The Duchess is a superior slice of costume drama which manages to craft interesting, multi dimensional characters and an involving storyline from the well worn confines of the genre.

Keira Knightley plays a very similar role to the one she played in Pride and Prejudice, a feisty, modern woman trapped in a male dominated society. However, whereas Lizzie Bennett's heart and character inspires affection, the Duchess of Devonshire's fosters only reproach and punishment from her traditional and patriarchal husband. Her performance is a standout and demonstrates why she is so highly rated in the face of many disappointing roles in other films. She brings both strength and weakness to the character. Able to deliver withering put downs at her husband and others, whilst showing the pain of her loveless marriage etched into her face.

If Knightley is the lynchpin of the piece then it is Ralph Fiennes that elevates it above a crowded genre. Resisting the temptation to play his character as evil, instead he simply plays him as a man of his times. In Fiennes' hands the Duke feels no need to win any bouts of verbal jousting with his wife as he is secure in the knowledge that, as a husband, he is in complete control of the relationship. The Duke also clearly sees very little wrong in his treatment of his wife and acts, as he sees it, in a logic manner making the whole film feel more believable and, as a result, tragic.

In terms of the cast the only misstep is Dominic Cooper as Charles Grey, who lends the wide eyes of a political dreamer but doesn't have convincing chemistry with Knightley and plays one of the more one dimensional characters in the piece. However Hayley Atwell impresses by playing her character so well it is possible to describe her as scheming, and manipulative as well as sympathetic and loyal without it seeming a contradiction.

The film is deliberately paced so as to give characters and events time to breathe, encouraging the mood that the marriage is a car crash in slow motion, inextricably drawing all the characters further into the muddled mess of their relationships. Overall it's a fully recommended slice of real life costume drama that draws a multi layered drama full of compellingly deep characters from what could easily have been a one note story.

After reading copious amounts of mediocre reviews for "The duchess", I wasn't expecting much from this film. However, from the first scene I was utterly absorbed.

The film isn't "just another period drama", it is an absolutely beautiful and heart-rendering tale of the tribulations faced by Georgian woman. Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, who although is the key character in the film (as you can probably infer from the title), represents the situation of all woman belonging to a patriarchal society, not just the aristocracy.

Keira knightly is exemplary in this role. Her facial expression tells more than a script ever could. I enjoyed her performance in "atonement" but this was in a whole new league. Ralph Fiennes was also excellent. My best advice is to ignore the critics and come to your own conclusion. My only negative criticism was the rapidity with which Georgiana bonded so intimately with Bess. However, I don't know enough about the social context of the time to really make a judgement.

All in all, a deeply moving tale that shouldn't be neglected.

The Duchess - Set at the end of the eighteenth century, The Duchess is based on the life of Georgiana Cavendish (Kiera Knightley), Duchess of Devonshire. The film delves into Georgiana's passionate and doomed affair with Earl Grey, the future Prime Minister, and the complex love triangle with her husband (Ralph Fiennes) and Georgiana's best friend, Lady Bess Foster (Hayley Atwell).

Kiera Knightley again does a period piece and again looks mostly out of place. She's British alright, but a few stone away from looking like she belongs in 1770's Britain. It's augmented by the fact that her character, based on a real woman, was supposed to have gone through about 6 pregnancies, 4 of them successful. Knightley's emaciated form is just wrong. What is right though, is her performance. As a mother, as a chasismatic political presence and a woman desperate for a happy life she nails it absolutely.

I could have seen a little less focus on the love triangle and a little more on the "hows" and "whys" of this woman becoming such an important and popular cultural icon in British society. The film glosses over how this came to be, and asks us to take it as a fact after one brief scene showing the Duchess's political shrewdness. It's another case of Hollywood ignoring what's different about a film, preferring the safety of delivering what people have seen before.

Fiennes gives such a quiet performance right from the start but it grows and fills the area. It's often a mesmerizing performance because of his rigid adherence to societies expectations and rules at the cost of all else. Fiennes occupies the screen whenever he's in a scene. When he and the Duchess argue, she's like water smashing up against the unyielding cliff. Ralph Fiennes is aw-inspiringly scary in one scene without seeming in anyway over the top or demonizing of what his character represents. Ultimately his character is human and believable; purely a man of his times. His character is so down to earth and in the end simple. All he wanted from his marriage was a son and to be left alone to play with his dogs.

A mesmerizing turn from Fiennes in a likable, if familiar film, The Duchess gets a B+

The career of Keira Knightley has been somewhat of a mixed bag. She has had strong moments, invariably under the direction of Joe Wright, and she has had her less brilliant moments, mainly in the later "Pirates of the Caribbean" films. But, in "The Duchess", an entertaining and moving portrait of Georgiana, the Duchess of Devonshire, she truly shows signs that she is coming of age with a performance of subtlety and nuance.

The film has been marketed with not so subtle emphases on Georgiana's relative, Diana, Princess of Wales. The tagline for the film, "There were three people in her marriage", is not only, by my count, a miscalculation (a serious miscalculation if you count the dogs) but also guilty of creating a subtext which simply isn't in the film. Anybody looking for a film about Diana will be disappointed. Anyone looking for an entertaining film won't be.

The film is a moving portrait of a very tragic figure, brought to life by a career best performance from Keira Knightely. Her abilities have grown over recent years, with "Atonement" being her previous best, but here she shows great potential. She is ably supported by Ralph Fiennes, who is on fine form. His performance never descends into caricature or cartoonish villainy, but maintains a sense of humanity, no matter how selfish it is, underneath his characters various inexcusable actions. There is also a fine performance from Charlotte Rampling, though there is a weak link in the person of Dominic Cooper, who is too young for his part and struggles with it.

