There is much Oscar buzz over Keira Knightley’s portrayal of Georgiana, the Duchess of Devonshire, in this critically acclaimed historical drama. Georgiana was merely a teenager when her mother arranged a prestigious marriage to William Cavendish (Ralph Fiennes), the fifth Duke of Devonshire. She was treated as property, considered only valuable as an incubator for the next duke. Her husband seemed to have more affection for his dogs than for his wife. But she became famous, perhaps the second most famous woman in England, an outspoken feminist, a liberal ahead of her time, and someone who took a lover and bore his daughter.

The film is rich with detail, a product of fine set design, meticulous costume design replete with elaborate gowns and wigs, and an impeccable selection of film locations. But no matter how opulent the Duke’s country estate of Chatsworth in Derbyshire may be, it simply cannot compensate for his cold demeanor and aloofness, both toward his wife and the most powerful political figures in England.

It was common for the high born to entertain lords and ministers at lavish dinner parties. But Cavendish has little patience for the pomposity and pontification of politicians. He is not beyond simply rising from the dinner table in the middle of a pretentious speech and walk from the room. Georgiana, on the other hand, seems fascinated by both politics and the power it represents. She is engaging, erudite, and quick witted, eager to express opinions and participate in wordplay among a tableful of all male guests.

Cavendish is no more charming or communicative with his wife. His sole interest in her is to bear a son to inherit his riches and his title. A succession of daughters and stillborn sons adds to the tensions. Desperately needing someone with whom she could become verbally intimate, Georgiana makes one close female friend, Lady Elizabeth Foster (Hayley Atwell). Cast out by her husband and desperate to have access to her three sons, she would come to live at Chatsworth and Cavendish is instrumental in her being reunited with her children.

Georgiana resents but is forced to accept her husband’s dalliances, even with their servants. But when he begins an affair with Lady Elizabeth, Georgiana is furious. He had not only been unfaithful, but it made quite impossible for her to continue her relationship with his lover; he had robbed her of her only friend. Those complicated interrelationships will develop in unexpected ways.

But even as her personal life is less than satisfactory, Georgiana becomes a fashion icon, establishing trends rather than following them. And she leverages her fame and popularity to support the politicians of her day, the first time a woman became a public advocate for a candidate.

The Duchess is a fascinating figure, portrayed as being far ahead of her times. This story resonates all the more dramatically with the knowledge that the events in the screenplay are based on a biographical novel, which itself was derived from Georgiana’s personal correspondence. This is not a romantic fantasy with an idealized resolution as Jane Austen so skillfully provides. This is a film that’s more revealing of the realities of an era when women were little more than chattel and one very exceptional woman rose above the limitations society imposed.

The Video: How Does The Disc Look?

The film’s theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1 is presented in a high bit rate high definition transfer compressed with the AVC video CODEC. You’ll find that small object detail and finely grained textures are outstanding. The transfer reveals the highly complex and elaborate costumes and set decoration. Chroma is rather nice, with natural flesh tones and a lively reproduction of art and fashions. Black levels are reasonable but in well-lit scenes, the video dynamic range seems contrained, emphasizing brighter end of the dynamic range and pulling darker features in the images up. Unlike the DVD release, the video is not contaminated with halos, leaving us with a very film-like presentation. This is another admirable HD transfer from Paramount.

The Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track suits the film perfectly. Since this drama is dialog-driven, the track is predominantly front-centric. The spoken word remains crystal clear throughout, and achieves a fine level of in-the-room presence. Sound effects simply serve the onscreen action. Exceptional bass is not required and is not present. Rachel Portman’s pleasant and somewhat plaintive orchestral score fares best, with a wonderfully transparent timbre that can be characterized with shimmering highs and persuasive midrange. This track is noticeably superior to the lossy track found on the DVD.

The alternate tracks are in French and Spanish, both in Dolby Digital 5.1. Optional subtitles are in English, English SDH, French, Spanish, and Portuguese.

The Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

With the exception of high definition presentations and two theatrical trailers (1:51 and 2:34 respectively, 2.35:1, HD), you’ll find the same set of supplements as released on the DVD edition.

How Far She Went… Making The Duchess featurette (22:52, 1.78:1, HD) is organized into six chapters. It introduces us to the historical truths of the title character. We learn a bit about the social customs of the days and the limited roles of women. That makes the Duchess all the more fascinating, since, as I mentioned, she was the first woman who leveraged her celebrity to support political figures. There is an attempt to analyze her psychology and motivations. We learn about characteristics not explicitly revealed in the motion picture. Some considerable time is invested in the selection and shooting within real locations germane to the historical context. Casting is discussed and the filmmakers are very pleased to have found such engaging performers. And there is a discussion of fashion and hair, made as authentic as possible. Expect much fill in the form of illustrating excerpts from the film.

Georgiani In Her Own Words featurette (7:11, 1.78:1, HD) introduces us to authoress Amanda Foreman, whose Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire was adapted for this production. She speaks of the historical figure and the researches that supported her biographical portayals. Much of her material was derived from surviving letters that are quoted extensively to support her approach to the characters.

Costume Diary (5:38, 1.78:1, HD) is clearly the costume design featurette. The evolution of the costumes, reflecting the evolution of the relationships, is described. These are complex and layered costumes; it took Keira Knightly two hours each day just getting through hair and makeup, and putting on her undergarments and dress. The influence of the Duchess on the society of her day is also examined.

The 109-minute film is organized as sixteen chapters.

Final Thoughts

This is a fine costume drama that features excellent performances by a talented cast. The supplements are informative and add to our understanding of the historical figure. The presentation is excellent, revealing all the elaborate detail built into the costumes and sets by the filmmakers. Recommended.


Here’s a note about the apparent duplicate Buy Guide. Our understaffed I.T. people are still hard at work on a large project, are putting out fires, and have not yet had the time to modify the underlying site database formatting code to accommodate the new 0-to-10 rating scales. So until they do, for HD on disc, I’ll insert this note and a Buy Guide at the end of the review text and leave the conventional 0-to-5 Buy Guide blank.