Costume Drama Whore-A-Thon Day 5

Day 5 'The Duchess (2008)
Based on the true life of Georgiana Spencer, the Duchess of Devonshire. She was the 'it' girl of her time. A socialite, a fashionista, a gambler, political at a time when it was frowned upon for women to do so, constantly in the press and always in debt. Seemed to me a somewhat sad life mixed in with a few good moments. (Princess Diana was a descendant of hers, which was shamelessly used in some of the trailers. The Duchess of York, Fergie, is also a relation threw Georgiana's illegitimate daughter.)

Married to the Duke, she has four children (three daughters and one son), countless miscarriages and raises the Duke's illegitimate daughter by a maid. Her best friend, Lady Elizabeth Foster, who she catches her husband having an affair with, spends the next twenty five years living, well the Duke had essentially two wives. Foster has three children from her marriage who also move in, plus bears the Duke two more illegitimate children. Georgiana has an ill fated love affair with Charles Grey, the second Earl of Grey. They have an illegitimate daughter which Georgiana is forced to give to Charles' family to raise. Georgiana visits her in secret for the rest of her life, she also gives her blessings to Elizabeth that after her death she can marry the Duke, for which she does.

I'm not much of a fan of Keira Knightley, but I happen to see most of her films. Well, she has done a lot of costume drama. I have to say that The Duchess is her best work, acting wise, to date. I think she was far more deserving of an Oscar nomination for this than Pride and Prejudice (which sucks). I was shocked when she wasn't nominated. I was floored by how good Knightley was. The cast was good, Ralph Fiennes was fantastic as the Duke. See it alone for him.

Georgiana's life, to me anyway, was sad and she suffered greatly for it in the end. Especially when she had to give up her daughter, that was heart breaking. I wanted to kill Elizabeth, that heffer. But she made up with Georgiana when she helped her with Charles and was with her threw it all with the loss of her daughter.

The costumes were fantastic and I correctly predicated that it would win for best costumes at the Oscars. (Hey I've predicated best costume correctly eleven years in a row.) Actually, this whole movie looked breath talking. The sets, makeup, it was all done with great detail and care. It's a great movie. Well written and well acted by everyone.