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The Duchess
Metascore
62 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 34 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 22 out of 34
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 34
  3. Negative: 1 out of 34
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  1. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    88
    This is not one of those delightful movies based on a Jane Austen novel. It is about hard realists, constrained in a stifling system and using whatever weapons they can command.
  2. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Noel Murray
    83
    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.
  3. New York Magazine (Vulture)
    Reviewed by: David Edelstein
    80
    An uncommonly well-crafted historical feminist tearjerker--both anti-patriarchal and a monument to motherhood.
  4. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kenneth Turan
    80
    Even surrounded by all this quality work, Ralph Fiennes, who plays William Cavendish, the fifth duke of Devonshire, the most powerful man in England next to the king, walks off with the picture.
  5. Time
    Reviewed by: Richard Schickel
    80
    The players are uniformly good, but a special word must be said for Fiennes, whose portrayal of physical awkwardness and painful taciturnity never begs either for laughs or for sympathy.
  6. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: J.R. Jones
    80
    This is scandal-mongering fun that also lays bare the deforming power of the male aristocracy.
  7. Rolling Stone
    Reviewed by: Peter Travers
    75
    It's Knightley who makes The Duchess a royal treat.
  8. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Carrie Rickey
    75
    While I much liked The Duchess, this portrait feels unfinished.
  9. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Ruthe Stein
    75
    It tells the amazing, but mostly true, story of a late-18th century aristocrat who made an indelible mark on English society akin to that of her direct descendant, Lady Diana.
  10. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Ken Fox
    75
    perfectly serviceable costume drama.
  11. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Claudia Puig
    75
    Princess Diana's antecedent, both genetically and figuratively, was a beautiful and glamorous duchess named Georgiana Spencer. Like her descendant, her charm and vivacity captivated England.
  12. Charlotte Observer
    Reviewed by: Lawrence Toppman
    75
    If you're fond of wigs, you may be in heaven. If you're more interested in Whigs, you may wish the movie had dug deeper under the lovely powdered surface of Lady Georgiana Spencer.
  13. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Lisa Schwarzbaum
    75
    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.
  14. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Kirk Honeycutt
    70
    Keira Knightley is a terrific choice to play the 18th century socialite.
  15. Salon.com
    Reviewed by: Stephanie Zacharek
    70
    tThere's life at the center of The Duchess, in the form of Keira Knightley. She carries the weight of the movie around her effortlessly.
  16. Newsweek
    Reviewed by: David Ansen
    70
    For a number of reasons The Duchess isn't all it could have been. It's fun, but falls short of fabulous.
  17. Portland Oregonian
    Reviewed by: Marc Mohan
    67
    Ultimately, though, it's unfortunate that the movie tries to make so many oblique comparisons to more modern tragedy (paparazzi with sketchbooks; yes, we get it!), since Georgiana's life seems fascinating enough on its own.
  18. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: Paula Nechak
    67
    Provided you don't take it seriously, it makes for an addictively entertaining diversion that's as hard to stop watching as the books are to stop reading.
  19. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Tasha Robinson
    63
    Taken in isolation from the unsatisfying story, the performances are powerful--Knightley's vivacious, wounded romantic does a great deal to carry the film on sheer personality, while Fiennes is a subtle master at projecting banked menace through his seeming detached ennui.
  20. Miami Herald
    Reviewed by: Connie Ogle
    63
    Fans of period drama will find things to like about The Duchess; it's not as ludicrous as "The Other Boleyn Girl," for instance, and it's not overly long or ponderous.
  21. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Ty Burr
    63
    At a certain point, The Duchess stops attending to the topiary and becomes a women's melodrama instead.
  22. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: Rick Groen
    63
    As for true-love Charles, he would ascend to the Prime Minister's office, and then rise again to even greater heights: They named the tea after him. Indeed, that may be the smartest way to see this flick, curled up on your sofa with a cup of Earl Grey -- just make sure it's as decaffeinated as what you're watching.
