you may have intended. 100% agree it didn't feel fresh. I decided I didn't want to see it in cinemas because a) covid still made me nervy b) did not enjoy Scott's Robin Hood c) his discourse about why it wasn't doing great REALLY turned me off because ffs dinosaur get over yourself. So when I did see it, I was kinda surprised. Because I thought it would be a lot worse and less sympathetic to the woman than it was. I could see they were *trying* to do it from a "rape bad" perspective. But you're right to take it to task for not doing that in a way that's actually successful in that aim.

I'm really glad you shared "A Distant Mirror," it's a great dissection of our stereotypes of the High Medieval Era and how it differed from the documented reality

I appreciated the shout out to I May Destroy You at the end. Absolutely loved that show

The audience has changed, and directors are out of touch. Directors then get mad. A lot of people don't read the original source overall. I been there. I had to post videos of the text. For example, I posted about Ahuitzotl, based on text and source images. Fan images don't look like that, but people treat the fan art to be true. There's movie ideas that haven't been touched, so it would be new on the big screen, but leaving that in my mind.

Watched on Nebula. Commenting for the algorithm. You make the book sound more interesting. Because it’s a short one, I might check it out but the SA stuff sounds really upsetting.

comment for the algorithm! thank you very much for this video!

way out of left field, but I love your tarot cards up on the wall. I have both the set and just the major arcana. I have no opinion on the movie or book, I avoid media that I know is going to make me rage and media focused on a woman's violation without catharsis (which I knew this movie was going to have) was right in line with that, but your analysis for this and other topics has been really interesting and enjoyable. Keep up your amazing work!

Describing courtly love as "edging with pathos" is going to live in my head forever now. I will have to use that phrase whenever explaining it to anyone now

I was an undergraduate in medieval European history and didn’t hear about the film while it was in theatre. The marketing was terrible

Enjoyed the BBC Merlin cameo while describing courtly love ahaha

For someone who doesn’t respect the language, that “denouement” at 13:44 was pretty good!

excellent and thoughtful video as always. watching men opine this film as the death of the adult movie (usually helmed by some man who made movies they loved from the 90s) was genuinely infuriating. sorry brendon maybe the subject matter was 1) unpleasant and 2) poorly framed! just a thought!

1:01 THIS!!! Ridley Scott came across so out of touch with reality when he spoke about this film's lack of box office success. "The millennial do not ever want to be taught anything unless you are told it on the cell phone." Or...maybe don't spend $100mil making a movie about SA and release it to theatres during a lockdown. Even if he'd made it for half the money, and cut down the run time, at best the audience for this story was going to be limited. The general movie-going audience is there for a good time, to be entertained. This is not material that will leave most people feeling good, so they didn't go see it.

THANK YOU

I am a medieval hobbiest and my friends know it. They had me review The Green Knight which while the story is poorly adapted is an excellent presentation of a medieval story in cinema. I refused to review The Last Duel because it wasn't about medieval story telling right from the trailer. I'm sick of bland grayscale dreary medieval dramas. The Last Duel is both a poor story telling and poor medieval representation. People think they have to adapt medieval stories to be "modern" for modern audiences (likeaking this a me too story) but based on my friends and those I've talked to I think a modern audience can not only handle a.medieval story but actually enjoy it. Hollywood doesn't want to do that and it's such a missed opportunity. The way MCU movies feel washed up now and it's a good sign and opportunity to do something different. The Last Duel feels a waste and forgettable. Thanks for the analysis

That axolotl squish is SO CUTE ohmyGOD