The Duchess (2008)

Director Saul Dibb tells the story of the Duchess of Devonshire, Georgina, who was a spirited woman, involved in politics, affairs of her husband, gambling, a woman of impeccable fashion sense, a woman that everyone loved except for her husband in the 2008 film, The Duchess. Keira Knightley portrays the vigorous Georgina who is stuck in a loveless marriage with the Duke [Ralph Fiennes] who has countless affairs, for he resents Georgina because she has only birthed girls and he longs for a male heir. Georgina is in love with a friend prior to her marriage, Charles Grey [Dominic Cooper]. She becomes fast friends with Bess Foster [Hayley Atwell], which results in Georgina inviting Bess to stay at her manor. Bess soon begins sleeping with the Duke, leaving Georgina devastated that her friend would betray her. Soon, there are three people in the marriage, and Georgina cannot get out without losing her girls. She starts an affair with Charles Grey and wants to leave her husband, but with threats about her children, she returns home to live with her husband and Bess. She does conceive a child with Charles Grey, in which she is forced to give her up to Grey’s family in a heartbreaking scene. The film ends with Georgina in this loveless marriage with her husband and Bess. It was very depressing, melancholy, and sad. It portrayed such a great woman, but viewers saw no depth with her. There was no character development of any of the characters, nor were there any sympathetic characters either. Georgina seems like a wonderful, courageous woman, but the film displayed none of those qualities—only demonstrating how she was stuck in a horrible marriage of three.