The Duchess

More melodrama than drama - this tale of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire married at 17 to a man who only wanted her to provide him with an heir. (Something she lamentably fails to do for some considerable time). Perhaps she might have had a hint of what married life might be like when the Duke presents Georgiana with a daughter from a prior liaison and informs her that she is to take the girl in as though she was a their child. Keira Knightley acted this role with far too many nods at another member of the Spencer family the late Diana of Wales, and Ralph Fiennes as her cold hearted husband is taciturn to the point of becoming mute. The film rattles on as a hectic pace - perhaps the Duchess had too full a life - characters are zipped in and out without much historical explanation - Fox, Sheridan, are wheeled out to represent her interest in politics - and into their joint lives comes Bess Foster whose husband has taken her children away from her. She is first Georgiana's friend, then the Duke's mistress and they bizarrely become a menage a trois. Unsurprisingly the Duchess becomes a gambling, drink and drug addict (although like everything else this film skims over these aspects of her life) and then scandalously takes up with Charles Grey, living with him openly. As you might expect it all ends in tears. A bit unsatisfactory in many ways, and failing to do justice to Amanda Foreman's biography. Rating 6/10