The Duchess
The Duchess
Starring - Kiera Knightley, Ralph Finnes, Domonic Cooper, Hayley Atwell, Charlotte Rampling
Directed by Saul Dibb
In a film that demonstrates yet again that nobody does period drama films like Kiera Knightley, she playes the Duchess of Devonshire, her marraige to the Duke (Ralph Finnes) is a sham purely to provide the Duke, himself the heir the the British thrown, a male aire for the future. The duchess struggles as she finds her husband does not seem to have much interest in anything beyond providing a male aire to the thrown.
The duchess finds a freinds in Lady Elizabeth Foster, after a woman on woman encounter where Foster shows the duchess that private matter can be about more that child creation, the freindship is shattered when the duchess finds the duke has taken Lady Foster for himself as her mistress. This leads the duchess to respond by formaing a relationship with the man she truely loves, new Parilamenatary MP and possible future Prime Minister, Charles Grey (Domonic Cooper) When the Duke finds out, he forces the duchess to make a series of heart breaking decisions which would define the future for her and the children she dearly loves.
This films best quality is the acting. Knightley is typcially brilliant in playing the woman trying to find herself in a male dominated world, espcially within the Royal Family. Finnes does a great job playing the cold, dull and at times nasty role of the Duke. Hayley Atwell as Lady Foster plays a fine supporting role too, and Charlotte Rampling who playes the duchess' mother, comes across as the throughly dislikeable, selfish character she is supposed to depict.
By contrast to the fine top rate acting, the film fell flat at times. It felt as though something was missing, a true spark that would take the film to another level. The ending fely rushed and unfinished too. That indefinable X-Factor which turns a very good film like this into an excellent one was just for whatever reason not quite there. There is an 'Is that it?' feeling at the end of it all. The quality of the cast does however, still make this worth seeing. And it is still a very good film as a result.
THE MOON OF LIBERTY VERDICT - Rating 'B+' - Great acting, but leaves you with a sense of dissappointment that it could and should have been even better.
