THE DUCHESS
2008
Written by Jeffrey Hatcher, Anders Thomas Jensen, and Saul Dibb, based on the book Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire by Amanda Foreman
Directed by Saul Dibb
Though it might be counterpoint to the film's feminist viewpoint, a good alternative title for The Duchess would've been The Dick. It's all about who has one, who doesn't, who is one, and who isn't.
Who isn't a dick, and who doesn't have one: Georgiana Spencer (Keira Knightley, continuously cursed by corsets). It's 1774, and one day before her seventeenth birthday, she is married off to the Duke of Devonshire, becoming the titular Duchess. She is seen gushing to her mother, "He loves me, doesn't he?" They've met once or twice at the most, if at all. The girl, like all girls of royalty in those days, had no idea what she was in for. Her husband turns out to be a real lout, and she is stuck keeping up appearances for an adoring public so desperate for some small taste of tabloid gossip, it's shocking how similar it is to our present.
Who is a dick, and who indeed has one: William Cavendish, Duke of Devonshire (Ralph Fiennes). The Duke is a stern man, and a cold one; one morning at breakfast, Georgiana attempts to talk to him, frustrated that she so rarely converses with her husband, but he ignores her and instead sends their mutton back because "it doesn't taste like real mutton." He's also obsessed with having a male heir, and views sex as some sort of clinical operation in which his semen is to be dispersed wholly in the hopes they'll hook up with some eggs to form the big XY. Or, I should say, that's how he sees sex with Georgiana. He has no trouble shacking up with any maids or ladies he may fancy, and also doesn't seem overbothered when Georgiana hears the other woman's moans of pleasure. Honestly, it probably gives him some sort of sadistic kick. So while Georgiana is busy being a decent human being and actively discussing government policy despite the fact that she can't even vote, William ignores her, belittles her, and humiliates her. A nice guy, no?
Who doesn't have a dick, but might be one: Bess Foster (Hayley Atwell). Lest you think life hasn't been cruel enough to Georgiana, the only friend she's managed to make hooks up with William in a decidedly long-term kind of way. Though it's easy to see why, since Bess gives Georgiana a sexy, slightly hands-on primer of how good sex can be. Georgiana must sit at the table and quietly do nothing as her best friend sits in between she and her distant husband.
Lastly, if you're beginning to wonder if there are any decent people left in the universe, here's someone who's got a dick but definitely isn't one: Charles Grey (Dominic Cooper). He's glimpsed briefly at the beginning of the film, as someone whom Georgiana seems rather "interested" in (which makes her gushing over William a little jarring). And though at first he seems merely like the kind of "I-am-so-nice-and-proper-and-will-take-you-from-your-life-to-have-wonderfully-rough-intercourse-with-you-over-a-blanket-on-the-English-countryside" heartthrobs that these movies require, it soon becomes apparent that he is the Barack Obama of the 18th century. He wants change, and reform, and treats Georgiana like a real person instead of a baby factory. I'll leave it to you as to whether or not he and Georgiana get together at some point.
You'd be forgiven if you thought that The Duchess sounds like it would be soapier than a bar of Zest, and an even more punishing watch than an episode of The Tudors, and while it's great news that it's not the latter, I'm kind of sad it's not the former. Not that I would've been happy with grossly sensationalized melodrama, but, well, The Duchess is in such need of some kind of energy. It's so polite, so refined, so mannered, so uniformly polished that it practically sparkles...but it's a plastic kind of sheen. Ralph Fiennes is truly outstanding as the dickish Duke--who would've expected less?--but the rest of the cast goes through the paces, including Keira Knightley, who isn't bad, just playing some variation on the same roles she's played in all of her other period films. The Other Boleyn Girl may have collapsed under its own melodramatic weight in the last act, but at least it was never boring.
I admit to a certain sort of fascination with the bodice-ripper, if not any real enthusiasm, which is why I have laid this all before you. I find these films easy to watch, even if never really worthwhile. Is it just me, or are dukes and kings and other men in such positions of power almost always portrayed as power-hungry brutes, and their wives as innocent victims? I'm sure that's how it was, but it's been done to death lately. Though at least movies like The Dutchess give you something to think about. How different is our culture today? When women have only been able to vote for 80 years, struggle to get equal payment with men, and are routinely objectified, oftentimes pre-packaged for mass consumption?
On the way home from seeing this film with my best friend, who's a woman, we were discussing the horrible things which Georgiana had to endure at William's hands. I mused, "I'm so glad our society has progressed." She was quick with a bitter addendum: "In some ways." The fact that our world makes her, and many other (all?) women, feel like that, enraged me. It's immoral, it's wrong, it's against everything the free world is supposed to stand for. It made me feel guilty for having a dick, even though I wouldn't feel like a dick if I never saw The Duchess again.
- Arlo J. Wiley
October 24, 2008
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