The witty and emotive script has a lot to recommend it and its characters are put into an engrossing and lavish world, successfully created by the director Saul Dibb. Extraordinary costumes fill the extraordinary locations, and there is a beautiful score by Rachael Portman to accompany it. The result is a fairly stylish affair.

The film's exploration of unfortunate innocence and the loss of freedom is at times poignant and adds to what is an extremely satisfying experience at the cinema and provides a great deal of promise for the future from its director and its star.

What rather wonderful about this story is that Georgiana Spencer (Keira Knightley) discovers a way to exult in victory over things and to get back some kind of power in a time where, really, women had very little… Being someone of great vitality and liveliness, she was very much a dreamer and an idealist, a woman who loved being the center of attention, who loved the fact at some point that her picture was in the paper, that the clothes were always talked of, that her every move was commented on…

We are immediately impressed by her presence, by her personality… She wasn't behaving quite in accordance with the way in which other 18th century women were expected to behave…

But there was something incredibly sad about this self-conscious lady… She was a victim of herself… A victim of her own innocence… A victim of people using her for their own profit… Even though she seemed to have everything, we realize that it was not that simple… And with all of her privilege came a lot of moral obligation and things were never what they really appeared to be…

The Duke (Ralph Fiennes) was a misanthropic man, rather cold, unemotional and quite cruel… He seems to like better his hunting dogs to his young wife… Of course with certain values, that he believes were absolutely right and that he strictly held to…

This sumptuous period piece also presents the Duchess of Devonshire as a political hostess… Saul Dibb's film shows us her dinner parties, her evening events, her fame and its extraordinary effect on her… It made her both desperate to please, terrified of doing anything wrong and shocked at her own celebrity and unable to figure out in her own mind why she was quite so famous… And we see the crippling effect it has on her sense of self…

I came away from the cinema after seeing The Duchess feeling I had had my consciousness of what life must have been like for the aristocracy of 18th century England dramatically raised (both literally and metaphorically). The story of Georgiana's marriage unfolds by subtle degrees amidst the most sumptuous of interiors and landscaped gardens - all beautifully filmed and realistically recreated. Apart from the main characters, there appear a rich selection of characters from neighbouring strata of society - aristocrats, political activists, servants and children (as babies and older) both legitimate and illegitimate - all of whom contribute to weaving the screenplay into an immensely fascinating narrative. I was already a fan of both Keira Knightly and Ralph Fiennes before seeing The Duchess, so I was pleased to find that their performances were well up to - and in the case of Ms Knightly even surpassing - my expectations. Even those who aren't normally 'into' period dramas (like me) should, I feel sure, find much to appreciate in this excellent film.

I'm of two minds about this film. On the one hand, Saul Dibb has managed to turn a book into an entertaining film about the trials and tribulation - and, let's keep things in perspective, extremely privileged life - of the frolicking Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire (Keira Knightley). It hits all the targets of the romantic genre, and does so with a nice mix of emotional scenes, witty banter, and even some interesting discussions.

Some, because on the other hand the film fails to step beyond the confines of its genre and to really engage with the historical period in which the events take place. The female protagonist gets married to a Duke (Ralph Fiennes), is supposedly unhappy (but wastes little time exploiting the new social options presented to her because of said marriage), and soon the viewer is on board with Georgiana for a ride through all the familiar scenes: her husband's mistresses, her own dalliances with young dreamers, an unexpected pregnancy, etc. etc. The political scheming in the background is mentioned, but there is very little interaction between the events of the story and the historical context. In the final minutes of the film, lines of text assure the viewer that Georgiana was one of the most influential women of her day (in England, one assumes). Unfortunately, not much of that supposed influence is shown in the film, where Georgiana has to make do with a short scene in which she rallies a crowd of a few dozen spectators at a political campaign event.

It's all the more unfortunate that this angle of Georgiana's character was left underexposed, because in the first few minutes of the film she quickly finds herself in a rather witty back-and-forth with one of her husband's political allies, Charles Fox (Simon McBurney). Those scenes, so teasingly shown in the trailer, are sadly moved to the sidelines soon after. If those reading this felt similarly disappointed by this, I can recommend Patrice Leconte's 1996 film Ridicule. It's an excellent and very witty look at the French court in roughly the same time.

So all in all, if you're looking at this film as a romantic historical drama, it's actually not all that bad. But unfortunately it's also not much more than that. A shame, especially because this is an era in which there should be no shortage of great characters from which to draw inspiration for far more interesting stories and films.

A final note on the acting: Ralph Fiennes is great as William Cavendish, Duke of Devonshire, as is Simon McBurney as the politician Charles Fox. Dominic Cooper and Hayley Atwell gave two decent but unexciting (which isn't necessarily bad) performances as Charles Grey and Bess Foster respectively. As for Georgiana herself? I can understand directors are reluctant to use different actors for the same role, but wanting a 22 year old Keira Knightley to portray both a 17 year old newly-wed and a 35 year old mother was perhaps a bit too much to ask. Knightley makes the most of it, and some scenes are well done indeed, but on the whole it wasn't really working out for me.

Recommended for easy romantic watching, not so for an engaging historical drama.

