World of Royalty Blog

I’ve finally seen The Duchess, starring Keira Knightley as an influential woman of the 18th century, Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. This movie didn’t get entirely enthusiastic reviews, and no, I didn’t love it either.

Still, it’s well worth watching just to see the costumes. They are fantastic. Scene after scene, I said to myself, “Wow, she looks beautiful.” I enjoyed the musical score, too.

(Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images. Photo provided by PicApp)

 
But the problem with the movie is that it’s too beautiful. Yes, it is nice to see beautiful people in beautiful clothes on beautiful locations, but there’s also something sterile about it. The performances in this movie are good (I am a Keira Knightley fan), but the characters didn’t seem real to me.

The story is depressing, even dreary. The Duke treats Georgiana badly. She suffers, and sometimes rebels, with dignity while looking endlessly amazing. The focus is on her love life. Her involvement in politics is touched upon, but other interesting things about the real Georgiana — her novel-writing, her acquaintance with Marie Antoinette — are ignored.

The real Georgiana became addicted to gambling and drugs, but you’d hardly know it from this film. In one scene she stumbles around in a daze and accidentally sets her wig on fire, but the incident is unexplained. In the next scene a doctor announces that she’s pregnant, so maybe we’re meant to believe that setting your wig on fire is a symptom of pregnancy.

A better script would have helped. We’re supposed to decide that the chilly, abusive Duke isn’t totally bad, but we’re given little insight into his motives.

As for the casting…  I disagree with people who criticize Keira Knightley’s weight (I’m stick-thin, too), but in this case I kept thinking she really was too wispy and modern-looking to play an 18th century beauty. She’s a good actress, but I never forgot I was looking at Keira Knightley and not Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire.

Overall, a so-so movie with spectacular costumes.

The Duchess is available on DVD. If you’re in the U.S., you can also rent or buy the movie online at Amazon.

To learn about the real Georgiana, I recommend Amanda Foreman’s excellent biography Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire, on which this movie was based.

Catherine Delors shares her review of “The Duchess,” starring Keira Knightley as Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire.

(I haven’t seen the movie yet, but probably will soon.)

From the blog Scandalous Women: another unenthusiastic review of “The Duchess,” which stars Keira Knightley as Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire.

(I guess I’ll wait for this movie to come out on DVD. Not all the reviews are bad, however; Rotten Tomates currently rates it as 62% fresh.)

I don’t have anything to post today, so I thought I’d write another entry about interesting search terms that have brought people to this blog, and provide links to the things they were seeking.

But there’s a problem. I can’t find some of these things, either!

Let’s start with one I do know:

the duchness relation to rolaty
Aha, I say wisely. This person wants to know about the connections between the 18th century’s Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire — subject of the Keira Knightley movie “The Duchess” — and the current British royal family. And as it happens, two modern princesses — Beatrice and Eugenie — are reportedly direct descendants of Georgiana.

Now for the ones I can’t answer:

Princess diana respectable mother and wife
The Charles/Diana fan wars are still raging on royalty forums, so you can find plenty of people to argue for or against this statement. Personally, I’m not getting involved.

joke “about a king”
Um… why did the king cross the road? To get to the other side! Well, OK, I admit that’s not a very good joke. If someone out there knows a better joke about a king, please share it in the comments.

“i was napoleon” song lyrics
I tried, but I can’t find a song like this. So instead here’s a 1911 recording of “I’m Henery The Eighth.” It’s not even about the real Henry VIII, but it will have to do.

Here’s another bad review for “The Duchess,” starring Keira Knightley as Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire.

From the Guardian: a review of the new Keira Knightley movie "The Duchess."

Here’s the official website for the upcoming movie “The Duchess,” which stars Keira Knightley as the 18th century’s Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire.

The site has nice music and some info on the movie’s costumes, so check it out. (Thank you to Georgiana’s Gossip Guide, where I found this link!)

The movie is based on Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire by Amanda Foreman, a book I liked a lot. The author’s official website is here.

Here is a recent trailer for the upcoming Keira Knightley movie “The Duchess,” about the 18th century’s Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. The trailer starts with an image of Princess Diana (who was related to the Duchess of Devonshire), and says the two women were “united by destiny,” although the rest of the trailer doesn’t show any particularly striking similarities between the Duchess and Diana.

By the way, this trailer gives away the movie’s entire plot, so if you like to be surprised you might not want to watch the whole thing. See below for an earlier trailer that leaves more to the imagination.

The movie is based on Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire by Amanda Foreman, an excellent biography of the real duchess (who was, among other things, a novelist, a political activist, and a friend of Marie Antoinette).

Here’s that earlier, shorter movie trailer I mentioned above: