The Duchess

Plot synopsis:
The movie explores the marriage, relationships, and passions of 18th century aristocrat Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. 17-year-old Georgiana (Kierra Knightly) is delighted to have excited the notice of the much older Duke of Devonshire (Ralph Fiennes), and marries him amid high personal and family expectations. Unfortunately for Georgiana, the Duke is an undemonstrative and tight-lipped man who is far more interested in his dogs than in getting to know his new wife. He does nothing to alleviate her wedding night fears, and does his husbandly duty with few words and a noticable lack of tenderness. He makes it clear at the outset to both Georgiana and her mother, Lady Spencer (Charlotte Rampling), that it is Georgiana's duty to bear him a male heir in short order.Georgiana becomes the center of a glittering social circle, attended not only by the British noble elite but also by the political figures of the time. She uses her beauty, wit, charm, and social connections to advance the Whig party -- especially the policies and ambitions of a young nobleman, Charles Grey (Dominic Cooper), with whom she socialized, and to whom she was attracted, before her marriage. She indulges her love of parties and gambling, to the apparent delight of her peers, who joke that Georgiana is adored by all of England, except her husband.Shortly after Georgiana marries the Duke, he has a young girl brought to live with him and Georgiana. Initially shocked by his admission that the child is his illegitimate daughter, Georgiana soon takes on the role of the child's mother. In the meantime, Georgiana gives birth to two daughters, but fails to provide the Duke with the expected male heir. The Duke continues to have affairs with other women.While "taking the cure" at Bath in the hopes of being able to conceive a boy, Georgiana befriends Bess Foster (Hayley Atwell), whose husband, Georgiana is appalled to learn, beats and even tortures Bess. Because Bess has left the marital home, the husband refuses to allow her to see their three young boys. At Georgiana's suggestion, the Duke invites Bess to live with the Duke and Duchess in Devonshire. Some time later, Georgiana discovers that the Duke and Bess have begun sleeping together. When Georgiana confronts Bess, Bess begs Georgiana to understand that she is in the affair only in order to have the Duke pressure her husband to release her sons to her. When Georgiana demands that the Duke remove Bess from the house, he refuses. Bess remains in the house, and her sons come to live with them. While Georgiana adores her children and is obviously a devoted and loving mother, she chaffs at the presence of the Duke's lover and her sons. She explores her attraction to Charles Grey, and finds that the attraction is mutual. She brings the situation to a head by proposing a "deal" to the Duke: she will not object to his continuing to have Bess live with them, if he will not object to her engaging in an affair with Grey. The Duke, not surprisingly, rejects the proposal, pointing out that he does not make "deals," and that all of the power in the situation belongs to him. He upbraids Georgiana for failing in the two things that he demands of her: bearing him a male heir, and remaining loyal to him. She is outraged by his attitude and refusal to break off his affair, and flees from him. He chases her down and rapes her.After the rape, Georgiana appears at her social gatherings in a fog -- alcohol induced? -- until it is learned that she is pregnant. She delivers a boy. Having done her "duty," Georgiana goes to Bath, where she finally consummates her passion for Grey. They live blissfully in Bath until the Duke arrives unexpectedly. He accuses of her of being indiscreet and demands that she drop Grey and return with him to Devonshire. He warns her that, if she does not, both she and Grey will be cut off entirely from their wealth and positions in society, Grey will lose his political position, and she will never see her children again. After the Duke leaves, Georgiana races back to Devonshire, realizing that she cannot live without her children.Bess and her children are still at Devonshire. Georgiana informs Bess and the Duke that she is pregnant with Grey's child. At the Duke's command, she moves to the countryside to await the birth. She delivers another girl, Eliza, and immediately is forced to give the baby up to Grey's family. Heartbroken, she returns to Devonshire, where she continues her social circle, but with none of the vivacity and verve for which she was known before. She remains at Devonshire with the Duke and Bess and their children, until her death. After her death, the viewer is told, the Duke marries Bess.

Tags: romantic

Review:
The Duchess is a superior slice of costume drama which manages to craft interesting, multi dimensional characters and an involving storyline from the well worn confines of the genre.Keira Knightley plays a very similar role to the one she played in Pride and Prejudice, a feisty, modern woman trapped in a male dominated society.
The Duke also clearly sees very little wrong in his treatment of his wife and acts, as he sees it, in a logic manner making the whole film feel more believable and, as a result, tragic.In terms of the cast the only misstep is Dominic Cooper as Charles Grey, who lends the wide eyes of a political dreamer but doesn't have convincing chemistry with Knightley and plays one of the more one dimensional characters in the piece.
Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, who although is the key character in the film (as you can probably infer from the title), represents the situation of all woman belonging to a patriarchal society, not just the aristocracy.Keira knightly is exemplary in this role.
The film delves into Georgiana's passionate and doomed affair with Earl Grey, the future Prime Minister, and the complex love triangle with her husband (Ralph Fiennes) and Georgiana's best friend, Lady Bess Foster (Hayley Atwell).Kiera Knightley again does a period piece and again looks mostly out of place.
There is also a fine performance from Charlotte Rampling, though there is a weak link in the person of Dominic Cooper, who is too young for his part and struggles with it.The witty and emotive script has a lot to recommend it and its characters are put into an engrossing and lavish world, successfully created by the director Saul Dibb.
What rather wonderful about this story is that Georgiana Spencer (Keira Knightley) discovers a way to exult in victory over things and to get back some kind of power in a time where, really, women had very little Being someone of great vitality and liveliness, she was very much a dreamer and an idealist, a woman who loved being the center of attention, who loved the fact at some point that her picture was in the paper, that the clothes were always talked of, that her every move was commented on We are immediately impressed by her presence, by her personality She wasn't behaving quite in accordance with the way in which other 18th century women were expected to behave But there was something incredibly sad about this self-conscious lady She was a victim of herself A victim of her own innocence A victim of people using her for their own profit Even though she seemed to have everything, we realize that it was not that simple And with all of her privilege came a lot of moral obligation and things were never what they really appeared to be The Duke (Ralph Fiennes) was a misanthropic man, rather cold, unemotional and quite cruel He seems to like better his hunting dogs to his young wife Of course with certain values, that he believes were absolutely right and that he strictly held to This sumptuous period piece also presents the Duchess of Devonshire as a political hostess Saul Dibb's film shows us her dinner parties, her evening events, her fame and its extraordinary effect on her It made her both desperate to please, terrified of doing anything wrong and shocked at her own celebrity and unable to figure out in her own mind why she was quite so famous And we see the crippling effect it has on her sense of self.
On the one hand, Saul Dibb has managed to turn a book into an entertaining film about the trials and tribulation - and, let's keep things in perspective, extremely privileged life - of the frolicking Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire (Keira Knightley).
The female protagonist gets married to a Duke (Ralph Fiennes), is supposedly unhappy (but wastes little time exploiting the new social options presented to her because of said marriage), and soon the viewer is on board with Georgiana for a ride through all the familiar scenes: her husband's mistresses, her own dalliances with young dreamers, an unexpected pregnancy, etc.
A shame, especially because this is an era in which there should be no shortage of great characters from which to draw inspiration for far more interesting stories and films.A final note on the acting: Ralph Fiennes is great as William Cavendish, Duke of Devonshire, as is Simon McBurney as the politician Charles Fox. Dominic Cooper and Hayley Atwell gave two decent but unexciting (which isn't necessarily bad) performances as Charles Grey and Bess Foster respectively.
The latest slice of period drama to grace our screens is this biopic on Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, who during the 1770s was patroness of the Whig party and prisoner of a marriage which made her, among other things, suffer the indignity of having her husband's mistress living under the same roof.
The Duchess is a superior example of the genre, though nowhere in the league of Kubrick's Barry Lyndon, and combines the spectacle of Keira Knightley looking glamorous in a range of frocks and wigs, while at the same time honing her acting talents (no more those rictus grins), with the guilty pleasure of following the uncomfortable parallels between the fortunes and indiscretions of the ancestress of Lady Diana Spencer with those of the Princess of Wales herself.
This story truly touches you and makes you grateful for our present day.Georgina is born into a high class family of royalty who is about to be married off to the Duke of Devonshire and everything seems great, G is going to live the high life of class, culture, and being a lady of the people.
This film really, really surprised me.Yes, it's from the director of Bullet Boy - but I'd only ever seen Saul Dibb's Line Of Beauty so I was expecting a pretty standard period piece with Keira Knightely - who I have never rated much as a credible acting talent.Boy does she impress here - she is fantastic.
Okay, so let's put this in context, if you don't like period dramas, don't go and see this movie, you probably won't like it, and it is NOT Diana's story, nothing like although some in the marketing department thought so ...But i love this film, having being dying to see it since the first teaser trailer.
