The Duchess

A good period film, visually magnificent, but with several flaws from the point of view of accuracy and historical rigor.

Georgiana Cavendish, born Spencer, was one of the most interesting, remarkable and charismatic personalities in British society at the end of the 18th century. She made an enviable marriage, for the period, by marrying the 5th Duke of Devonshire, one of the richest and most powerful British peers. However, they had nothing in common: the duke was a man of few words and saw marriage as a means to an end: to have a legitimate male heir. Georgiana, on the other hand, was not content to be just a decorative figure or a child-bearer. Unhappy, she found herself so lonely that she decided to accept the sexual affair that...

In theory, a more sophisticated period drama based on the true story of Georgiana (Keira Knightley), an aristocrat married off to a loveless marriage with the enormously wealthy and politically influential Duke of Devonshire (Ralph Fiennes). She is treated little better than a brood mare in fancy dress but has way to much independent spirit to settle for that and is soon having an affaire de coeur with Dominic Cooper "Earl Grey" (yes, he of the tea...). Meantime, the Duke has taken a mistress and so the film depicts how our multiple ménages-à-trois work out. It very much emphasises the (very) limited choices of women in 18th Century Britain - regardless of their status - but unfortunately, save for a few brief appearances by Charlotte Rampl...