  23. NPR
    Reviewed by: Bob Mondello
    60
    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.
  24. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Elizabeth Weitzman
    60
    A rousing period drama with all the familiar trimmings: gorgeous costumes, palatial settings and romantic intrigue.
  25. Variety
    Reviewed by: Justin Chang
    60
    A serviceable picture that offers all the sumptuous visual pleasures of a historical costume drama, yet little in the way of actual history.
  26. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: John Anderson
    60
    It's too bad there's not more substance to The Duchess, because there's lots of acting and, as is required of a Brit-styled period piece, lushness galore.
  27. ReelViews
    Reviewed by: James Berardinelli
    50
    It has impeccable production values but feels like a "Masterpiece Theater" production of a Harlequin romance novel.
  28. Baltimore Sun
    Reviewed by: Michael Sragow
    50
    The problem isn't the history that the filmmakers leave in, but how much they leave out.
  29. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Ella Taylor
    50
    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.
  30. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: Robert Koehler
    42
    A lumbering number that takes its identity as a costume drama quite literally.
  31. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Kimberley Jones
    40
    It's a curiously inert, workmanlike production: a whole lot of pomp and incircumstance.
  32. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Manohla Dargis
    40
    An overstuffed, intellectually underbaked portrait of a poor little rich girl.
  33. Wall Street Journal
    Reviewed by: Joe Morgenstern
    40
    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.
  34. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Kyle Smith
    38
    Everything is predictable three scenes in advance, and it's all stale, stuck, stolid.
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User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
8.2 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 36 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 19 out of 19
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 19
  3. Negative: 0 out of 19
  1. Halfwelshman
    8
    The Duchess isn't just another twee, good-looking period drama. The film hinges on a very strong central performance from Keira Knightley as the titular Duchess of Devonshire, Georgiana. Ralph Fiennes also impresses as the rather despicable Duke of Devonshire, as does Hayley Attwell as Lady Elizabeth Foster, the Duke's mistress, and Charlotte Rampling as the dutiful mother of Georgiana. The only real weak link in the casting is Dominic Cooper, whose up-and-coming politician Charles Grey comes across as a little wooden and whiny (a pity considering the importance of his character to the story). The film wisely doesn't try to put a modern spin on late 18th century views - it acknowledges and explores the difficulty of being a high-ranking noble woman during this period, and you really feel for Georgiana and the various struggles she went through. The script is well-polished and provides some meaty themes and well-written dialogue for the cast to get their teeth into. The whole film looks great, with the cinematography making the very most of the elaborate period costumes, stately homes and the English countryside, but of particular note are the scenes where Georgiana and Duke William sit at opposite ends of a long table in a plain, lifeless dining room - a great visual metaphor for the distance between them in their relationship. The Duchess is far better than the average period drama. It's surprisingly dark, emotionally complex, beautifully filmed and well-performed (particularly by Knightley and Fiennes). You're utterly absorbed by the historical setting, and able to really feel for what late-18th century women had to go through, particularly those in the public eye, who were obliged to provide their powerful husbands with an heir to remain in favour. It was a cruel and unfulfilling life, and The Duchess presents it to us as it was, and makes no attempt to sugar-coat what we witness to make it any more palatable. This makes the film an extremely refreshing change to the vast majority of cheery, emotionally shallow historical dramas (that more closely resemble elaborate soap opera), and aside from an underwhelming performance from Dominic Cooper and a slightly too gruelling run-time, a hugely rewarding viewing experience.… Full Review »
  2. Laurens
    8
    This film is one of the best of the year. It may not be the best movie ever made, but it is quite the royal treat, and Knightley gives the most powerful performace of her career. I'd say this film should be on everyone's to see list, and it's been added to my favorites, (it's not at the top though) but still great movie! And the costumes are spectacular! well done, awesome.… Full Review »
  3. AndresV.
    10
    very good movie, but no perfect! great perfomances
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