All i know is that i wouldn't want to be married to him.I hope that both Knightley and Fiennes get their second and third Oscar nominations for this respectively, as they are well made parts.As for the others: Dominic Cooper, is lovely as Grey if perhaps a little underused, Hayley Atwell's character is again one you want to hate but really can't, and Rampling is great as the mother.All in all a great period flick, i say 10/10, but if i wasn't so into this kind of thing i'd probably still rate it quite highly, it is a fine piece of film-making..
"The Duchess" tells the tale of the beautiful young Georgiana Spencer (Knightley) who, in the late 18th century, is married to the much older Duke of Devonshire (Fiennes) and attains wealth, status, and prestige, all at the price of being condemned to a loveless marriage.
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.
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.
Ralph Fiennes is at the top of his game as the Duke, and Kira Knightley continues to grow in stature and grace in a role as the Duchess which makes you immediately think of the late and extraordinary Princess Diana.
Rounding out the cast are Dominic Cooper (Mamma Mia) who plays future Prime Minister Charles Grey, and the true love of The Duchess' life; and Charlotte Rampling as the too proud mother to Knightley, who dispenses very weak advice with a stiff upper lip.The film is well done and the similarities to Princess Diana's marriage are inescapable, but there is just not quite enough substance here.
The fact that the story is based on the life of the outspoken feminist and political thinker in the late 1700s - Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire - who happens to be an ancestor of Princess Di whose life in many ways paralleled the Duchess, makes it more interesting than most costume dramas.
Lady Spencer (Charlotte Rampling) coaxes the marriage of her beautiful daughter Georgiana (Keira Knightley) to marry the very wealthy Duke of Devonshire (Ralph Fiennes), a rather boring dog lover whose only interest in 'purchasing' a wife is to gain a male heir.
Caught up in the dignity and lush homes and gardens of the Duke, the new Duchess charms all who see her - and the manner in which Keira Knightley wears the vast number of gorgeous sculpted costumes gives credence to her appearance popularity and enhances her personal popularity as she looks beyond the surface to the hearts of the people around her.
The novel angle in director Saul Dibb's work is that this is a true story about the life of Georgiana Spencer who became the Duchess of Devonshire in a loveless marriage so there is much resonance with the experience of Diana Spencer in our own times.In a sense, this is a movie which cannot fail - after all, there is a steady market for period drama with wonderful English stately homes and repressed English sensibilities.
On the other hand, it needs to be rather special to stand out from so many similar outings - and there's nothing unique or outstanding here.Although there is a good supporting cast - Ralph Fiennes as the Duke, Charlotte Rampling as the mother and Dominic Cooper as the lover - this is very much a starring vehicle for young Knightley (still only 23) who is rarely off the screen.
The best thing about the movie is again how wonderful Fiennes is, and how the film revolves around him, even though there is much to enjoy by watching Knightley bring the legendary woman to life.
Fantastic settings: Althorp, Chatsworth, Bath etc; amazing budget on costumes - without a doubt the best since Sophia Coppola's Marie Anotoinette - and a feast for the eyes with it's detail for Georgian times.However, and it's a huge however, no matter how great the production values, and this looks pretty expensive, nothing can disguise the fact that Knightley is beautiful but fails to be more than than a good actress.
This time she is Georgiana, a slender, attractive, fashionable, emotional woman who is all but sold to the Duke of Devonshire, played as an ice-cold, aging, brute by Ralph (he would like you to call him "Rafe") Fiennes.
i thought it was really interesting and i loved the cast, i thought the actors fitted the characters were perfect for their roles...Although Keira Knightley is not my favourite actress, (dont get me wrong, she is fantastic) but Ralph Fiennes stood out, i hadn't seen him in allot of films before, but once i started getting interested more and more in film and the really memorable films in the industry e.g. Schindler's list.
At times the Duke may seem cruel, but Fiennes also portrays how he was also human, with feelings deep down inside.The movie is beautiful filmed and the costumes are gorgeous.
For the Duke, it means spending a lot more time with his dogs with no effort in communicating with a factory worker, and being the sex addict that he is, takes pleasure in bedding chambermaids within his castle, or even the Duchess' good friend Bess Foster (Hayley Atwell), who succumbs to trading her body for powerful influences in order to see her children, taken away by her estranged husband.As with most period dramas, it's a tussle between duty and love, and affairs of the heart.
The movie doesn't distinguish itself from a hundred other period films you've seen that are just like it, and beyond the specifics of the Duchess's life (which may be enough for some viewers), it doesn't tell us anything we don't already know.I take that back -- it did answer one question for me.
