The
Duchess
Thanks
to a fire alarm going off in the Cineplex, I only got to see half the
movie, so I’ll give you half of a review. I knew Kiera
Knightley
was
kind of hot, but not THIS hot.
Knightley stars as Georgiana – the daughter of an aristocrat
set
up in an arranged marriage with The Duke of Devonshire (Ralph Fiennes).
She’s Ok with it, since she thinks the Duke is dreamy, and he
is extremely powerful, but
first impressions can be deceiving. As the pressure mounts to get
pregnant and have a
son, their marriage falls apart and we have to wonder if The Duchess
will ever find happiness.
 Will The
Duchess find true love?
Can she have a son?
Will she break free of the Duke’s crushing hold on her spirit
and freedom?
Seriously, someone who has seen the end of the movie needs to tell me!
Paramount Vantage’s marketing department has to be counting
on
Georgiana’s heavily publicized relation to Princess Diana to
draw
in the crowds, but the writing, directing and acting is what will make
you happy you bought the ticket. Think of it as coming for the sizzle,
but enjoying the steak.
Knightley is fantastic. She transcends the make up and big wigs to make
Georgiana into a dynamic, charming, girly, vivacious firecracker. We
feel her pain with every betrayal and heartache, yet, Knightley makes
sure we never pity the woman because she fills the character with
amazing inner strength, and only lowers that shield at the perfect
moments to draw out our sympathy for her plight.
I usually find this type of movie to be overhyped and much too stuffy
and reserved to be entertaining, but writer/director Saul Dibb and
writers Anders Thomas Jensen and Jeffrey Hatcher (based on the novel by
Amanda Foreman) make The Duchess into a delicious,
scandalous,
salacious tale full of snarky dialogue and torrid passion. The
Young
and The Restless have nothing on these people!
A couple scenes drag a touch, but The Duchess is so
good I will pay to see the end of it (unless a generous lady wants to
make a date out of it).
The Duchess is rated PG-13 for
sexual content, brief nudity and thematic material.
|
