The Duchess

Directed:

Saul Dibb

Writers:

Jeffrey Hatcher
Anders Thomas Jensen
Saul Dibb
Amanda Foreman

Starring:

Keira Knightley
Ralph Fiennes

Quote:

“He loves me?  But I have only met him twice!”

For all my sappy sisters out there who say that they would want to live in an Austen or Bronte novel, I have found a cure for your twisted romanticism: Watch this movie! It is a 110 minute exercise in the old saying that just when you think it can’t get worse – it does.

Keira Knightly plays the very real Georgiana Spencer, who at 17 is vibrant, gorgeous and loved.  She is married off to the cold and emotionally stunted William Cavendish.
He is the Duke of Devonshire; the 3rd most powerful man in all England.  She is his Duchess.  She is nothing to him but the means of obtaining an heir.  No problem right?   WRONG.

She screams in labor; He gives a toast.
She brings her best friend over; He has sex with her and moves her children into the house.
She goes to her mother for aide only to be sent back.
He says he cannot love her until he produces an heir – and when she finally does, he gives a check.
…and it gets worse still.

Ralph Fiennes is brilliant in his portrayal of the infamous Duke, who slowly breaks her spirit deed by deed, word by hurtful word only to find that once she hits bottom that he will too. He also has a way of saying something that is so emotionally deadpan that it is actually funny.  To be fair, I must admit that I saw a lot of men in the audience wincing along with me while we were watching him being an ass, and her heart get broken again and again.

The film is as beautiful and lavish as all the other period dramas before it that may look the same but are nowhere near as honest about the subject of women, regardless of rank being regarded as chattel.  Comparisons of her high profile life have also been raised to that of her distant relative Diana Spencer, but that just lends itself to playing “Which one was more pathetic?”