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The poster for The Duchess is representative of a trend that has occurred of late: simply fill it with the lead star's face, and slap the film's title at the bottom. For this film, though, that is entirely appropriate, as Keira Knightley is the whole focus of The Duchess and appears in virtually every scene. The image on the poster is replicated numerous times throughout; director Saul Dibb displays no reluctance to point the camera straight at Knightley's famous face and linger there. That it never feels gratuitous or over the top is largely down to the leading lady's performance. Knightley has borne the brunt of many a criticism - concerning both her previous acting work and her "beanpole" physique - but now she seems to have matured as an actress. To fully cement herself as a true actor, she now needs to branch out more, as all she ever seems to make is period dramas of one sort or another. (Presumably her agent has two piles of scripts, divided into those that would require Knightley to wear a corset and those that do not. The former are clearly given priority.) She risks being typecast - if she isn't already - but, importantly, if the films in which she stars maintain the quality of The Duchess, she should feel free to keep that corset on permanently.
Returning to the poster again, the tagline has attracted a fair amount of controversy that the film really doesn't deserve (although the publicity can't have done its box office any harm): "There were three people in her marriage". This is a rather on-the-nose reference to Princess Diana's famous quote talking of her own marital problems, and has brought suggestions that the film is some sort of cash-in. That, however, couldn't be further from the truth - despite the fact that Diana was coincidentally a descendant of the duchess' family. The film is more like an English version of Marie Antoinette, sharing various characteristics with Sofia Coppola's film: the spectacular historic locations, the emphasis on lavish costumes, the time period depicted, and most of all, a narrative dealing with a young girl born to privilege thrust into a loveless marriage and forced to provide a male heir. If The Duchess is less radical than the Versailles-set biopic - there's no wilfully anachronistic 80s pop music here - that's not necessarily a bad thing; although Marie Antoinette's quirks worked for that film, any repeat would surely just seem like a pale imitation.
The Duchess is the sophomore feature from Saul Dibb, for whom this seemed like a surprising change of pace from the urban drama Bullet Boy, and while he leaves no particular directorial imprint, he's certainly no slouch. The film makes maximum use of its various locations - the interiors were shot at various different stately homes in England, as no single one provided everything the film required - and therefore looks frequently ravishing, sometimes recalling Stanley Kubrick's masterful photography in Barry Lyndon. Dibb also maintains a firm grip on the film's pacing, which remains considered but never sluggish. One of the few flaws that can be identified is that it could be argued that this is an example of a film in which relatively little ultimately happens and there's no nice Hollywood-friendly arc. It's worth remembering that, ignoring any liberties taken by the filmmakers, this is a story based on the life of a real person and reality rarely fits into a convenient three-act structure.
The summary
Not just another period chick-flick for the Jane Austen crowd, The Duchess is an engrossing character-driven piece that deserves to be known for much than just that Daily Mail-baiting tagline.
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