The Duchess

UK Release: 5th September 2008

Watched on TV: Friday 26th August 2011

Rating: 12A

Genre: Biography, Drama, History

Runtime: 1hr 50mins

Tagline: The scandal that shocked a nation. The courage that defined a woman.

IMDb Plot Summary: A chronicle of the life of 18th century aristocrat Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, who was reviled for her extravagant political and personal life.

My Review: The Duchess is brimmed with atmosphere and elegance, that I remembered from seeing it in the cinema when it first came out around three years ago. I’ve been wanting to see it again for quite a while, even adding it to my Amazon wish list, so when I saw it was being shown on the BBC, I was glad not only of the opportunity, but to see it for free at that! (And it still is on the iPlayer until Thursday!)

My first thoughts after seeing it again were - was it always so depressing? But also that the acting was brilliant from Ralph Fiennes and Dominic Cooper - who my 14 year old self hadn’t really heard of (boy has that changed now!)!

But otherwise it looks gorgeous, as most historic/period British films do; so at least it was nice to look at. 

However even Marie Antoinette was more interesting and exciting than this. There just wasn’t much character development, beyond the man character, Georgiana, yet it does effectively portray her life and the hardships she had to go through. I can even empathise with Bess (played fantastically by Hayley Atwell, a seriously under appreciated actress if there ever was one) and even a little with the Duke: but despite the excellent performances, it was a little hard to actually like anyone. 

And that was ultimately its downfall. Shame.

Score: 7/10