The latest slice of period drama to grace our screens is this biopic on Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, who during the 1770s was patroness of the Whig party and prisoner of a marriage which made her, among other things, suffer the indignity of having her husband's mistress living under the same roof. These heritage dramas are an industry all by themselves; the armies of prop hirers, wig and costume makers, researchers, production designers, location scouts and (mostly) British actors who go to make them must find themselves in almost permanent employ. The BBC does them, the Americans have a go at them, and the public can't seem to get enough of them. The Duchess is a superior example of the genre, though nowhere in the league of Kubrick's Barry Lyndon, and combines the spectacle of Keira Knightley looking glamorous in a range of frocks and wigs, while at the same time honing her acting talents (no more those rictus grins), with the guilty pleasure of following the uncomfortable parallels between the fortunes and indiscretions of the ancestress of Lady Diana Spencer with those of the Princess of Wales herself. Lowering over the whole proceedings is the truly superb presence of Ralph Fiennes's Duke of Devonshire, Fiennes an actor who can convey polite discomfiture or threatening ire with slightest twitch of the mouth. In his hands the Duke becomes far less a melodramatic villain than a product of his time, and you almost feel sorry for him. Go and see The Duchess; only those who have had children will balk at the liberties taken with childbirth and breastfeeding. But not even that will spoil the fun.

I couldn't wait for The Duchess, I am just a huge fan of period pieces and Kiera Knightly is becoming a fantastic actress in this genre. I was looking forward to this film mainly because I studied Georgina a little bit in college for my history class and I always thought she was such an elegant and strong woman that stood out from the others. She was like the Madonna of her day, she had a great sense of style, self, and strength. While the movie is not completely accurate, it still was a fine movie to watch. Kiera truly held her own as Georgina and was absolutely stunning. One of the underlining stories that I appreciate in this film is the battle of the sexes. Ralph Fiennes who plays the Duke of Devonshire does a fantastic job as well and he plays this anti-villain, shows the true side of the pain and pressure men felt but how they looked at women as nothing but property. This story truly touches you and makes you grateful for our present day.

Georgina is born into a high class family of royalty who is about to be married off to the Duke of Devonshire and everything seems great, G is going to live the high life of class, culture, and being a lady of the people. She comes across the price though: her husband's affairs that are practically rubbed in her face, her life is constantly watched and judged by people, she must be perfect at all times to keep up her reputation as a joyful lady, she is forced to be the mother of the duke's child from an affair he had, as well as she cannot birth a son for the Duke and he will find every opportunity to rub it in her face. All this and Georgina has found another love who she cannot give her heart to fully for the love of her children and people.

The Duchess is a fine film that I truly enjoyed. I wouldn't be surprised if Kiera was nominated for best actress during the academy season. I would highly recommend this movie, especially for the period piece lovers. Like I said, this film makes you appreciate what we have today in our modern society and truly makes you feel for the pressures both men and women had to face in that day. Georgina is a figure that I think is very looked over in history when she is one of the strongest presences in England's history. The Duchess, even though not entirely accurate, does a very good job of telling her story and was a pleasure to watch.

8/10

This film really, really surprised me.

Yes, it's from the director of Bullet Boy - but I'd only ever seen Saul Dibb's Line Of Beauty so I was expecting a pretty standard period piece with Keira Knightely - who I have never rated much as a credible acting talent.

Boy does she impress here - she is fantastic. The Duchess of Devonshire is the perfect character for her to play, and it's obvious Keira immersed herself in the role, and completely understood every single motivation of her character.

I recommend everyone to go and see this film!

Keira Knightley's period drama for the year 2008 is a well-crafted one, but lacking in anything new and exciting. The Dutchess is your run-of-the-mill tale of unrequited love amidst the artifice of a marriage of utility. It all begins with a gathering of teenagers, playing their games in the yard while the adults talk inside, planning the futures for their children behind closed doors. When Georgiana's mother tells her how she will be the next Duchess of Devonshire, you are almost shocked at her reaction. So happy and excited that a man could love her after only two meetings, she cannot wait to leave and start her new life … seemingly forgetting all about that boy in the yard for whom she obviously has feelings for. This is a time of regimented rules, of lives orchestrated for success and not allowed to spontaneously evolve. A decision that I don't think she could have said no to anyways just set up her entire life's journey, one full of happiness, wealth, and eventual heartbreak.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect going into the film. I had heard the stuff about how Georgiana was the Empress of Fashion and thought maybe this would tell about her designing sense while also her life. Maybe it was going to be a romance or a tale of deception and intrigue, a behind the scenes look at royalty. Instead of any of those, The Duchess ends up really being just a bio-pic disguised as an historical drama. At times it seems like some interest is about to show face as we learn early on about Her Grace's penchant for politics and desire for all people to be free. It actually seems like we're about to watch her fight for women's rights and equality, but instead the topic is glossed over and she becomes the face of the Whig Party, not a vocal piece to the puzzle. Even the fashion aspect is thrown to the side. The Duke mentions it once and she is introduced at some sort of fashion show later on, but after a funny speech, it is back to the pomp and circumstance of the royal way of life.

Whether the film succeeds or not doesn't detract from the fact that the attention to detail is quite nice. Director Saul Dibb has gotten a crew to recreate the time period, actors to inhabit their roles, and an all-around authentic look. I love the moments looking through the windows towards the outside. The glass is fogged and warped as it was back then and the compositions frame the characters of importance with the clear portions, while the others are distorted in the imperfections. Pacing-wise, the film never really drags. It is all composed nicely, spanning the 6-8 years from marriage to the bearing of an heir. The film itself is not boring; it is the story that becomes mediocre and obvious while the cast still intrigues throughout it. Once the relationships and affairs all become public knowledge to the audience, it is just a matter of what will happen next? Unfortunately, that is a question that didn't interest me as much as what could have been looking at different aspects of Georgiana's life, rather than just the marriage itself.

Knightley must be given credit for pulling off another turn in a corset, long dress, and numerous wigs. Almost appearing to be a glutton for punishment, she just seems to flock to this type of role. But with good reason, she is solid throughout, showing her youthful exuberance as well as her stubborn disgust at the injustices put upon a woman in that time period. Much smarter than one would expect from a girl sent off to become a Duchess for the sole purpose of conceiving a male heir, Georgiana is a fascinating woman.

Her husband is played by the great Ralph Fiennes in a role that I am not used to seeing him in. The Duke of Devonshire is very much an automaton going through life fulfilling his duties. Unless with his beloved dogs, Fiennes gives off a cold dead persona, breathing as little life into the part as possible—and that is a compliment, not an insult. He is the kind of guy that just walks away from the group when he is done or bored, he doesn't have to explain himself. Fiennes makes this man sympathetic somehow, showing the audience that beneath the harshness lays a man trapped into a life he cannot leave. He looks out the window at his children and wonders at how free they are. Here is a man in charge of everyone, but alone living for the title. He has an image to uphold and unfortunately that means he must be strict and decisive when it comes to events that could tarnish his reputation and image, events that the Duchess throws his way often.

Don't get me wrong, some of the love triangles are interesting to see fleshed out with the wonderful supporting cast, it's just that I wish there was more weight to the story with those moments only complementing. Dominic Cooper's Charles Grey, the boy from Georgiana's childhood, adds a layer with the inevitable affair, and the character of Bess Foster, played by Hayley Atwell, is perhaps the most interesting of them all. At first the Duchess' best friend, she becomes her husband's mistress and lover as well, creating a dynamic unused to in films like this. The three live together, all for their own needs. One for his title and heir, one for the power to have her children returned to her, and the other, trapped in her life now, to have some semblance of meaning. It's definitely the most off-the-wall aspect of the story, but unfortunately not enough to make The Duchess any more special than the next period drama to come, or the last before it.

The costumes are wonderful, the country houses are spectacular, but the story is rather a one note affair. This is indeed a shame, as the book on which the film is based, is a rich and interesting biography.

The supporting cast are very good, but there is little for them to do, as all the action is centered on Keira Knightly. She does not shine here. Having recently watched her in Atonement (where she was very good)I was disappointed by her performance in this film. I felt as if I knew what she is going to do where - a real shame, as I believe that she will be one of our most interesting actors, but not if judged on this outing.

Where are the examples of Georgiana's wit, her clever mind? And why are historical characters so often played with modern sensibilities - Georgiana would have known just what the Duke expected of her, as she was his property - the law in those days, not my opinion - so to suggest otherwise is just nonsense. She really was much more fascinating than depicted in the film.

Okay, so let's put this in context, if you don't like period dramas, don't go and see this movie, you probably won't like it, and it is NOT Diana's story, nothing like although some in the marketing department thought so ...

But i love this film, having being dying to see it since the first teaser trailer. I love everything about it the costumes, the characters, the acting, the whole package.

Keira Knightley in a corset again, but then i think these are roles she is good at, this role required her to have this real sense of melancholy to her and she did it beautifully.

Ralph Fiennes is funny, repulsive and endearing in his role as the duke you feel one thing for him and then another, you can't write this guy off as anything in particular. All i know is that i wouldn't want to be married to him.

I hope that both Knightley and Fiennes get their second and third Oscar nominations for this respectively, as they are well made parts.

As for the others:

Dominic Cooper, is lovely as Grey if perhaps a little underused, Hayley Atwell's character is again one you want to hate but really can't, and Rampling is great as the mother.

All in all a great period flick, i say 10/10, but if i wasn't so into this kind of thing i'd probably still rate it quite highly, it is a fine piece of film-making.

"The Duchess" tells the tale of the beautiful young Georgiana Spencer (Knightley) who, in the late 18th century, is married to the much older Duke of Devonshire (Fiennes) and attains wealth, status, and prestige, all at the price of being condemned to a loveless marriage. It's familiar ground: the duke is the typically phlegmatic English nobleman, unable to express or perhaps even experience emotions, while his wife is in every way his superior: in intellect, courage, self-reliance, devotion to children, etc.

Most of the story revolves around the inequality between men's and women's lives: the former openly flaunting their mistresses while the latter are forbidden such dalliances. Men don't come off very well in this movie: they beat their wives, threaten them with separation from their children, and treat their girls with utter indifference while a boy is the ultimate prize.

While the plot is not altogether scintillating, the acting more than makes up for it. Knightley is at her best, able to convey all the emotions the role requires. But the star of this movie is Fiennes, who in spite of playing a truly unlikeable character, manages to keep him from being utterly detestable. At the end, his humanity finally breaks through just a little bit, and one wishes the script would have allowed a few more glimmers at earlier points in the movie as well.

But even if one were to magically delete all dialogue from the film, and just watch it on the big screen with the soundtrack, it would be well worth it. The constant parade of fashions, primarily women's but also men's, is like a documentary of late 18th century clothing. Each scene seems to outdo the other. It's like walking through a museum full of Gainsborough and Reynolds portraits, and seeing each one come to life; wonderful! The stately mansions, the magnificent teams of horses, the sweeping vistas of gardens and sheep on the pastures, it's all England at its very finest. The soundtrack was beautiful, lush and romantic and very apropos. I particularly liked the inclusion of much period music which was intelligently (though not always accurately) paired with the era. Was Bach played in England in 1775? I rather doubt it, but still it fit nicely and sounded gorgeous.

Do see this on the big screen; don't wait for the DVD.

The locations, specially Bath are the most cinematic aspect of this opportunistic tale. The Duchess, it seems, was a distant relative of Lady Diana Spencer's and there is a certain symmetry in their stories but Keira Knightly projects only an "actressy" air. She was superb in "Pride and Prejudice" but here she just simply poses and stares. Ralph Finnes's awful Duke is much more believable. The extra marital doomed love story between the Duchess and Dominic Cooper left me completely cold and perhaps that's were the problem resides. Their relationship, their "love" should have consumed us for the sketchy tale to work, but it didn't. Still, the locations, I repeat, are breathtaking and "The Duchess" can be seen if you don't expect to be other than an spectator.

