The Duchess is an old-fashioned tale of grand passions, thwarted love, sacrifice and betrayal, played out against a lavish backdrop of stately homes, sumptuous gowns and lush English countryside.
The film opens in 1774 with the marriage of Lady Georgiana Spencer (Knightley) to William Cavendish, Duke of Devonshire (Fiennes). Any illusions she has about a fairytale romance are quickly shattered – her husband is cold and distant, preferring the company of his hunting dogs to his young bride. It is made clear that Georgiana’s sole purpose is to produce a male heir, and when she fails to deliver, her husband installs his mistress in their home.
While her marriage founders, Georgiana blossoms in the public eye – the film follows her transformation from coltish child bride into celebrated beauty and bon vivant. Plastered in jewels and feathers, she cultivates politicians and playwrights alike, throwing herself into the London social scene with abandon. But when Georgiana follows her heart and embarks on an affair with rising political star Charles Grey (Cooper), the consequences are tragic.
The Duchess has generated buzz internationally thanks to a clever marketing campaign that draws on the family ties between Georgiana and the late Princess Diana. Apparently the duchess was a distant aunt of the ‘people’s princess’ and, superficially at least, there are parallels. While the filmmakers choose not to labour the point, the studio honchos obviously decided it made for a neat marketing hook. The tagline for the film trumpets, “there were three people in her marriage’’ while the trailer breathlessly informs us that “the two were related by ancestry and united by destiny… history repeats itself this summer’’.
While the marketing campaign tries to give The Duchess a contemporary spin, the filmmakers are always at pains to remind us that 18th century sexual politics was a very different ballgame. Marriage was an economic transaction, not a grand love affair: men were bound by the financial imperative to produce a male heir and women were wholly dependent on their husbands.
This is familiar territory for Keira Knightley, currently reigning queen of the costume drama. However she fails to make an impact in The Duchess – upstaged at every turn by veteran thespian Ralph Fiennes, who shamelessly scene steals from his leading lady. Knightley has always come across as a slightly wooden performer, and here she falls back on her trusty bag of tricks – pouting, hand wringing and clenching her fists. The camera loves her, but she doesn’t yet possess the emotional depth to pull off a role like this. Likewise, Dominic Cooper fails to convince as Georgiana’s lover – he is simply too insipid to be a credible leading man.
When the credits roll, it’s not the histrionics and heartbreak of the duchess you remember – rather the quiet tragedy of the inarticulate, emotionally stunted duke. In the hands of a lesser actor, he could have been a heartless monster, but Fiennes has created a nuanced portrayal of a man struggling to break free of the strictures of tradition, duty and class.

Louise Crossen