The Duchess

(2008)

Directed by

Saul Dibb

Review by Zach Saltz

“And now introducing the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, and Lady Elizabeth Foster.”

That was the way they were introduced, the three of them, as they marveled audiences at social gatherings, ballroom banquets, and political rallies throughout Britain at the end of the 18^th Century.  They were the epitome of respectability and culture, and were forbearers to the American cult of celebrity.  But beneath the happy façade of trend-setting fashion, riveting political harangues reinforcing the triumph of the Whig Party, and lots and lots of pregnancies and children, the three of them lived quite unhappily – as husband, wife, and lover.

Saul  Dibb’s The Duchess tells their story through the eyes of the betrayed wife, Georgiana Spencer, the Duchess of Devonshire, played by Keira Knightley.  When we are first introduced to Georgiana, she is little more than an awe-struck debutante who flirtatiously bets on the winner of a race between her male suitors.  She is summoned inside by her mother, Lady Spencer (Charlotte Rampling), who informs her that she is to be married to the famed Duke of Devonshire (Ralph Finnes).  This is followed by a brief wedding ceremony, which immediately leads to their invariable consummation of the marriage (the Duke desperately seeks a male heir).  Between these events, the Duke says little more than two things to her, one noting how difficult it is to remove women��s clothing.

The Duke is quickly revealed to be a stern, boorish oaf of a man.  Apparently having grown disenchanted with politics despite remaining one of the Whig Party’s loyalist members, he shows more affection toward his dogs than his wife.  So cold and aloof is their love-making that it takes several years for Georgiana to even realize that sex can be passionate, intimate, and enjoyable – and this fact is illustrated to her by a woman no less, Lady Elizabeth (Bess) Foster (played by Hayley Atwell).  The two women strike up a friendship out of perceived mutual abhorrence of domestic partnership policies of the state – Georgiana stuck in a loveless marriage while Bess’ children have been taken away by her abusive husband – until Bess is caught in bed with the Duke.  Whether she does this out of true romantic feelings or (as she alleges to Georgiana) pragmatic means of retrieving her children through the Duke’s authority, the Duchess is irrevocably betrayed, despite the fact that marriage in British society is more concerned with the potential of posterity than love.

Throughout the tumult of these three characters’ lives, they maintain the utmost dignity in their public personae.  In this society, adherence to institutions takes precedence over personal liberties and freedoms (of which Georgiana ironically tells Charles Fox, the leader of the Whigs, “must be an absolute” in any enlightened society).  Even in the midst of her daughter’s obvious suffering at the hands of her cruel husband, Lady Spencer tells her daughter to save face and preserve the appearance of a happy marriage, presumably to avoid scandal that could potentially plague the Spencers’ future chances of upward social mobility within the rigidly defined culture.  “All of London is talking,” she says, in reference to Georgiana’s illicit affair with an up-and-coming politician (Dominic Cooper).  “Oh, let them talk!” Georgiana defiantly responds.

The Duchess returns to a favorite central theme of British literature – the struggles of individuals to overcome the self-imposed obstacles that their repressive society mandates, through tired tradition and arbitrary social hierarchies.  Georgiana is no Elizabeth Bennet (the Jane Austen protagonist so beautifully realized by Knightley in Pride and Prejudice [2005]), but the two women both suffer as a result of society inhibiting their personal values and choices.  Yes, there is hypocrisy in the Duke’s unwillingness to liberate Georgiana even with Bess by her side.  Yes, there is inequality in the way her children will be taken away from her if she continues her affair with Charles Grey, the ambitious politician-lover.  And yes, there is supreme irony how all the characters in The Duchess strive to maintain their families’ social hierarchies through preserving posterity and raising healthy children (male heirs are favored, of course).  Who would want to have children born into such an archaic, inhibited, starkly aggressive society?

Rumor has it that Georgiana Spencer was a distant relative of the late Princess Diana of Wales.  Whether this is true or not, it is difficult to ignore the similarities between the two women’s tumultuous relationships with their respective husbands and the institution of marriage in Britain itself.  The truth is, little has changed in the British royalty’s obsession with pure royal bloodlines through lifelong marriages.  Diana’s marriage to Charles, complicated through his adulterous liaison with Camilla Parker-Bowles, must have created as much unease at their quiet dinner tables as the dinners of the three central characters of The Duchess.  And while Charles, Diana, and Camilla were able to resolve their conflicts through modern amenities and conveniences, the Duke, Duchess, and Lady Foster could only wait in solemn passivity.

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