Beautiful, charming movie. Bravo to Keira Knightley.

Rating: 10/10 (11 October 2008)

Move over Scarlet O' Hara. Here comes Georgina Cavendish, bringing with her enough emotional baggage to overload a convoy of ships, in an intriguing and engaging period piece movie. Keira Knightley is superb as the heroine Georgina and Ralph Fiennes gives a commanding performance as Georgina's emotionally frigid husband, Lord Devonshire, who must have a son. This movie grabs and keeps the audience's attention and provides a glimpse of what life must have been like for the English aristocracy in the late 18th century. But the central character of this movie is always Georgina as she negotiates the rough waters of a loveless marriage and the infidelity that follows. Georgina is wonderful, she is heroic, she is persevering, she is of nobility yet is a champion of the people and a character who the audience can like and even love. Keira Knightley's performance does full justice to the life and times of Georgina Cavendish, and the story reminds us that despite their wealth and titles, the English nobility were people too.