What rather wonderful about this story is that Georgiana Spencer (Keira Knightley) discovers a way to exult in victory over things and to get back some kind of power in a time where, really, women had very little
Being someone of great vitality and liveliness, she was very much a dreamer and an idealist, a woman who loved being the center of attention, who loved the fact at some point that her picture was in the paper, that the clothes were always talked of, that her every move was commented on
We are immediately impressed by her presence, by her personality
She wasn't behaving quite in accordance with the way in which other 18th century women were expected to behave
But there was something incredibly sad about this self-conscious lady
She was a victim of herself
A victim of her own innocence
A victim of people using her for their own profit
Even though she seemed to have everything, we realize that it was not that simple
And with all of her privilege came a lot of moral obligation and things were never what they really appeared to be
The Duke (Ralph Fiennes) was a misanthropic man, rather cold, unemotional and quite cruel
He seems to like better his hunting dogs to his young wife
Of course with certain values, that he believes were absolutely right and that he strictly held to
This sumptuous period piece also presents the Duchess of Devonshire as a political hostess
Saul Dibb's film shows us her dinner parties, her evening events, her fame and its extraordinary effect on her
It made her both desperate to please, terrified of doing anything wrong and shocked at her own celebrity and unable to figure out in her own mind why she was quite so famous
And we see the crippling effect it has on her sense of self
