The Duchess (2008)

A chronicle of the life of 18th-century aristocrat Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, who was reviled for her extravagant political and personal life.

Director:

Saul Dibb

Writers:

Jeffrey Hatcher (screenplay), Anders Thomas Jensen (screenplay)

Stars:

Keira Knightley, Ralph Fiennes, Dominic Cooper

Won 1 Oscar. Another 7 wins & 21 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Keira Knightley	...	Georgiana
Ralph Fiennes	...	The Duke
Charlotte Rampling	...	Lady Spencer
Dominic Cooper	...	Charles Grey
Hayley Atwell	...	Bess Foster
Simon McBurney	...	Charles Fox
Aidan McArdle	...	Richard Sheridan
John Shrapnel	...	General Grey
Alistair Petrie	...	Heaton
Patrick Godfrey	...	Dr. Neville
Michael Medwin	...	Speechmaker
Justin Edwards	...	Macaroni
Richard McCabe	...	Sir James Hare
Calvin A. Dean	...	Devonshire House Servant (as Calvin Dean)
Hannah Stokely	...	Devonshire House Maid

Storyline

Georgiana Spencer became Duchess of Devonshire on her marriage to the Duke in 1774, at the height of the Georgian period, a period of fashion, decadence, and political change. Spirited and adored by the public at large she quickly found her marriage to be a disappointment, defined by her duty to produce a male heir and the Duke's philandering and callous indifference to her. She befriends Lady Bess but finds she is once again betrayed by her husband who wields his power with the three eventually living uncomfortably together. Against this background, and with the pressures of an unfaithful husband, strict social pressures and constant public scrutiny, Georgiana falls passionately in love with Charles Grey, a rising young Whig politician. However, despite his ongoing liaison with Lady Bess, the Duke refuses to allow her to continue the affair and threatens to take her children from her.

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Plot Keywords:

marriage | duchess | heir | infidelity | adultery | 

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Taglines:

There were three people in her marriage

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | History | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for sexual content, brief nudity and thematic material

Did You Know?

Trivia

The initial marketing campaign featured images of Keira Knightley with digitally enhanced breasts. Knightley took great exception to this so the material was not used.

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Goofs

Althorp Estate, Georgiana's childhood home (shown in the exterior shots of the foot race at the beginning of the film), was originally a red brick building. Red brick went out of style in the 1780's, at which point the entire building was altered with mathematical tile nailed onto the original red brick to give it its current gray exterior. At the time of Georgiana's marriage to the Duke in 1774, the building would still have been red brick as the architectural work started in 1788. The current Earl Spencer (Princess Diana's brother) had the mathematical tiles redone for a cool $8-9 million as many of the original nails used had rusted away, at which point the original red brick used for Althorp was also ruined.

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Quotes

Georgiana, The Duchess of Devonshire: [to a crowd of her adoring public at Bath regaled with a large plume on her hat] We come away to Bath to get away from London, and all of London has come away to Bath.
[laughter from the audience]
Georgiana, The Duchess of Devonshire: Somebody did indeed ask me what kind of feather it is I'm wearing. Well, there are only two specimins of this rare bird known to man. One of them has clearly ended up on top of my head, and the other - rumor has it he's running for office in the Tory Party.
[More laughter]

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Alternate Versions

Paramount Vantage preferred a PG-13 version for the United States and in order to get that rating some cuts and alternate shots were used.

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Connections

Referenced in Tormented (2009)

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Soundtracks

Adagio from String Quartet Opus 1 No. 3 in D Major
Written by Joseph Haydn

User Reviews

Saul Dibb presents "The Duchess" as an incredibly emotional woman, somebody who has a lust for life

What rather wonderful about this story is that Georgiana Spencer (Keira Knightley) discovers a way to exult in victory over things and to get back some kind of power in a time where, really, women had very little… Being someone of great vitality and liveliness, she was very much a dreamer and an idealist, a woman who loved being the center of attention, who loved the fact at some point that her picture was in the paper, that the clothes were always talked of, that her every move was commented on…

We are immediately impressed by her presence, by her personality… She wasn't behaving quite in accordance with the way in which other 18th century women were expected to behave…

But there was something incredibly sad about this self-conscious lady… She was a victim of herself… A victim of her own innocence… A victim of people using her for their own profit… Even though she seemed to have everything, we realize that it was not that simple… And with all of her privilege came a lot of moral obligation and things were never what they really appeared to be…

The Duke (Ralph Fiennes) was a misanthropic man, rather cold, unemotional and quite cruel… He seems to like better his hunting dogs to his young wife… Of course with certain values, that he believes were absolutely right and that he strictly held to…

This sumptuous period piece also presents the Duchess of Devonshire as a political hostess… Saul Dibb's film shows us her dinner parties, her evening events, her fame and its extraordinary effect on her… It made her both desperate to please, terrified of doing anything wrong and shocked at her own celebrity and unable to figure out in her own mind why she was quite so famous… And we see the crippling effect it has on her sense of self

Details

Official Sites:

Vidio [Indonesia]

Country:

UK Italy France USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 October 2008 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Duchess

Filming Locations:

Bath, Somerset, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

GBP13,500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$190,426, 21 September 2008

Gross USA:

$13,848,978

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$43,343,384

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Vantage, Pathé, BBC Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1