Why am I even reviewing this one? I saw it about a year ago and it sucked! So why do I feel the need to review it?
Oh… because apparently we BOUGHT it and it’s been collecting dust in our DVD case… great…
Okay well… The Duchess was in theaters in 2008… why I had no memory what so ever of it being there is beyond me. It looked like a straight to DVD movie when I picked it up. It’s only really notable cast member is Natalie Portman… er… I mean Kiera Knightly, you know, the OTHER handmaiden.
If you’re still reading this after the Phantom Menace reference, my condolences, because things do not improve much at all. The movie takes place in 18th Century Devonshire and details the plight of women, even upper class ones back then. It really gives you an idea of just how life was for them and why there were a lot of suicides and spousal murders back then.
As an amateur historian and classic nitpicker, I will say that as far as historical accuracy goes, this movie has it. The costumes, the set locations, and the traditions are all there. Whoever wrote this clearly did their homework, which is something you rarely see in Hollywood these days.
But that is where my praise for this movie ends… IT’S SO BORING!!! I don’t know how I stayed awake through the whole thing as I have slept through better movies than this without a problem, but this movies was both dark, depressing, and dismal. You enter the movie with a young lady in waiting being courted by a noticeably older duke. At first, she feels like she just found her golden ticket… not so much. Common themes in this movie include rape, infidelity, domestic violence, and, for lack of a better term, domestic tyranny.
We see the duchess’ husband cheat on her, and then her cheat on him. She tries to forge a deal that she will remain married to him and allow him to continue his affair only if she is allowed to do the same. Her husband, realizing that this is an empty threat tells her to end her affair, and that if she tries to divorce him, she will never see their kids again.
So if all the other themes didn’t get you… perhaps someone holding their own children hostage will. So dismally long story short… even after being abused and raped, her own mother sides with her husband and convinces her to stay married to the guy saying that divorce would leave her a penniless pauper. She stays with him until she dies at which point the duke marries his whore… and… that’s it.
Really there isn’t much to this movie besides the historical accuracy and women’s rights issues that go into this. It’s a sad movie, but it’s also a striking movie in that things like this did actually happen back then. But on the downside, there was no real conflict, no issue that wasn’t resolved by the man telling her how things were going to work. In the end the whole thing sort of felt like a documentary instead of a movie and I guess that’s where I got lost. There is little to no satisfaction to be had and in the end, you’re thanking God as the credits role.
… so if you need something to bore the hell out of you for 2 hours, this movie is definitely at the top of that list. Otherwise, I’d say look elsewhere, there are definitely better historical flicks out there.