When Quentin Tarantino presented Reservoir Dogs at Sundance in 1992, he famously stated that Merchant-Ivory productions were a major turn-off for him, much like on-screen violence could be for someone else. No one else seems to agree with him, though, or at least not openly, since lots of British directors are trying to become the next James Ivory (the real one lost his mojo with The White Countess, which also marked his last collaboration with the late producer Ismail Merchant). And while Joe Wright hit the jackpot with Pride & Prejudice and Atonement, his colleague Saul Dibb doesn't fare as well with The Duchess, an elegant but frigid costume drama which fails to be particularly dramatic.

To secure some kudos, Dibb cast Wright's go-to leading lady Keira Knightley as the film's heroine, Georgiana Spencer, whose life changes radically when the Duke of Devonshire (Ralph Fiennes) asks for her hand in marriage. The quality of her lifestyle improves significantly, and all she has to do, as she's frequently reminded by her mother (Charlotte Rampling), is to be a good wife. Unfortunately, that task proves more difficult than expected, since the Duke insists on having a male heir and Georgiana keeps giving birth to boys. All that's left for the poor man is to find a mistress, who happens to be the Duchess's best (in fact, only) friend (Hayley Atwell). Georgiana would like to retaliate by having an affair with her former suitor Charles Grey (Dominic Cooper), but common decency suggests she shouldn't. Why? Because she's just a woman.

Unhappy marriage, sex seen as a mere reproductive device, lust for freedom, society of the past seen as a mirror of contemporary events. Sound familiar? yes, the blueprint is obviously Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette, a far superior period piece that manages to speak to the audiences of today. Coppola did that thanks to the soundtrack, which emphasized the idea of the Queen of France being a rebellious teenager; Dibb's approach involves parallels with Georgiana's famous descendant, Princess Diana, as well as a political subtext suggesting the Duchess was one of the world's first feminists. Fair enough, as long as he has the substance to back that up. Does he? No. He puts all his energy in highlighting the natural beauty of 18th century England, and in that sense the movie can be mentioned in the same breath as Room with a View or Howard's End. Elsewhere, though, it's pretty basic, with a story that's been told many times before and has no new twists that can add to its dramatic resonance.

The performances are another problem altogether: Knightley might have seemed like a perfect fit for the role and she tries her utter best, but it feels quite theatrical (in a bad way) and overstated, and sh isn't helped by Atwell and Cooper's emotionless staring as support. Fiennes and Rampling, on the other hand, are amazing, especially the former's apparently cold but really entertaining and moving performance - if Bill Murray did period dramas, it would look a lot like that. It's also a bit ironic: the film aims to be female-driven, but is completely stolen by a man.

THE DUCHESS is a simply beautiful film, with lush English locations and costumes that are out of this world, along with a cast of actors that you can thoroughly enjoy. Ralph Fiennes is at the top of his game as the Duke, and Kira Knightley continues to grow in stature and grace in a role as the Duchess which makes you immediately think of the late and extraordinary Princess Diana. Charlotte Rampling once again graces the screen with a regal air, and Dominic Cooper brings a solid performance as Mr. Grey. And, it is in the cinematography and sets and costumes that brings THE DUCHESS to life and gives it the sheen and polish of that era of opulence and lushness of the Royals. THE DUCHESS, like MARIE ANTOINETTE, serves up a rich piece of elegance, set around a story that makes you want to have a happy ending, but that would be a fairy tale.

So, forget/ignore the critics, the soft reviews, and take in the story and intrigue which is THE DUCHESS.

"Melodrama" and "period piece" say just about everything when it comes to "the Duchess". Several opening establishing sequences quickly set the scene – young, playful Georgiana (Keira Knightley) rejoicing at her mother Lady Spencer's (Charlotte Rampling) announcing her good fortune of soon to become the Duchess of Devonshire. The opportunity is not lost to also introduce in these early scenes her future lover Charles Grey (Dominic Cooper). Her dream of a love-marriage (she has, after all, already met the Duke twice), however, is soon shattered as the Duke of Devonshire claims her virginity on their wedding night as if he is undertaking a military exercise. It soon becomes evident that to him, her only reason of existence is to produce a male heir. This all sound very familiar and "The other Boleyn girl" comes immediately to mind, a movie that, by comparison, offers more zest and vigour.

With the all-too-familiar plot line of a failed marriage (mentioned all too often by the protagonists) and the single-agenda of whether she can ultimately produce a boy, the story quickly loses momentum. To rescue comes an interesting character Bess Foster (Hayley Atwell), a sympathy-earning women prevented from seeing her three sons by her brutal husband. Befriended by Georgiana and taken into their household, she goes on to become the Duke's mistress. Georgiana, in her made-belief poetic justice, starts an affair with Grey. There are other details but essentially this is the story that provides the base for not a few emotional outbursts and melodramatic conflicts.

Acting obviously carried a lot in such a movie and here, comparison with another recent period piece is interesting and illuminating: "Brideshead revisited". The more straight comparison is Charlotte Rampling with Emma Thompson. Those who have seen Thompson in "Brideshead" will remember her impeccable, powerful portrayal of Lady Marchmain. Rampling in "Duchess" is stereotyped that does not full deserve her talents.

