Knightly in the title role - she does the best she can given the material she has to work with. The cinematography is top shelf and the sets and costumes beautiful, and I suppose you can't really blame Ms. But enough with the socio/political statements, let's discuss the film itself. That she rails against the system makes a sort of feminist statement, and while I abhor the duke and everything he stood for (the assumption of power and moral certitude based on your birthright), and sympathize with any person forced into any contract without their consent - you didn't see this duchess, or Di refusing all the jewels and trappings of royalty. The film goes to great length to further this concept, showing ad nauseum all the trappings of being forced into an arranged and loveless marriage wherein her sole duty is to produce a son and heir for the duke. The film attempts to draw parallels, showing how the Duchess was an intelligent, strong willed young woman sucked into a marriage of opportunity in 1774 - to which, one infers that she is just like her descendant. What is allegedly relevant for the film is that said Duchess is a Spencer, and as such, is an ancestor to everyone's darling, Lady Di. The Duchess is such a film, and it suffers for it. Sometimes a film is not so much about what it shows you on the screen, but what it infers by innuendo and association. Even then he and the director arrived at the dock well after the ship had sailed. In The Duchess you have one of those historical biopics - you know, 'based on a true story', which since it is only 'based upon' gives the screen writer carte blanche to play it any way he sees fit.

The duchess danielle steel movie