Beautiful to behold, but rather soulless

Rating: 6/10 (31 December 2008)

When Quentin Tarantino presented Reservoir Dogs at Sundance in 1992, he famously stated that Merchant-Ivory productions were a major turn-off for him, much like on-screen violence could be for someone else. No one else seems to agree with him, though, or at least not openly, since lots of British directors are trying to become the next James Ivory (the real one lost his mojo with The White Countess, which also marked his last collaboration with the late producer Ismail Merchant). And while Joe Wright hit the jackpot with Pride & Prejudice and Atonement, his colleague Saul Dibb doesn't fare as well with The Duchess, an elegant but frigid costume drama which fails to be particularly dramatic.
To secure some kudos, Dibb cast Wright's go-to leading lady Keira Knightley as the film's heroine, Georgiana Spencer, whose life changes radically when the Duke of Devonshire (Ralph Fiennes) asks for her hand in marriage. The quality of her lifestyle improves significantly, and all she has to do, as she's frequently reminded by her mother (Charlotte Rampling), is to be a good wife. Unfortunately, that task proves more difficult than expected, since the Duke insists on having a male heir and Georgiana keeps giving birth to boys. All that's left for the poor man is to find a mistress, who happens to be the Duchess's best (in fact, only) friend (Hayley Atwell). Georgiana would like to retaliate by having an affair with her former suitor Charles Grey (Dominic Cooper), but common decency suggests she shouldn't. Why? Because she's just a woman.
Unhappy marriage, sex seen as a mere reproductive device, lust for freedom, society of the past seen as a mirror of contemporary events. Sound familiar? yes, the blueprint is obviously Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette, a far superior period piece that manages to speak to the audiences of today. Coppola did that thanks to the soundtrack, which emphasized the idea of the Queen of France being a rebellious teenager; Dibb's approach involves parallels with Georgiana's famous descendant, Princess Diana, as well as a political subtext suggesting the Duchess was one of the world's first feminists. Fair enough, as long as he has the substance to back that up. Does he? No. He puts all his energy in highlighting the natural beauty of 18th century England, and in that sense the movie can be mentioned in the same breath as Room with a View or Howard's End. Elsewhere, though, it's pretty basic, with a story that's been told many times before and has no new twists that can add to its dramatic resonance.
The performances are another problem altogether: Knightley might have seemed like a perfect fit for the role and she tries her utter best, but it feels quite theatrical (in a bad way) and overstated, and sh isn't helped by Atwell and Cooper's emotionless staring as support. Fiennes and Rampling, on the other hand, are amazing, especially the former's apparently cold but really entertaining and moving performance - if Bill Murray did period dramas, it would look a lot like that. It's also a bit ironic: the film aims to be female-driven, but is completely stolen by a man.