A much more interesting situation is Hayley Atwell who appears in both movies and is arguably the best among the three leads in "Brideshead", playing Julia Flyte. Very interestingly, there are two lines of comparison. First, as respective female leads, Atwell in "Brideshead" plays a complex role with depth and reserve that Knightley hadn't been able to command in "Duchess". The other comparison, of the both of them in "Duchess", is even more fascinating. Even when Bess Foster is a supporting role, it is a more complex character and offers some of the few non-cliché elements in the movie – her prime motivation for betraying her best friend is her absolutely unwavering determination to see her kids (something only the powerful Duke can help her with). Atwell handles the job beautifully, outshining Knightley. This is not to say that Knightley is not good; but Atwell is definitely better.

Ralph Fiennes is delightful (if not elating) to watch as he manages to create a character that is even more fiendish than Voldemort! Dominic Cooper, whom you might have seen recently as the young boyfriend in "Mama Mia!", gives a credible if not spectacular performance as Grey.

As a period piece, this movie fulfills the audiences' expectation of plush mise-en-scene, lush landscape and pulse-stopping costumes. Those interested in camera work will notice the repeated use of contrasting out-focused surroundings with the sharply focused object (such as when Lady Spencer points out her daughter to the Duke at the opening scenes). One interesting thing I must mention is how the names of the Duchess's three little girls pop up in front of them in a carriage scene. I can't help but wonder aloud if this is taking a cue from Facebook's photo tagging – signs of our time!

It seems that with each passing year, there comes a point in time when we will inevitably find the young and beautiful, Keira Knightly, in yet another period drama. It also seems like every period drama these days, whether it features Knightly or not, feels the need to disassociate itself from the conventions of the past and assert itself as fresh, with a unique twist on the genre. This is particularly challenging when the story is one we've seen a number of times prior. The true story of Georgina Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, as told by director, Saul Dibb, in THE DUCHESS, is one where a young girl of "modest" heritage is married off to an esteemed Duke for a price. Her duty is to serve his grace and provide to him a male heir. As a woman, she is nothing more than a decorative commodity and should she not be able to fulfill her wifely promises, then she is essentially useless. Dibb is smart about it though. With the point already made before the film even begins, he chooses to focus instead on the reality of this kind of imprisonment – what it feels like for a girl beneath her binding bodice.

Knightly carries the weight of this film on her shoulders while carrying the weight of the wigs on her head with poise and prominence. Her big brown eyes go from playful to shy to distraught and defeated. When we first meet her, she is free and seemingly unaware of the heavier world outside of her backyard games. Before long though, she is face to face with adulthood. This particular face belongs to Ralph Fiennes as the Duke of Devonshire. It is here that Dibb steps in to add another layer to the played out trajectory. With an age difference that is only matched in vastness by the distance between them, the Duke undresses his Duchess and asks why women's clothing must be so complicated. There is no better occasion for small talk than before two practical strangers go to bed for the first time. Knightly, trying desperately to hide her nervousness, replies to the obviously rhetorical question though, claiming that this is the only way for women to express themselves in the times they live in. It is clear she is not sure that a reply is necessary or even allowed but it is also clear that she speaks to ensure that she is seen, that her person is present. Her clothing falls to the floor and the imprints of her corset can still be seen on the smooth of her back.

Dibb follows this form of unexpected intimacy and insight with commentary about celebrity and how little the adoring public truly knows about their icons. The Duchess of Devonshire, or at least the one in THE DUCHESS, was an immense influence on her people. Her presence at events guaranteed crowds while her fashion determined the trends. Even her association with particular people could sway public and political opinion. She embodied grace and extravagance while remaining humble and the public ate it up. In their eyes, her life was perfect but those who traveled in closer circles knew better. They knew that there was little love between the Duke and Duchess and increased strain as she was not able to provide a male heir. Even they didn't know just how bad it was though. The wait staff on the other hand could have made millions on a tell-all. Like Stephen Frears' THE QUEEN, Dibb shows us what goes on on both sides of the castle gates, highlighting the drastic disconnect between the two close worlds. The Duchess was made to make many horrific choices and concessions that would have broken many a lesser person. What makes them so harrowing in the context of the film is the plainness with which they are expected by the Duke and subsequently accepted by all involved.

THE DUCHESS is shocking on many levels. It is shocking how harsh it is underneath its polished finish and how new this old tale feels. It is shocking how well Knightly can hold her pain and her own. And it is shocking how little value and worth was once afforded the women of the world. But it is perhaps most shocking that the manner in which women were once seen as a male possession, with purpose and function that only serves the male agenda, still exists today, no matter how you dress it up.

Another attempt to put real British history and characters on the screen for US audiences, only it does not contain much history - it was a really exciting period politically with loads of REAL characters far more interesting than the Duchess of Devonshire - and is just a tired retelling of parallels with the Charles/Diana/Camilla menage-a-trois done out with a glossy video of the best of UK country houses. Keira Knightley, over-exposed, cannot live up to the demands of being centre stage but does her best. Portrayal of aristocrats in 18th century is laughable, and, as for 'all girls together in a man's world, while I shag your husband'- what a total joke!Let Diana rest in peace!

Flawless. This is so much more than a pretty costume piece. Yes, there is only one linear plot, but Kiera Knightly takes us so deeply into the story of her character, The Dutchess, that we are completely absorbed.

This is no comedy of manners, as we are used to in so many period pieces. This is the story of a girl excited about her future, learning blow by blow what it means to be the wife/property of a powerful man. I was impressed that Kightly was able to portray the pain of her marriage and the deep love of a mother.

Ralph Fiennes was perfect as the Duke. A man so used to his own power and privilege that it allowed him to live with no consideration for others. You don't like him, but you do understand him.

I saw the love interest of the Dutchess, not in terms of an undeniable passion, but more as an attempt to snatch some shred of joy for herself in a life empty of love. In that respect, it was played convincingly.

