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The Duchess (2008)

Director: Saul Dibb

Time Out rating

Average user rating

60 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

If you’ve seen the posters for ‘The Duchess’, you’ll know that they recall the marital woes of another Spencer, Princess Diana, born two centuries after Georgiana (Keira Knightley), the young noble whose tempestuous marriage in 1774 to William, Duke of Devonshire (Ralph Fiennes) is the subject of this intelligent and beautifully crafted Gainsborough-inspired costume drama from British director Saul Dibb.

Thankfully, the tagline – ‘There were three people in her marriage’ – is as far as the filmmakers are willing to push the analogy, but you can see where they’re coming from: Georgiana is a young, beautiful bride who marries into one of the country’s richest families and suffers domestic misery, while blossoming into a fashion icon and friend of the chattering classes. William is older, colder, a piercer of dreams who’s more loving to his dog than his wife and who openly introduces a mistress (Hayley Atwell) into his household. The parallels are there to play with – at a stretch, you could even pitch Georgiana’s friendship with the playwright Sheridan (Aidan McArdle) against Diana’s later flirtation with the entertainment world – but, thankfully, Dibb and co-writers Jeffrey Hatcher and Anders Thomas Jensen play no such games.

One of the strengths of ‘The Duchess’ is its intimate, unashamed embrace of its story’s here-and-now. We’re not expected to impose twenty-first century ideals of marriage on Georgiana and William, rather to empathise with their situation while considering contemporary ideas of personal freedom. It’s a theme that’s reflected in the Whig element of the story: the couple are seen to be good friends of socialite politician Charles James Fox (a reliably conspiratorial Simon McBurney), who indulges Georgiana’s forthright views on liberty. Of course, this is still costume drama, with all its attendant wigs and frocks and stately camerawork, but Dibb pays as much, if not more, attention to the private stresses of the bedroom as he does to the public rituals of dinners and balls. He’s also helped enormously by a mature, restrained portrayal from Knightley, a masterclass in passive aggression from Fiennes and a performance of tender seduction from Atwell.

Author: Dave Calhoun 2008-09-02 11:07:06

Time Out London Issue 1985, 4-10 Sept

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User reviews of this film

Emily said...

Posted on Aug 24 2009 01:01 This is not a film for children! Minnie, who let you watch it?!

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Minnie said...

Posted on Aug 24 2009 00:45 i think the film was good but i think that this is certainly not a 12/12a i found it way way too graphic why do they rate blood and killing so high in age and this soo low i'm defiantly not going to watch this film until im around 17 because i just cant watch that kind of stuff!!!

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miles said...

Posted on Mar 25 2009 12:20 MOVIE OF THE YEAR -STRANGELY KEIRA WAS NEGLECTED AS WAS THE MOVIE -lie gran torino it is a farce that good cinema is just left out -i do not understand what bafta was thinking -lolz

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Holly-Beth said...

Posted on Mar 22 2009 22:55 Amazing, I was amazed when my mother told me it was a true story, Poor Georgiana.

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Selena said...

Posted on Jan 24 2009 23:23 Great to watch, absorbing, well acted and shot.

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ambreen said...

Posted on Nov 26 2008 15:22 throughly enjoyed every minute of it!!...very welll made movie..did justice to the book...both keira and ralph have done a marvellous job...!!!

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chris said...

Posted on Oct 30 2008 06:37 keira and fiennes deserve oscars for sure if the oscars are still fair -but i doubt it very much

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dave said...

Posted on Oct 27 2008 04:23 well thank god time out has more sense and sensibility than new yorker

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abid said...

Posted on Oct 27 2008 03:12 i love keira -she rocks as a duchess or a pirate =u know nothing if you dont like her as duchess

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anglo said...

Posted on Oct 26 2008 19:14 helen -the newyorker critis is a wanker and you are a loser for quoting him on timeout -go do something better with your wasted life ,
who cares about pseudo critics and their queer tastes -and your coffee parties too-ha ha

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Helen said...

Posted on Oct 26 2008 15:55 A big gorgeous period piece with "dullness at the heart" as the New Yorker critic put it. I kept waiting for something really meaningful to happen. It never did.

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Fraggle said...

Posted on Oct 18 2008 13:59 Brilliant, to say the least. If Knightley doesn't take home an Oscar for her performance, she never will. The costumes were divine. One of the best attributes of the film was its pace. Often period pieces can drag on - The Duchess moved along nicely. Kudos to all involved.

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jasmine said...

Posted on Oct 14 2008 10:57 Amazing. Keira Knightley plays an ambitious duchess alongside Dominic Cooper (who didn't break out into song and dance) and Ralph Fiennes (who was brilliant, by the way)

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FLORENCIA said...

Posted on Oct 11 2008 07:42 A-MAZING....KEIRA PLAYED HER BEST ROLE AND SO GOD.... KEIRA IS REALLY GORGEOUS IN THIS MOVIE....GEORGIANA IS LOVELY!!!!!!!!!!!
ALL THEY SHOULD BE NOMINATED FOR THE OSCAR

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Anne Woods said...

Posted on Oct 07 2008 21:39 Costumes were glorious,I was sad when the film ended as I wanted the story to go on, and on. I was half way through the book when I saw the film, so now I am enjoying the last part. Many thanks to all involved in the making of this memorable film.

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