...plays like a Masterpiece Theater adaptation of an eighteen-century soap opera.
Comment
12/28/08
The Duchess (2008)
61
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:158
Fresh:96
Rotten:62
Average Rating:6.2/10
Consensus: While The Duchess treads the now-familiar terrain of the corset-ripper, the costumes look great and Keira Knightley's performance is stellar in this subtly feminist, period drama.
Runtime: 1 hr 45 mins
Genre: Dramas
US Box Office: $13,823,741
Synopsis: After PRIDE AND PREJUDICE and ATONEMENT, Keira Knightley continues her reign as the queen of the period film with this 18th-century costume drama. The corset-clad actress stars as Georgiana... [More]
Starring: Keira Knightley, Ralph Fiennes, Charlotte Rampling, Dominic Cooper
Director: Saul Dibb
Reviews for The Duchess
21 - 40 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Hands Keira Knightley another plum leading role and serves as yet another example of how Ralph Fiennes' brooding brand of acting can be successfully employed for all manner of characters.
11/26/08
With striking parallels to the life of her direct descendant, Princess Diana, this stunning film of the tortured love life of Duchess Georgiana Spencer is a triumph for its star, Keira Knightley.
11/20/08
This is a wonderful film.
11/07/08
There’s something really special about Kiera Knightly in these period pieces.
11/07/08
Relatively painless, at least by the standards of awards-season chum...
10/28/08
Knightley shines in this tale of grace under pressure.
10/28/08
Husbands and boyfriends, be especially diplomatic when accompanying your dates to The Duchess. This lavish look back at a royal pain and his beleaguered bride is a chick flick with anger issues.
10/20/08
Click to read the article
10/18/08
Top CriticIt chronicles the saga of a vibrant and forward-thinking woman hampered by the constraints of a rigid society.
10/18/08
Top CriticIt’s disturbingly shallow, focused so tightly on one woman’s feelings of repression and loneliness that it lacks any perspective on their causes.
10/18/08
It's not bad. It's not great. It's just there.
10/18/08
A film of elegance, wit and some power that's just a bit too compromised by its rather soapy underpinnings.
10/15/08
Dibb conceived of the right, poignant atmosphere for a glimpse at rarefied 18th-century life but barely read the Cliff's Notes for whose life he was staging, or why he was doing it.
10/14/08
"In the end it may not be much more than a glorified, period-piece soap opera,...but with riveting performances like these, who cares?"
10/14/08
More absorbing and honest than your typical costume drama. Fiennes's performance of the painfully antisocial Duke is impeccable.
10/12/08
You'd think a film where the titular character gets drunk at a party and sets her wig on fire would be more fun.
10/11/08
Underwhelming but serviceable well-crafted 18th-century English period piece costume drama with modern feminist flavorings.
10/11/08
And here we thought Diana was dead.
10/11/08
The film rehabilitates the duchess, sanitizing her behavior
10/10/08
Latest News for The Duchess
January 07, 2009:
People's Choice Awards Winners Announced
The 35th annual People's Choice Awards were handed out on January 7, 2009. A complete list of film nominees, with winners in bold, follows below. More...
January 03, 2009:
Not just another royal goddess in a gilded cage costume drama, the film couldn't be more current now, when women bidding for the highest political offices are told to go home and take care of their kids or iron male shirts. Sexual subversion in corsets. 
More...
December 28, 2008:
Not just another royal goddess in a gilded cage costume drama, the film couldn't be more current now, when women bidding for the highest political offices are told to go home and take care of their kids or iron male shirts. Sexual subversion in corsets.
More...
October 12, 2008:
Emarketingmag.com: Not just another royal goddess in a gilded cage costume drama, the film couldn't be more current now, when women bidding for the highest political offices are told to go home and take care of their kids or iron male shirts.
More...
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