I am not sure that men will be able to relate to these themes, but women who have been married and have children will have their hearts torn by each painful compromise and decision. Somehow Knightly and/or the director manages to lead us through this tragic tale in a way that is moving instead of depressing.

Despite its historical nature, this is not a family film as the sexual themes are for mature audiences.

The period drama never has been a genre that has offered cinema attendees high octane thrills and pacing, instead opting for a much more subdued, elegant formula to tell whatever historically placed story it may be willing to explore. To say that much of the genre as a result is usually unfairly deemed as dry to the point of uselessness would be somewhat of an understatement; in fact the vast majority of such films, although slow and exceedingly dry, usually make up for their blandness in story with well rounded, memorable and exciting characters. The Duchess however, is not one of these films. No, this is dry turkey with an ostensible glaze created by superficial juice. Going through the motions at every turn, director Saul Dibb fails to create anything worth noting here; it's an extremely straight-forward, standardised period drama with little to no interesting characters whatsoever. So not only do you have to sit through a soap opera plot that feels about as fresh and exciting as seeing Keira Knightley in another period costume, but you have to do so with inane personas that never do anything but pamper about in their big mansions, shouting at their servants. Dull, dreary and utterly disposable, The Duchess is as boring as the genre gets, and while there are some good elements present, they fail to mesh coherently to disguise the fact that the script has no intrinsic value inherent in its thin, formulaic design.

To discuss the premise of the movie is almost futile; if you have seen any movies from the genre, you have pretty much seen The Duchess. Revolving around yet another privileged woman who in turn marries a man of prestige and obviously finds out he is interested in her only for the chance to birth an heir, the twists and turns that take place here are stunted and all too obvious. Throw in the ambitious dreamer that whisks the duchess to her dream fantasy land where the sex is just so much better because, well, he's rugged and a little more emotionally viable, and you can see that not much out of the ordinary is set to take place over the next couple of hours. At this point in discussing the story I would normally diverge onto something that works a little better, and yet I can find no opposing tangent to bring up here. Aside from the happy error of making the film's quietened antagonist more empathetic and compelling than the lead woman, The Duchess is straight forward, no risks involved, period drama; all the staples are here and yet never before have they all felt so lifeless, tired and irrelevant.

Indeed, in order for such a film to work, one must bridge the massive gap that separates the culture of today with that on the screen. Many of the most memorable movies residing within the genre have managed to do this, but The Duchess never does. Sure enough, the script does well to put character and themes of love and regret in the forefront of focus in order to tell a story of humanity rather than history, yet in direct contrast with this year's much more engaging The Other Boleyn Girl, this outing feels emotionally mundane. Lead actress Keira Knightley is no stranger to these types of features, but unfortunately her whole performance this time feels perfunctory and useless; her character is ruled by emotion to that the point that she is perceived as weak and without reasoning. When you have a central character who asks for sympathy in every scene without doing anything to warrant such a thing, you have a troublesome predicament. As a personality The Duchess of Devonshire is banal and the antithesis of compelling. She never surprises and shows less personality than in her ridiculously fake beauty spot that she sports in one scene. During this sequence I was enraptured by this giant obstruction on Keira's face, and then I remembered where I was. To scream irony at this point would have been befitting.

To be sure, there are audiences out there who will eat up this sort of thing for what it is; cheap, seen-it-all-before drama that demands little and offers not much more in exchange. Behind me sat two older women, both of whom I deemed aficionados of the genre going by their hoots and wails during certain scenes that tickled their fancy. Sure enough, I would guess that they at least were entertained, yet I was not. Again, I blame culture difference. And yet with major worldwide successes this year from the likes of Iron Man, Indiana Jones and Batman, one wonders if the period drama will ever manage to draw in the demographic that such movies have thus far managed to do. Going by The Duchess however, which prompts one to believe that things are only getting worse for a genre that is by now churning out the same story time and time again, this potentiality seems unlikely. Perhaps if the historical setting and themes present here were delivered with more poignancy and an overall conviction or sense of modern relevancy, The Duchess could have at least dispelled my apathy towards the genre by the likes of The Other Boleyn Girl. Unfortunately this is not the case; esoteric and emotionally stunted, this movie is too hard to get into, and all too easy to walk out of; only for those who haven't seen a period drama in the last five years.

• A review by Jamie Robert Ward (http://www.invocus.net)

The marriage between Lady Georgiana Spencer and William Cavendish, Duke of Devonshire, was an arranged union between two of eighteenth-century England's most powerful aristocratic families. It appears to have been loveless from the start; the Duke was more interested in hunting and his dogs than in his wife, whom he only married so that she might provide him with a son and heir. He took his wife's best friend, Lady Elizabeth Foster, as his mistress; the three lived under the same roof in a ménage a trois. Georgiana threw herself into her own interests- gambling and political campaigning- and eventually took a lover of her own, the handsome young politician (and future Prime Minister) Charles Grey, by whom she had an illegitimate daughter.

The publicity material for this film has made much of the supposed parallels between Georgiana and her kinswoman Princess Diana, born more than two centuries later, even using the tagline "There were three people in her marriage", a clear reference to Diana's famous remark during her 1995 "Panorama" interview. There are, of course, differences. Diana, for example, was never a friend of Camilla Parker Bowles, and certainly never had a lesbian relationship with her; the film, in one very suggestive scene, implies that Georgiana and Elizabeth were more than just good friends. The film itself does not play up the Diana angle as much as the marketing campaign did, although there is one obvious reference when it is said that every man in England is in love with Georgiana, except her husband- a remark often made about Diana herself.

