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Duchess (The)
R1 - America - Paramount Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Anthony Arrigo (30th March 2009). |
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The Film
 I have a confession to make: I’ve never watched a “chick flick”. The closest I think I’ve ever come was a single viewing of Kevin Smith’s "Chasing Amy" (1997), a film I’ve never felt the need to revisit. I like to consider myself a fan of all cinematic genres, but romance films have always been my kryptonite. I don’t even need to worry about going out of my way to avoid them; they simply don’t even register on my radar. So, imagine my trepidation as I went into "The Duchess", a very romantic period piece filled with stuffy English characters of varying historical importance. Unsurprisingly, I didn’t enjoy the film but I didn’t think it wasn't nearly as horrendous as I had anticipated. As the old adage goes, “expect the worst, hope for the best”. "The Duchess" thankfully, fell somewhere smack in the middle. At the ripe age of 17, Georgiana Spencer (Keira Knightley) is whisked away from her home estate, destined for an arranged marriage to the Duke of Devonshire (Ralph Fiennes). Georgiana is given everything she could have ever asked for, and in return the Duke only asks one thing of her: to provide him with a son, an heir to his throne. After 6 years, during which she has produced two daughters and no sons, the Duke begins to grow restless and agitated. For years, the Duchess has been accepting his philandering ways, albeit grudgingly, until he makes the mistake of having an affair with the one friend Georgiana has, Elizabeth (Laura Stevely). Distraught and emotionally fragile, she finds comfort in the arms of the only man she felt something for before she was married, Charles Grey (Dominic Cooper). After finally providing the Duke with a son, Georgiana announces that she is now pregnant with Charles’ child, so the Duke goes to great lengths to be sure she gives birth in private to insure that no scandal can be made public. In the end, the Duchess and Charles part ways, while she remains married to the Duke until her death, at which time he marries Elizabeth. I’ve never been a fan of Keira Knightley. Her storyline with Orlando Bloom in "The Pirates of the Caribbean" trilogy (2003-2007) was the weak link that slowed those films to a crawl for me, and I haven’t seen her in anything else that made me feel differently. She’s a stuffy English woman who resembles, to me, a salamander with fuzzy eyebrows. I suppose most of that works for her here, however, since this is a stuffy English film. She does a fine job with the role, and she displays true emotion in many scenes. I wouldn’t say that this film did much to change my feelings towards her acting, but I do think that she seems much more at home in a period piece such as this than a big-budget action film. The glue holding the film together for me was Ralph Fiennes as the Duke of Devonshire. Fiennes is a phenomenal actor, capable of immersing himself in his characters with incredible depth. His portrayal of the Duke, who was a distant, hypocritical womanizer, is the highlight of the film. Relative newcomer Saul Dibb does a good job with the film’s direction. Even though the subject matter is hardly exciting, he manages to keep the plot moving along at a brisk enough pace that the film never feels as though it’s lagging. Adapting here from Amanda Foreman’s novel, “Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire”, Dibb remains as faithful as possible to making sure the film feels authentic. Actual locations are used, including the home of the Duchess, and the costume design, which won an Academy Award, is historically accurate and incredibly detailed. I’ve always felt that, regardless of the story for a period piece film, the use of authentic costumes and hairstyles add a touch of gravitas that heightens the overall finished product.
Video
The film is presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen, but I found the image to be fairly ugly. I was hoping that even though I knew I wouldn’t like the film that it would at least have some great visuals on display considering the era depicted. Unfortunately, the image is rather drab. Colors look off at certain times, especially faces which have an unnatural hue. The image is very soft and lacks sharpness; nothing ever leaps off the screen. Black levels are poor, but whites look natural and not overblown.
Audio
"The Duchess" is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound with English, French or Spanish options available. The track is lifeless for the most part. Dialogue is clear and easily discernible, that is the only real requirement here considering that the film has virtually nothing to employ for surround use. Subtitles are available in English, French and Spanish.
Extras
The Duchess isn’t given a very elaborate edition, but there are a few featurettes here that provide some background information on the film, along with a handful of bonus trailers. “How Far She Went… Making The Duchess” is a multi-chaptered featurette which runs for 22 minutes and 52 seconds if watched all together, or segments can be watched individually: - “Chapter 1: Introduction” runs for 36 seconds and provides an introduction via voiceovers from the cast and crew about Georgiana. - “Chapter 2: The Real Georgiana” runs for 5 minutes and 54 seconds, this is a look at the real Georgiana Spencer, giving us some insight into how she lived and how she was viewed by the public. - “Chapter 3: Setting the Stage” runs for 7 minutes and 21 seconds, the cast and crew discuss the use of the film’s locations, and how the director wanted to make sure they used real, authentic locations and not soundstages. - “Chapter 4: Historical Figures/Modern Characters” runs for 5 minutes and 22 seconds, director Saul Dibb and some of the cast talk about the casting process and how important it was to find the right actors to portray these historical characters, especially the title role. - “Chapter 5: Headdresses and Feathered Ladies” runs for 2 minutes and 38 seconds, this looks at how the hair and make-up artists studied old sketches and paintings to achieve the correct look of the characters. - “Chapter 6: Parting Thoughts” runs for 1 minute and 1 second, this is just a quick wrap up briefly talking about the film. “Georgiana In Her Own Words” is a featurette which runs for 7 minutes and 11 seconds, Amanda Foreman, author of “Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire”, talks about how she used old letters written by the Duchess as the basis for her novel. “Costume Diary” is a featurette which runs for 5 minutes and 38 seconds, costume designer Michael O’Connor talks about his approach to dressing the film’s leads. Finally, there are bonus trailers available for the following films: - “American Teen” runs for 2 minutes and 38 seconds. - “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” runs for 1 minute and 58 seconds. - “Revolutionary Road” runs for 2 minutes and 13 seconds. - “Ghost Town” runs for 2 minutes and 30 seconds. - “Eagle Eye” runs for 2 minutes and 26 seconds. Oddly enough, no trailer for "The Duchess" is present.
Overall
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