The Duchess
Headline: ** A Victim of Male Hypocrisy **
Title: THE DUCHESS
Quality: * * * Acceptability: -3
SUBTITLES: None
WARNING CODES:
Language: L
Violence: VV
Sex: SS
Nudity: N
RATING: PG-13
RELEASE: September 19, 2008
TIME: 110 minutes
STARRING: Keira Knightley, Ralph Fiennes, Charlotte Rampling, Dominic Cooper, Hayley Atwell, and Simon McBurney
DIRECTOR: Saul Dibb
PRODUCERS: Gabrielle Tana and Michael Kuhn
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Francois Ivernel, Cameron McCracken, Christine Langan, David M. Thompson, Carolyn Marks Blackwood, and Amanda Foreman
WRITERS: Saul Dibb, Jeffrey Hatcher and Anders Thomas Jensen
BASED ON THE BOOK: "Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire" by Amanda Foreman
DISTRIBUTOR: Paramount Vantage
CONTENT: (RoRoRo, FeFe, RHRH, Ho, L, VV, SS, N, AA, MM) Very strong Romantic worldview attacking upper class morality and male hypocrisy in 18th Century England with a strong feminist text that appears to reflect too much revisionist history, plus a scene with lesbian homosexual overtones; three obscenities; hitting and a struggle occurs during rape scene; depicted adultery and rape in two scenes, implied adultery in other scenes, woman kisses and off-screen fondles another woman to show her what a real male lover could do, and honeymoon night implied after husband takes off wife's clothes; upper male nudity and rear female nudity when woman leaves room; alcohol use and drunkenness; no smoking; and, lying, rampant hypocrisy and abuse of women.
GENRE: Historical Drama
INTENDED AUDIENCE: Older teenagers and adults
Please address your comments to:
Sumner Redstone, Chairman/CEO, Viacom
John Lesher, President
Paramount Vantage (aka Paramount Classics)
A Division of Paramount Pictures
5555 Melrose Avenue
Chevalier Building
Los Angeles, CA 90038
Phone: (323) 956-2000; Fax: (323) 862-1212
Website: www.paramountclassics.com
SUMMARY: THE DUCHESS stars Keira Knightley in a historical drama set in 18th Century England, about a woman who has difficulty fitting in with what society expects of her. Though well acted and opulently photographed, THE DUCHESS views Lady Georgiana as mostly a feminist victim of upper class moral hypocrisy.
IN BRIEF:
THE DUCHESS stars Keira Knightley in a historical drama set in 18th Century England, about a woman who has difficulty with what society expects of her. Georgiana Spencer, a beautiful 17-year-old who is married off to an unemotional man, the Duke of Devonshire. According to the movie, all the Duke wants is a male heir. Georgiana, however, is unable at first to bear a son. So, the Duke takes up with his wife's best friend, and Georgiana takes up with a young politician she has admired for a long time. The scandal causes an angry Duke to brutally lay down the hypocritical moral laws of the upper class.
Though well acted and opulently photographed, THE DUCHESS views Lady Georgiana as mostly a victim of an evil, uncaring man, the Duke of Devonshire. It fails to discuss her gambling addiction, her own rampant love affairs and her apparently habitual drinking. Instead, it concentrates on the negative effects of her unhappy marriage to the Duke. This revisionist history fits in with a strong Romantic worldview and feminist outlook. Thus, it's hard to separate the movie's depiction of history from its apparent political agenda.
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