After "Pride and Prejudice" and "Atonement", Keira Knightley has inherited the office of Britain's Official Costume Drama Queen, once held by Helena Bonham Carter. (Helena has abdicated to take up the position of Tim Burton's Muse). I would not agree that this is Keira's best performance- that remains "Atonement"- but it is nevertheless a good one. Her Georgiana is a tragic character, passionate and high-spirited, but trapped by the rigid conventions of her age and of her social class. When I first saw Keira as Lara in the television "Dr Zhivago" her voice and mannerisms reminded me strongly of Diana, so her casting here is perhaps appropriate. (There were three people in Zhivago's marriage as well, although in that case Lara was the Camilla-figure).

Eighteenth-century female portraits, especially of aristocratic ladies, can often seem rather anonymous, revealing little of the sitter's individual personality, and I think there is a reason for this. The ostentatious fashions of the day, especially those massive, ridiculously over-elaborate wigs, seem to have been designed to draw attention, not to the looks of the woman wearing them, but to the wealth of the husband, lover or father who had paid for them. (The early nineteenth century was to see a sharp reaction against this type of fashion; Georgiana's daughters would doubtless have dressed far more simply and elegantly than their mother, allowing their individual looks to shine through). It is therefore a tribute to Keira's beauty that, even when dressed in the riotously exuberant height of Georgian fashion, she still manages to outshine the clothes she is wearing.

There are good supporting performances from Hayley Attwell as Elizabeth and Charlotte Rampling as Georgiana's mother, although I felt that Dominic Cooper was rather bland as Grey. Unlike one reviewer, however, I did not think he was too young for the part- indeed, if anything, he was too old. In reality Grey was seven years younger than Georgiana, whereas Cooper is seven years older then Keira Knightley. Had Grey been as old as the character shown in this film, he would have been eighty when he became Prime Minister in 1830.

The real star, however, is Ralph Fiennes, often a great villain- he was the Nazi commandant in "Schindler's List" and Lord Voldemort in the "Harry Potter" films. His Duke, however, although deeply unsympathetic, is not quite a villain in that sense. He is cold and unemotional, obsessed with position and status. His extra-marital affairs- apart from Elizabeth he seduces one of the maids at Chatsworth and fathers an illegitimate daughter by her- are not motivated by love or, probably, even by lust- he is too much of a cold fish for that. They are, rather, an expression of his power- he seduces Elizabeth by offering to use his influence to help her recover custody of her children from her estranged husband. His treatment of his wife, including marital rape, is motivated by the same desire for power over others. Yet one senses in Fiennes's performance that even the Duke, as much as his Duchess, is a victim of social conventions, that he is unable to express love and other emotions because he has never learned how to do so. There is often an emotional reserve about Fiennes' acting, which in my view makes it difficult for him to play a romantic hero like Bendix in "The End of the Affair". (In that film I thought he would have been better as the cuckolded husband, Henry). In a part like the Duke, however, he is perfect.

The film falls within the British "heritage cinema" tradition, although unlike most films in that tradition it is based upon historical fact rather than fiction. As with most heritage films, it aims at a faithful reproduction of the period, especially the costumes, and was filmed against a backdrop of some of England's grandest stately homes, including Chatsworth, the ancestral home of the Devonshires. (Unfortunately, their London mansion Devonshire House was demolished after the First World War, so Somerset House was used instead for the London scenes). Saul Dibb, however, seems to have been aiming for something different from the classic Merchant-Ivory "heritage look". "The Duchess" with its muted colours, is comparatively subdued; perhaps Dibb felt this was more appropriate as, for all the fine clothes on display, it is essentially a film about emotional suffering. 7/10

Call me obtuse, but I will never understand the fascination so many people experience when confronted with the lifestyle and behavior of the so-called nobility, one of the worst species of parasite on our blighted planet. This movie concerns, by and large, the antics of a 'duke', equipped with more money than sense, whose main interests in life seem to be young women (preferably naked in bed) and dogs. Predictably, his young, naive and perhaps not terribly bright wife is the victim of the duke's callous, capricious behavior, and, in spite of some attempts to assert her trodden-upon dignity, she is finally discomfited in the end: a bit like Winston Smith in the last chapter of Orwell's '1984'. The playwright and the director have missed a unique opportunity to highlight the obscene contrast between the majority of the British population and their idle, parasitical and cruel 'aristocracy'. Worse still, peasants and the urban working class are occasionally shown while wildly cheering 'progressive' candidates to a general election when these pussyfoot around, promising some vaguely-worded 'reforms'. How the undeserving class known as aristocracy could be (and alas, still can be) respected and generally admired, will always remain a complete mystery to me.

Greetings again from the darkness. The film fascination with Royalty continues thanks to the coolness of costumes and the grand scale of palaces. Of course, a thread-thin relation to Princess Diana doesn't hurt at all either.

Somehow the man's world of the Duke of Devonshire, played by Ralph Fiennes, allowed for multiple affairs even to the extreme of having one's favorite side dish just move right on in to the main house ... including meals with the Royal couple!! It would be quite funny, if not so sad.

Keira Knightley plays the Duchess with fortitude and the proper amount of reservation. She has become quite adept at the period piece. Fiennes, on the other hand, plays the Duke as if he has a constant stomach ache and is in need of Alka-Seltzer. He totally lacks charisma or even many human traits, save lust for those other than his wife. The third wheel who is promoted to second is played well by Hayley Atwell, a desperate and alternatingly cold and warm mother and friend. Rounding out the cast are Dominic Cooper (Mamma Mia) who plays future Prime Minister Charles Grey, and the true love of The Duchess' life; and Charlotte Rampling as the too proud mother to Knightley, who dispenses very weak advice with a stiff upper lip.

The film is well done and the similarities to Princess Diana's marriage are inescapable, but there is just not quite enough substance here. Easy enough to watch, but lacking in historical details ... more of a soap opera approach.