The Duchess
By Marshall Fine
Rating:
Who’s in it: Keira Knightley, Ralph Fiennes
What’s it about: After marrying a chilly duke (Fiennes), an 18th-century woman (Knightley) discovers he has a mistress – and takes a lover of her own.
Wiggy: This is another one of those wigs-and-hoop skirt costume dramas about a narrow-minded aristocrat whose only goal in life is to produce a male heir – and the woman of superior intellect who can only seem to have daughters. Knightley plays Georgiana Spencer, ancestor of Princess Di, who marries the Duke of Devonshire – and then finds herself as a political activist. But when she takes a lover, the duke draws the line and makes life hell. Knightley does a movie-long fashion show of hairpieces that make her look like everything from a poodle to the bride of Frankenstein and an array of hats that would do Mother Goose proud. But as good as she and Fiennes are, they can’t find the emotional life of this lavish movie. It dazzles the eye but rarely touches the heart – even when she’s being threatened with the loss of her children.
Long story short: It’s like a lecture with love scenes.
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