Keira Knightly gives a reliably apposite performance in this costume drama, playing the Duchess of Devonshire with the charm and grace that made Georgiana Spencer so captivating, struggling in a loveless marriage, having to contend with her repression and loneliness.
It is strange seeing lord voldemort with a nose, though Ralph Fiennes does a good job in his role as the duke.Keira Knightly's voice and acting is as enchanting as always, and made me want to watch even more of her work.With astonishing costumes and nice settings the films atmosphere is in every way received by the audience.I feel the story was a bit rushed, and throughout the whole film it felt as they were trying to tell five books in two hours.
Georgiana (Keira Knightley) is arranged by her mother Lady Spencer (Charlotte Rampling) to marry the older Duke of Devonshire William Cavendish (Ralph Fiennes).
Keira Knightley's performance is brilliant, the costumes (her extreme hair) and sets are gorgeous, the true (ish) story involving and Ralph Fiennes is perfect as Georgina's callus, indifferent husband.This really is Keira Knightley's movie though and she does a fantastic job capturing the charm, intrigue, frustration and (often) scandalous exploits of Georgina Spencer, the duchess of Devonshire in 18th century England."G" was the original "it girl" with uncanny parallels to her direct descendant Princess Diana.
"The Duchess" is a dazzling celebration of the weirdest and fascinating world of the eighteenth century's European aristocracy, through a lead, Georgiana Kavendish who, beyond her Duchess of Devonshire title was a real Queen of fashion, and the story manages to betray the very feeling provided by the art and costume design by depicting this world as a golden prison endured by the heroine, played by Keira Knightley in a performance that should have earned her an Oscar nomination.I still wonder why the film was overlooked by the Academy, except for a lousy art direction and costume design nomination (a deserved win) when the epic "Benjamin Button" bore garnered much more accolades, I guess the film didn't have much more a drama except for the constant evolution in the relationship between the Duchess and the Duke of Devonshire.
Well, perhaps, but this latest entrant into a historically crowded field has such a strong narrative (based on a true story, so the legend has it), that taking into account the customary high production values this type of film usually engenders, the final result is a quality movie, with contemporary resonance as issues of child access, infidelity, class division, male-dominated relationship issues and a little bit of celebrity populism and more are presented for our delectation.The high-society-at-play opening on the lawns of England is merely the entrée to the more serious sport of class politics as aspirant mother Charlotte Rampling thrusts her innocently ambitious 17 year old daughter Keira Knightley into an arranged marriage with the older, colder Duke of Devonshire, old dour-face Ralph Fiennes, rich beyond belief and a major power in contemporary Whig politics whose sole expectation of his new bride is to sire a son to prolong his family line.Knightley's and to a lesser extent Fiennes' characters' stormy progress from this starting point to a sort of understood peace at the end is effectively the story in a nutshell, taking in, as it does, the affairs of subsidiary characters who cross their paths, like the Duchess's soul-mate, Lady Bess who will go to any lengths, including the bedroom, to win the Duke's influence in getting her infant sons returned to her from her in-possession separated husband and aspirant young politician, later Prime Minister, Charles Gray, the Duchess's ardent admirer from her youth who remains her passion in adulthood plus other contemporary historical figures like Whig Prime Minister Fox and Restoration playwright Sheridan, always making appearances at some grand ball or somesuch.
Keira Knightley portrays Georgiana, a young 18th Century aristocrat who entered a loveless marriage with the Duke of Devonshire, played well by Ralph Fiennes.The first surprise of the movie is that Knightley is able to look like the real Georgiana, Dutchess of Devonshire, whose likeness was captured by Reynolds and Gainsborough.
A girl of nineteen (Georgiana Spencer Cavendish played by Keira Knightley) is to be married-off to an older titled man (The Duke of Devonshire played by Ralph Fiennes) as a form of provider-of-male-heir business arrangement (brokered by her mother - played by veteran Charlotte Rampling), rather than as a union based on true mutual love.Based - loosely - on a true historical story.(Parallels to the doomed marriage of Diane and Charles being played upon in the marketing and - in my opinion - in some of the acting on-screen!)I am a bit hesitant over costume drama.
Keira Knightley is the 18th century aristocrat Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, who was reviled for her extravagant political and personal life.
And they do not need to do anything...The Duchess is a interesting costume drama that shows the real life of Duchess of Devonshire (Keira Knightley).