Keira Knightley and Hayley Atwell in 'The Duchess'
ISN’T IT GREAT (and rare) when your husband (or any other guy in your life) chooses a smart chick flick for movie night? My movie-loving husband surprised me with The Duchess last week, though had he really known what it was about, I’m not sure he would have picked it.
Based on the life of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, an 18th century ancestor of Princess Diana’s, the film is a complicated, if not completely satisfying, look at the confinement and powerlessness that characterized the lives of even aristocratic women in those times.
Played with great subtlety by Keira Knightley, Georgiana finds herself forced into a loveless marriage with Ralph Fiennes, who only wants her to bear him a son, to secure his right to the family fortune. Unfortunately for her, she produces daughters instead. Georgiana is forced to raise his child from an affair as her own, and then to endure living with both her husband and his lover, Lady Elizabeth Foster, when the Duke will neither give up his affair or allow Georgiana to leave the marriage.
The story is heartbreaking, without being overwrought, and left me once again feeling how vulnerable women have been (and so often continue to be) to the confines of economy and patriarchy.
(Of course, it doesn’t hurt that Ralph Fiennes, whom I plan to make my next husband, is delightful to look at and listen to, even as his behavior is boorish in the extreme. Ah, the English.)
What’s lined up in your Netflix queue? If you need suggestions, be sure to check out our newly updated list of the ultimate sister flicks.
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Oh, how I adored this movie, though I made the selection and watched it alone which, I must say, was preferable to spending the whole time wondering if anyone else in my house would have loved it as I did. (They would not). I was delighted by it, and because of this reminder will now go watch it again. Thanks, sister Paige
I haven’t seen his movie yet, though I want to (BIG Ralph fan and I love Keira too). You don’t mention the affair that the Duchess has (with cutie Dominic Cooper), which was the focus of much of the advertising and previews for the movie. Is that less prominent in the film that we are lead to believe?
Marion–Redheads unite.
Danielle–Dominic Cooper is totally adorable in the movie, and gets a fair bit of screen time, but it was Keira who broke my heart. And that heart belongs to Ralph, even when he is playing a horrid cad. Sigh.
You know what Pierre picks? Umm, the work of *your* movie-loving husband.
Scene last night: children in bed; quiet evening.
Pierre emerges from the office (Monika is thrilled to see him), and asks “So, how about watching a disc?”
Monika responds, “Umm, sure”.
Pierre marches purposefully into the room, already clutching his special-edition aluminum box version of Band of Brothers, not missing a beat in inserting it into the DVD player.
“It’s been a long time since we have seen this” he states. (note: really, it’s only been about 12 months –we had just gotten them back after loaning them out).
Monika begins to suspect that there might be an Easy Company tour of Europe in her future… (next weekend?)
And so we did. We visited Bastogne and Foy this weekend.