THE DUCHESS

I thought I would hate The Duchess, but instead I hated the Duke.

I thought I would hate The Duchess, but instead I hated the Duke. Luckily the Duchess also hated the Duke, and before I knew it, I no longer felt that I was watching a stuffy biopic set in the 1700s. Instead, the Duchess and I sort of bonded, and after awhile it seemed like I was just hanging out with my old friend G. Considering the fact that I frequently walked out in the middle of my 18th Century Lit. class due to severe boredom, this speaks quite well for the movie.

We first meet Georgiana (Keira Knightley) when she is a carefree teenager. She's out playing on the lawn with her friends (and the boy she likes) when her mother calls her in to announce that the Duke of Devonshire (Ralph Fiennes) has asked for her hand in marriage. For a girl who knows marriage is in her future, this is a very exciting offer, and no one thinks twice about accepting it. It is the obvious thing to do, and Georgiana enters the union hopeful and optimistic.

Sadly, the marriage is not at all what Georgiana wants or anticipates. The Duke is distant and abrasive, showing no interest in conversation and little devotion to anything besides his dogs. He's all function and no form in the bedroom (at least with her), and G. quickly realizes that her sole purpose is to bear the Duke a male heir. She's expected to raise the Duke's illegitimate daughter (whose own mother has died), but the daughters she bears herself are of little use to him. All of the girls are like so much window dressing. Though Georgiana endures a string of miscarriages and stillbirths, the Duke can still be found sulking and demanding a boy.

Having realized there is no companionship to be found in her marriage, the Duchess begins to look elsewhere. Bess Foster (Hayley Atwell) becomes her dearest friend and confidante, and serves as the one person to suggest that Georgiana might deserve more from life than she's getting. Imagine G's heartbreak when she discovers that even Bess is taking to the Duke's bed on a regular basis. With this revelation, the gloves are off and Georgiana feels justified in pursuing a bit of happiness for herself—with her childhood friend Charles Grey (Dominic Cooper). By this point she has given the Duke the son he so desired, and it seems only fair to level the playing field a little bit.

Of course, for women in the 18th century, the playing field was never level, and what was good for the gander does not prove good for the goose. Though he's happy to have it both ways, the Duke forces Georgiana to choose between her lover and her children. What's worse, she must give up the child fathered by Charles Grey—even as she continues to treat the Duke's bastard child as her own. It's a terribly tragic and compelling mess, made all the more moving by Georgiana's ability to rise above adversity and carry on with grace. Despite these personal horrors, she does go on to lead a full life as one of the most respected women in England. The film does an excellent job of taking us behind the veneer, and allows us to see the human side of a very influential woman.

DVD NOTES

Extra features include a short making-of documentary, a costume diary, and an interesting featurette on Georgiana's actual letters, some of which are written in blood—yikes