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This time, let’s start from
the summary. Saul Dibb takes us to the 18th century England to tell us the
story of Georgiana Cavendish, the Duchess of Devonshire. The young woman we
have an occasion to meet is a true fashionist of her times, a trend-setter,
a feminist and activist always ready to fight for a change. However, her
spirit is successively ruined by her husband’s romances and constant
discrimination she suffers from his part. Anyhow, Georgiana is brave enough
to struggle for freedom and happiness. Of course, considering the 18th
century reality, she fails.
From my point of view, the life of the Duchess of Devonshire is only an
example of the situation of women of that age. Dibb’s movie shows how
dependent and how cruelly treated they were and how hard they had to fight
to maintain remains of dignity. It also presents the rise of what we call
today the feminism and the lack of acceptation of this kind of attitude as
among the 18th century men as women.
As for the cast, I must confess I was enchanted. Keira Knightly is literally
made for costume movies. Her performance is touching, amazing and very
professional. Ralph Fiennes is definitely irresistible as the Duke of
Devonshire, which is why he was nominated for Golden Globe for Actor in
Supporting Role. The participation of splendid Charlotte Rampling was a
pleasant surprise as she is one of the best contemporary actresses. Her
performance as Georgiana’s mother who won’t hesitate to sacrifice her own
daughter’s future life to get social advancement, was completely convincing
and impressive. But Dominic Cooper’s and Hayley Atwell’s work can’t be
omitted either as both managed to give a marvelous actors’ show.
However, it’s difficult to talk about
The Duchess without
mentioning the relation between Georgiana and Lady Diana Spencer. It’s not
only that they were related, as both came from the Spencer’ family, but also
they were really similar. Well, Lady Di was, like Georgiana, always in the
center of attention, loved or hated, admired or criticized for her life
style and personal choices. She fought to save her marriage and when the
disaster was inevitable, she tried to regain freedom and to find individual
happiness. That is why I think that one of many advantages of Dibb’s movie
is the fact that by telling Georgiana story, he manages to explain, to some
point, Diana’s situation, thanks to which we can feel true compassion and
understanding to this lonely woman.
I definitely recommend this production for its complexity, lack of banal, a
range of individual characters, remarkable decorations and costumes (Oscar
for Best Achievement in Costume Design) and unforgettable choice of music by
Rachel Portman. It’s really worth watching, so don’t miss it!
19:12:2008
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di Natalia
holownja
