Download Free The Duchess

Although another movie with Keira Knightley and Donald Sutherland,
which was a period piece, was something I didn't like that much.
Especially because I thought that the only saving grace of the movie
was Donald S., with Keira not being up to the (acting) challenge. Well
this movie proves me wrong (to myself).

Keira is really great in this movie. She pulls off her role quite well.
And it doesn't even matter who her screen-"partner" is, she is always
on top of her game. The story is told quite nicely and even the bit
players are great. If you are into period dramas, you will love this
anyway, but even for people who haven't watched that many, are going to
have an eventful watch. As an extra bonus (if you want to call it
that), the movie is based on real events..

great movie ever.

good movie .

Good plot and characters.

very fantastic.

Limitless- i seen in theaters and it was so awesome on of the best movies i have seen in a while. Bradley Cooper did an amazing job..

this is a great movie.

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Excellent movie. Nice set up of the 18th century and Keira does well to do justice to actual character of Georgiana. Beautiful reproduction of the story!.

this so no longer amazing again..

Wonderful movie. Great roles by the main actors..

The trailers had tried to market this as drawing some parallels to the
late Princess of Wales Diana Spencer's life, given the subject matter
being a lady of royal lineage being subjected to a loveless marriage
which comes complete with affairs and scandals. It had even
superimposed her portrait on the trailer to suggest a deja-vu of
history, given that the story here is based on real people and
presenting a dramatized snapshot of their lives. Until of course Keira
Knightley had to stand up and say that this movie tells its own story
without the need for such cheap promotional gimmick.

But frankly, the life of the Georgina, Duchesss of Devonshire (Keira
Knightley) in late 18th century England, couldn't be anything less than
similar in certain ways, if based on Amanda Foreman's biography which
formed the basis for the film. At a young age and to the delight of her
mother (Charlotte Rampling), the Duke of Devonshire (Ralph Fiennes)
proposes a sealing of families through marriage, where his sole concern
is to have a male heir. He wastes no time in impregnating his young
wife, and treats her nothing more than a baby- producing factory, given
a girl baby after girl baby, in addition to stillborns and
miscarriages.

It's also a sign of the times where women have no rights, and are
expected to perform their duty, of being a wife and mother, which also
translates to having no say to what their husbands are doing. For the
Duke, it means spending a lot more time with his dogs with no effort in
communicating with a factory worker, and being the sex addict that he
is, takes pleasure in bedding chambermaids within his castle, or even
the Duchess' good friend Bess Foster (Hayley Atwell), who succumbs to
trading her body for powerful influences in order to see her children,
taken away by her estranged husband.

As with most period dramas, it's a tussle between duty and love, and
affairs of the heart. While the Duke's dalliances have taken a toil on
his marriage, given that the Duchess one headstrong woman, we slowly
see her relent and slide into resignation of her fate, but not before
trying to perform a tit-for-tat with her lover, future Prime Minister
Charles Grey. From the slate of movies in the period drama genre, it
seems that such stories are becoming quite popular to be translated to
the big screen, and I recall Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette, who was
betrothed in similar circumstances just across the English Channel.

Keira Knightley stars in yet another period drama, and she's quite an
old hand at it already, which no doubt translates to her delivering her
best performance thus far in the genre. She presents the pain of living
a lie quite convincingly, having to put on a front in public, while
behind the scenes get surprise after surprise at the revelation of her
husband's true character. Ralph Fiennes seemed to be quite stoic this
time round with nary an emotion, and given he is Voldermott, has no
difficulty in playing the bastard of a character, using his influence
and power for his personal gratitude, making no negotiations to wanting
things his way. In fact, one wonders men in high positions back then,
could get away with a lot of things, and their wield of influence no
doubt carries a lot of weight.

The Duchess doesn't present its themes in depth, and sought instead to
have breadth in covering a broad range of topics, from social standing
to England during the cusp of elections, and while it certainly has no
lack of material to last its run time, it certainly hinges on its big
name stars to carry the film on their collective shoulders. It's a very
straight forward film, like watching the life and times of someone
unfold in chronology, and those looking for some satisfying, compelling
drama with deep tussles involving heart and soul, might want to look
elsewhere instead. Nothing fancy here, but it works..