As a tale of mature self-sacrifice, the movie would be almost unbearably moving were it not for Knightley's insubstantial performance, which allows her to be fatally upstaged by Ralph Fiennes.
The Duchess
✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
United Kingdom, Italy, France · 2008
Rated PG-13 · 1h 50m
Director Saul Dibb
Starring Keira Knightley, Ralph Fiennes, Charlotte Rampling, Dominic Cooper
Genre Drama, History, Romance
Add to Watchlist
Please login to add films to your watchlist.
Beloved for her trend-setting fashion designs and her political activism, Georgiana Cavendish's fire and wit make her a beloved figure everywhere but her own home, where her distant husband's control stifles her. She soon seeks consolation in the arms of another man, but is faced with unimaginable hardships...
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
Director Saul Dibb, presumably knowing that this is pretty standard stuff for a costume epic, occupies us not just with the usual visuals -- of his star drifting through exquisitely furnished estates, draped in rich silks and brocades -- but also with some intriguingly offbeat sights.
ReelViews by James Berardinelli
It has impeccable production values but feels like a "Masterpiece Theater" production of a Harlequin romance novel.
Wall Street Journal by Joe Morgenstern
Instead of scintillation, the movie gives us a succession of discrete set pieces, as if the action takes place in rooms but not in the halls connecting them.
A serviceable picture that offers all the sumptuous visual pleasures of a historical costume drama, yet little in the way of actual history.
The Hollywood Reporter by Kirk Honeycutt
Keira Knightley is a terrific choice to play the 18th century socialite.
Entertainment Weekly by Lisa Schwarzbaum
Fiennes speaks with his body what the script cannot formulate about what it's like to be a man apart. The actor creates particulars of time, space, class, and personality with one crook of a finger, one twist of a wrist. I call that nobility of craft; he's the actors' prince.
The New York Times by Manohla Dargis
An overstuffed, intellectually underbaked portrait of a poor little rich girl.
Thoroughly populist and middlebrow, full of all the high wigs, thick powder, perfect diction, and straightforward dialogue that define bodice-ripping prestige pictures about silently suffering souls.
Rolling Stone by Peter Travers
It's Knightley who makes The Duchess a royal treat.
Users who liked this film also liked
Becoming Jane
A biographical portrait of a young Jane Austen and her early experiences of love, loss, and rebellion.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom, Ireland • 2007
- Director Julian Jarrold
- Cast Anne Hathaway, James McAvoy, Julie Walters, James Cromwell, Maggie Smith, Joe Anderson
- Genre Drama, Romance
- Available on Showtime Apple TV Channel, Paramount Plus Apple TV Channel , Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, AMC on Demand
Atonement
Torn apart by betrayal. Separated by war. Bound by love.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom, France, United States • 2007
- Director Joe Wright
- Cast Keira Knightley, James McAvoy, Romola Garai, Saoirse Ronan, Brenda Blethyn, Vanessa Redgrave
- Genre Drama, Romance
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Spectrum On Demand, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Pride & Prejudice
Elizabeth Bennet will marry for love, no matter what the consequences.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, United Kingdom, United States • 2005
- Director Joe Wright
- Cast Keira Knightley, Matthew Macfadyen, Rosamund Pike, Simon Woods, Donald Sutherland, Brenda Blethyn
- Genre Drama, Romance
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Spectrum On Demand, AMC on Demand
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Woman. Warrior. Queen.
- ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom, France, Germany • 2007
- Director Shekhar Kapur
- Cast Cate Blanchett, Clive Owen, Geoffrey Rush, Laurence Fox, Tom Hollander, Abbie Cornish
- Genre Drama, History, Romance
- Available on MGM Plus, fuboTV, MGM Plus Amazon Channel, MGM Plus Roku Premium Channel, Starz Apple TV Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, AMC on Demand
Domino
Heads You Live... Tails You Die.
