The Duchess (2008)

Directed by: Saul Dibb | 110 minutes | drama, history | Actors: Keira Knightley, Ralph Fiennes, Dominic Cooper, Hayley Atwell, Charlotte Rampling, Simon McBurney, Aidan McArdle, Angus McEwan, Mercy Fiennes Tiffin, Kate Burdette, Laura Stevely, Richard McCabe, Georgia King, Poppy Wigglesworth, Bruce Mackinnon, Emily Cohen Richard Syms, Eva Hrela, Andrew Armour, Sebastian Applewhite, Sadie Miller, Nicola Powell-Smith, Hannah Stokely, Calvin Dean, Sarah Wyatt, Thomas Arnold, Emily Jewell, Matthew Swan, Dale Mercer

The year is 1774. Georgiana (Keira Knightley) is a cheerful, carefree girl, less than eighteen years old. When her mother, Lady Spencer (Charlotte Rampling) announces that she has reason to expect a marriage between her daughter and the Duke of Devonshire (Ralph Fiennes), Georgiana is in heaven. Because, despite the fact that she has only met the duke twice, he is already in love with her! And her mother leaves her in that delusion. What Georgiana doesn’t know, but what she will slowly learn during her young life as the Duchess of Devonshire, is that the much older Duke is only marrying her because he expects her to soon have a son, and with it a son. heir, will bring into the world. Soon this turns out to be the only thing the duke needs his wife for; occasionally he shares the bed with her, but leaves her further to the left and loves his dogs more than she does.

Georgiana meanwhile becomes one of England’s first fashion queens, wildly popular in high society, and soon a victim of the first ‘paparazzi’ who capture her in drawings wherever she appears on the scene. She also uses her popularity for the Whig party of politician Charles Fox (Simon McBurney). But her glamorous life is only apparent: tensions are running high at home, because Georgiana has so far only given birth to daughters. When the Duke also starts an affair with Georgiana’s best friend Lady Elizabeth Foster (Hayley Atwell), who to Georgiana’s dismay does have three sons, Georgiana is devastated. Especially when the Duke makes no effort to hide his love for ‘Bess’. But when Georgiana announces that she wants to start an affair with the young politician Charles Gray (Dominic Cooper), she is strictly forbidden by her husband…

In the dazzling film ‘The Duchess’, this true piece of British history is beautifully portrayed on the silver screen. It is an adaptation of the biography ‘Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire’ by Amanda Foreman, who is also a historical advisor to this film. While the film does take a while to get going – most of the events can already be predicted, but it will take us a while to get to see them – it’s a compelling story, although the general public may not be fully aware. who this Duchess of Devonshire actually belonged to. She is simply not a very well-known historical figure, like the French queen Marie Antoinette, about whose life the film ‘Marie Antoinette’ was published in 2006 by Sofia Coppola. But Keira Knightley, who jumps off the screen in her beautiful costumes as ‘the duchess’, thanks to her excellent acting, knows how to make a fascinating character of Georgiana, with which she knows how to completely draw the viewer into the story of this unfortunate woman. Ralph Fiennes is certainly not bad either, although his portrayal of the duke remains a bit one-sided for much of the film: despite being surrounded by splendor and wealth, he does not behave in the least as a charming gentleman, but rather as a blunt peasant with no ounce of compassion for his wife. In short, a villain through and through. Only towards the end of the film are his human traits revealed to the audience, and thus to Georgiana.

Director Saul Dibb (‘The Line of Beauty’, 2006) did not want to make a typical British costume film of ‘The Duchess’, in which, according to him, too often a nostalgic image of England is portrayed. He wanted more than just a pretty picture. And he certainly succeeded, even though the film as a whole has become one big beautiful picture, which is the result of filming in the most beautiful locations in England, including the historic city of Bath, Chatsworth House in Derbyshire (Georgiana’s home where the current Duchess of Devonshire still lives), and the stately Somerset House in London. Between the eye-catching costumes, stately mansions and stunning landscapes in ‘The Duchess’, we see characters with emotional depth, befitting this film about a woman whose life also seemed splendor, but who was actually deeply unhappy inside. The characters feel like people of today, not distant historical figures from the distant past, and this is exactly what Dibb wanted to achieve with this film.

The downside of this film, perhaps not very original in terms of storyline, is that the historical setting of the story raises too many questions that are not answered. Besides the fact that many will wonder what Georgiana actually meant or brought about in the history of England, some will question what the function of a duke and duchess was at that time, what exactly the Whig party stood for. , or who Charles Gray actually was. In addition, it is a pity that the film moves so slowly in the beginning, so that it actually lasts too long. As a result, you as a viewer are just not on the edge of your seat with the scenes where you should be. Even though the film may not be perfect, the excellent acting, breathtaking costumes and setting, not to mention the sparkling music, make ‘The Duchess’ definitely a film to enjoy.