Decidedly good, if slightly one sided....

Rating: 7/10 (7 March 2009)

Not sure why more people didn't like it. Really. It certainly is a handy piece of work featuring both interesting characters and highlighting an interesting life. Maybe people are a bit sick of period pieces from England, especially if they featuring Kiera Knightley and concerns love triangles and such. Lets face it, we have seen most of what is presented here in one form or the another.
Still, i found myself very much caught up in this drama. Its hard not to. The costumes (most deservingly awarded) and settings are really beautiful and there are some interesting characters that move in and out in the background, i especially liked (or loathed?) the parts with Bess. Films that are based on true evens inherently tend to be a bit less clichéd and harder to foresee, as i think was the case here, although this certainly cant be said for everything here.
I mean, take the part where Georginia wants to feed her babies her own milk. WHY?? Why does films like this force modern views on their protagonists. Because we couldn't sympathize with them otherwise? Please. Stop. Its just annoying.
On the whole though its a fine drama with good performances. Knightley proves herself more then worthy, don't believe the haters. Dominic is OK but needs more scenes to flesh out his character. Ralp Fiennes on the other hand manages to make The Duke if not charismatic, at least interesting, even though his character isn't explored as much as it should have been. (seriously WTF is his problem). This drama is rather one dimensional in this respect and though its sibling, Sofia Coppulas Maria Antionette did a better work capturing much of its thematical meat without resorting to pinpointing. That said, its still a very nice film, and if you are into period pieces you owe to yourself to check it out.