2008, Denmark/USA/UK/Italy/France
Biography, Drama, History, Romance
Setting the mold for a life of happiness that only money can buy, Princess Diana's ancestor Georgiana Spencer discovers that wealth fails to guarantee love and respect when duty is part of the equation. In Saul Dibb's sophomore effort following his 2004 award-winner Bullet Boy, the filmmaker examines the turmoil that surrounds Spencer's life in The Duchess.
Keira Knightley returns to another lush period setting as the 17-year-old Duchess of Devonshire in 1774. Naïve and optimistic about her future with the much older Duke, she discovers his cold exterior is not just a mask for softer emotions. He is a man on a mission, and her failure to sire an heir becomes a literal breach of contract. Ralph Fiennes treads familiar if not skillful territory as the mechanical authoritarian who lacks connection to the people who surround him until he is forced off of his hinges when they question his tactics.
Biographies are a tricky thing, and it is often necessary to stay focused on one period or subject in a person’s life. In The Duchess, the camera follows the bedroom destruction of the Duke's many affairs, culminating with a live-in mistress, Lady Bess Foster. Formerly the Duchess' closest confidant, Georgiana believed she was selflessly saving Bess from ruin after her husband left her for another woman and retained their three boys. As Georgiana had only been able to produce girls, the odds are in Bess' favor to supplant her. Hayley Atwell finds a reserved but comfortable role as the other woman, following her troubled girl-in-the-middle character in Brideshead Revisited.
Knightley is effective as the willful Duchess and it is apparent that she has grown as an actress, but the range of her performance is still confined. This would have been more dismissible if the story had been stretched further from its emotional core. References are made to her grand taste in fashion and her effect on the attire of the privileged class. Knightley's wardrobe consists of 30 beautiful gowns designed by Michael O'Connor, but aside from a noted ostrich feather there is no real sense of comparison as to why her garments would have spurred new trends.
Another frequently mentioned diversion of the Duchess' is her role in the Whig Party. Unfortunately, it is only allowed surface-level attention. Using her beloved persona to promote candidates -- may they be friends or lovers -- it is apparent that she is passionate about politics, and yet her ideals are not fully defined. To better create the impression of such a forward-thinking character in history, this details of this important footnote should have been elaborated.
Rather, Georgiana becomes literally entwined with a figure of politics, Charles Grey, who is closer to her age and her heart than her stuffy husband. Spurred by her husband's ubiquitous affairs and the final straw of the embarrassingly public mistress, she attempts to have a piece of the same cake her husband is eating. However, time and tradition are against her, and in the eighteenth century, it is a man's world.
The Duchess is a beautiful and tragic film about an intelligent woman who attempts to create happiness within cultural boundaries, but it could stand to plumb the depths of her fascinating life with bit more attention.