- ✭ ✭
- France, United States, United Kingdom • 2005
- Director Tony Scott
- Cast Keira Knightley, Mickey Rourke, Edgar Ramírez, Delroy Lindo, Mo'Nique, Christopher Walken
- Genre Action, Crime
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Tubi TV
City of Women
(La città delle donne)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy, France • 1980
- Director Federico Fellini
- Cast Marcello Mastroianni, Anna Prucnal, Bernice Stegers, Donatella Damiani, Ettore Manni, Jole Silvani
- Genre Comedy, Drama, Adventure, Fantasy
- Available on MUBI, Fandor Amazon Channel, Cohen Media Amazon Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Kino Now, Kanopy
The Other Boleyn Girl
Two sisters, Anne and Mary Boleyn, driven by their family's blind ambition, compete for the love of King Henry VIII.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom, United States • 2008
- Director Justin Chadwick
- Cast Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson, Eric Bana, Jim Sturgess, Mark Rylance, Kristin Scott Thomas
- Genre Drama, Romance
- Available on Netflix, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Spectrum On Demand, AMC on Demand
The Edge of Love
The only thing more dangerous than war... is love.
- ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom • 2008
- Director John Maybury
- Cast Keira Knightley, Sienna Miller, Matthew Rhys, Cillian Murphy, Lisa Stansfield, Richard Dillane
- Genre Drama, History, Romance
- Available on Hoopla, fuboTV, Peacock, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Crackle, Tubi TV, The Roku Channel, Pluto TV, VUDU Free, Freevee, Xumo Play, Redbox, Kanopy, Plex
The Young Victoria
The only legitimate heir to the throne, Victoria finds herself caught up in the political machinations of her family.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom, United States • 2009
- Director Jean-Marc Vallée
- Cast Emily Blunt, Rupert Friend, Paul Bettany, Miranda Richardson, Jim Broadbent, Thomas Kretschmann
- Genre Drama, History, Romance
- Available on Netflix, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, YouTube, AMC on Demand
Of Gods and Men
(Des hommes et des dieux)
In the face of terror, their greatest weapon was faith...
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 2010
- Director Xavier Beauvois
- Cast Lambert Wilson, Michael Lonsdale, Olivier Rabourdin, Philippe Laudenbach, Jacques Herlin, Loïc Pichon
- Genre Drama, History
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, YouTube
A Royal Affair
(En kongelig affære)
Their love affair would divide a nation.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Denmark, Sweden, Czech Republic • 2012
- Director Nikolaj Arcel
- Cast Mads Mikkelsen, Alicia Vikander, Mikkel Boe Følsgaard, David Dencik, Cyron Melville, Trine Dyrholm
- Genre Drama, History, Romance
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Hoopla, Peacock, Max Amazon Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, YouTube, Redbox, Crackle, Tubi TV, The Roku Channel, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Plex
Anna Karenina
In St. Petersburg, members of aristocratic society pine after objects of their affection who are seldom their own spouses.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom • 2012
- Director Joe Wright
- Cast Keira Knightley, Jude Law, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Kelly Macdonald, Matthew Macfadyen, Domhnall Gleeson
- Genre Drama, Romance
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube
Madame Bovary
A woman in 19th-century rural France attempts to escape her dull, unhappy marriage through affairs and reckless spending.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Germany, Belgium, United States • 2015
- Director Sophie Barthes
- Cast Mia Wasikowska, Rhys Ifans, Ezra Miller, Logan Marshall-Green, Henry Lloyd-Hughes, Laura Carmichael
- Genre Drama
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Hoopla, fuboTV, Peacock, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, YouTube, Crackle, Tubi TV, Pluto TV, VUDU Free, Freevee, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Kanopy
A Little Chaos
During the reign of Louis XIV, a woman with unconventional ideas comes to help the designer of the gardens of Versailles.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom • 2015
- Director Alan Rickman
- Cast Kate Winslet, Matthias Schoenaerts, Alan Rickman, Stanley Tucci, Helen McCrory, Steven Waddington
- Genre Drama, Romance
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube
The Kangaroo Chronicles
(Die Känguru-Chroniken)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Germany • 2020
- Director Dani Levy
- Cast Dimitrij Schaad, Marc-Uwe Kling, Rosalie Thomass, Henry Hübchen, Adnan Maral, Tim Seyfi
- Genre Comedy
- Available on No streaming locations found.