I’ve always had a fascination with British history. In college, I even got a master’s degree in American and British literature. I enjoy watching the expensive British costume dramas that studios always seem to grace us with every few years. Unfortunately, statistics seem to suggest I’m one of the few moviegoers who enjoy the genre; with the notable exception of The Queen in 2006, audiences tend to stay away in droves.
In 2008, Paramount brought us The Duchess, based on Amanda Foreman’s best-selling biography of the 18th-century English aristocrat Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire. As the Duchess of Devonshire Georgiana became one of the most famous women in England. Much of the publicity surrounding the film made comparisons between her and Princess Diana. Like the Princess, the Duchess was admired for her beauty and charisma but as time passed, she became a fashion icon and a favorite among the common folk.
The film begins in when Georgiana Spencer (Keira Knightley), a young woman from a wealthy family, marries the Duke of Devonshire (Ralph Fiennes), one of the most powerful men in England. The Duke only married Georgiana after making a contractual agreement with her social climbing mother (Charlotte Rampling). At the age of seventeen, Georgiana willingly married a man close to ten years her elder, who admits that his only interest in her is the production of a male heir. Naively, Georgiana believes he will fall in love with her and be faithful.
Unfortunately for Georgiana, the Duke has no intention of creating a loving union. He’s an emotionless jerk, strictly concerned with producing a male heir. When Georgiana gives birth to two daughters, he shows her only contempt. He also expects her to overlook his countless infidelities.
Upset his wife can’t produce the required son; the Duke takes a mistress (Hayley Atwell) and brings her into the palace to live with him and his wife. In turn, Georgiana begins an affair with Earl Grey (Dominic Cooper), who would eventually become the country’s prime minister. As the film moves on, there are other affairs, betrayals of friendships, political discussions and gambling. However, the films focus remains the loveless marriage between the Duke and Duchess. Unfortunately for the filmmakers, both characters are so shallow and self absorbed that many viewers won’t care what happens to either of them.
The screenwriters, Jeffrey Hatcher, Anders Thomas Jensen and Saul Dibb (who also directed), may have made a more successful film if they had actually shown viewers what made Georgiana such a favorite among the British people. Instead, they tell us what a great woman people thought she was and show us a rather shallow woman. The film never dares to go beyond the surface and tell us what was so spectacular about these folks. After watching The Duchess, I found myself wondering, why exactly did they make a movie about her?
The filmmakers do give us some brief glimpses at Georgiana expressing a political opinion and trying to take a stand against some of the rules of the male dominated society she lived. The Duchess also incorporates some thematic elements such as feminism and women’s rights into the story. However, those ideas are so underdeveloped that none of them play a large part in the story, Despite the wonderful location shots and stately manors, The Duchess feels incomplete; like a jigsaw puzzle with a couple of pieces missing.
The Duchess‘ theatrical aspect ratio of 2.39:1 is preserved on this dual-layer Blu-ray disc, and the video has been encoded with AVC. The detail is very impressive on this 1080p transfer. The ornate costumes and lush scenery burst with a lively color palette. A thin sheen of grain has been retained, although it’s so unobtrusive that the scope image boasts a silky smooth texture for nearly the entire film. Viewers should find this Blu-ray pleasing to the eye.
The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 audio is just okay. It produces a good, clear, smooth, well-balanced midrange, and a reasonably wide front-channel stereo spread, but it has very little dynamic range, no bass to speak of, and a limited sense of surround.
The disc contains several bonus items, all in high definition. The first is “How Far She Went…Making The Duchess,” a twenty-two-minute behind-the-scenes featurette divided into six parts and going into the history of the main character and the history of the movie itself. After that are two other featurettes: “Georgiana in Her Own Words,” seven minutes, based on the letters of Georgiana Spencer, and “Costume Diary,” five minutes on the costume design.
The BD includes English, French, and Spanish spoken languages; English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese subtitles; and English captions for the hearing impaired.
