Noble Debauchery!

Rating: 7/10 (18 November 2008)

This movie reminded me a great deal of "The Other Boleyn Girl" in so many ways. As always, Keira Knightley portrays another perfect performance in her latest film. It is a story about life in the 18th century and a young woman, Georgiana, caught in the middle of a treacherous and debauched society. At only eighteen years of age she is given in marriage to the Duke of Devonshire, making her the new Duchess of Devonshire. Her innocence and lust for life were taken away at such an early age, leaving her trapped in a loveless marriage to a pig of a man! She is forced to compromise her beliefs along with all of her dreams, her constant occupation being her husband's obsession to produce a male heir. When she finally does find love with Charles Grey the Duke sees to it that if she abandons her responsibilities she will be parted from her children forever. In the end, she sacrificed everything for her place in a society that gave nothing in return, and instead lost her chance at love, her child, her identity and even her own husband whom she was forced to share with another woman. It was heartbreaking to see how Georgiana Spencer was made to live her life and how unhappy she must have been. Women were treated like manufacturing machines instead of wives and were dealt with such cruelty and disrespect, especially in a time considered to be noble and of the highest stature. All in all, the movie really helped me to appreciate being a woman today with the rights and freedoms that so many never had in times past. It was a look into one woman's fight to just be herself in a world where propriety forced her to be so many things that she wasn't. An excellent portrayal of one woman's place in history.