Directed by Saul Dibb
The Duchess is a period piece about the life and times of Georgiana Spencer, some rich chick who married some rich dude in England a long time ago.
Keira Knightly, the go-to girl for these types of movies, plays the eponymous heroine whose personal suffering we are made to watch for almost two hours.
Georgiana is a plucky, intelligent, and charming 17-year-old girl who is told by her parents that she is to marry William, the Duke of Devonshire (Ralph Fiennes). Ever the optimist, she puts her best efforts into being a wife and expects a loving marriage to her new husband. It is soon clear to her, however, that William is a robotic dolt who is 100% uninterested in her as a person, and only wants her to squeeze out a male heir for him.
She keeps giving birth to daughters, and he is not amused. They travel to Bath for some R&R, and Georgiana makes friends with a battered woman named Bess. She invites Bess to stay with her, but the slumber party turns sour when Bess and William start hooking up. Some pal.
Georgiana naively demands William’s permission to have an affair with her longtime crush Charles Grey. It’s only fair, since he’s got himself a side chicken and everything.
He flies into a rage at her audacity, and straight up rapes her, which results in her finally giving birth to a male heir.
Bess extends an olive branch by secretly arranging a romantic getaway for Georgiana, so she can get that d from Chucky G. She is having so much fun on her vacation that she refuses to return home, but William threatens to never let her see her children again if she does not. She ends up giving birth to Charles’ child and is forced to give her up. Real feel-good stuff.
This movie might feature big wigs and stockings, and the loneliness of an 18th Century aristocrat, but it is no Marie Antionette. For all the crap Sofia Coppola took for that movie, at least she provided relief from the suffering with a danceable soundtrack and a rainbow of colors. In contrast, The Duchess is drab and dour with no musical score whatsoever. I don’t expect every period piece about the 1700s to mimic Coppola’s style, but this movie in particular was difficult to watch. Even the small moments of happiness do not feel like a victory because the oppressive atmosphere of the film makes Georgiana’s life seem completely hopeless. If you are just dying to see a depressing movie starring Keira Knightly, I would pass this up in favor of something more engaging, like Atonement.
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