Sure, The Duchess is a lavish exercise in style over substance, but it's a well-crafted, superbly acted one.
Comment
09/26/08
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
81 - 100 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
This is scandal-mongering fun that also lays bare the deforming power of the male aristocracy.
09/26/08
[Viewers] may wish to heed the marital advice Georgiana's mother offers early in the film: 'Equip yourself with patience, fortitude, and resignation.'
09/26/08
The Duchess is this season's "painted cinema." All the colors are there and it's never hard to look at, but it's ultimately as two-dimensional as a trip to the art gallery.
09/26/08
I wouldn't call The Duchess boring; it held my attention. But if you came upon it while channel-surfing, you probably wouldn't stop.
09/26/08
All the tawdry behind-closed-doors shenanigans of a daytime talk show, but none of the excitement. It's as if the characters are as bored as we are.
09/25/08
Georgiana seems to get dumber as the years go on instead of learning how to play the game. Blame the hats and rent Atonement.
09/25/08
There is nothing in "The Duchess" that hasn't been seen in the countless number of historical melodramas that crop up at awards season every year.
09/25/08
The Duchess fails to define either the personal or political dramas in an exciting way. It's a costume drama that gets the costumes right, but not the drama.
09/25/08
While I much liked The Duchess, this portrait feels unfinished.
09/25/08
The Duchess is a handsome historical film, impeccably mounted, gowned, wigged and feathered.
09/25/08
Top CriticThe Duchess is a lumbering number that takes its identity as a costume drama quite literally: How many outfits, and how well Keira Knightley wears them, are the only things that matter.
09/25/08
We already had one Other Boleyn Girl this year, but even as the occasional blip of droll humor breaks up the monotony and 'tell me something I don't know' developments, it's still quite a dullard's affair.
09/25/08
Though screenwriter Jeffrey Hatcher has stuffed plenty of high-octane incidents into his script, none of them really register.
09/24/08
...a sumptuous period piece, well acted amidst stunning production design and costuming. Here's hoping those intrigued by the film's heroine will be inspired to read "Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire."
09/23/08
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.
09/22/08
The filmmakers hope we see parallels with Georgiana and the life of Princess Diana, who somehow found a way to channel her pain into good. And they are there, to be sure.
09/22/08
It's elegantly mounted and never dull -- and always easy on the eyes.
09/22/08
a plaster cast of a movie. All the form of a cinematic event with none of the color, it turns a life that was fascinating into a film that is merely interesting
09/21/08
Focusing on the costumes and frippery, rather than the inherent drama of Georgiana Spencer's dilemma, diminishes its impact.
09/20/08
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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