Venice (AFP)
Blockbusters can advance feminism, believes director Ridley Scott in Venice, where he presented "The Last Duel", which dares to marry a film of chivalry and a thriller about sexual consent.
"Anything that can strike a chord can help, little by little," the director of "Alien" or "Gladiator" told AFP in an interview on Lido.
And if the message escapes the spectators "you just have to keep going and try again and again".
In the film, set in medieval France, in 1386, two knights engage in a judicial duel after one, Jean de Carrouges (Matt Damon, who sports a surprising mule cut), accused the 'other, Jacques le Gris (Adam Driver), for having raped his wife, Marguerite de Carrouges (Jodie Comer).
The film, nourished by scenes of rides or sword fights, is constructed in three parts, presenting the facts from the points of view of each of the protagonists.
The figure of the valiant knight is mocked there, the characters of Matt Damon and Adam Driver being presented as boors, considering women only for the value or prestige they can bring them, and ignoring the consent of their partners in their intercourse - let alone their pleasure.
(ld): Actors Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Jodie Comer and American director Ridley Scott before the screening of the film "The Last Duel", September 10, 2021 at the Venice Film Festival Filippo MONTEFORTE AFP
Marguerite de Carrouges, whose point of view is titled "the truth" in the film, will rebel against the patriarchy and decide to publicly denounce her rape.
It is her husband who will bring the case to royal justice - but above all to wash away the affront to her name, and not out of consideration for the victim.
"In my opinion, feminism is neither a radical idea nor a new idea", declared for his part Ben Affleck to AFP, about the film which leaves on October 13 in France.
"I think that every human person, endowed with empathy and reason, should be a feminist."
"It is clear that this kind of films," intended for a very large audience, "will have an effect," assures him Ridley Scott.
Beyond the action scenes and the big show, "there are a lot of subtleties in it, and you have to be very careful."
The American director Ridley Scott, September 10, 2021 at the Venice Film Festival Marco BERTORELLO AFP
The 83-year-old director points out that he has tried several times to break out of the Hollywood cliché of the male hero, such as when he launched Sigourney Weaver's career in 1978 with the role of Lieutenant Ellen Ripley in "Alien".
© 2021 AFP