Film review: The Duchess

Keira Knightley and Ralph Fiennes are on a roll. At very different stages in their acting careers, both have two excellent performances apiece in strong dramatic films showing in cinemas around the world right now.

For Fiennes, a highly respected star of stage and screen, his unbridled performance as a ruthless British gangster in Martin McDonagh's In Bruges, opening next month, equals Ben Kingsley's unforgettable turn in Sexy Beast.

In sharp contrast, his brooding yet sympathetic portrayal of William Cavendish, the fifth Duke of Devonshire, in The Duchess is complex and subtle.

Combined, these performances illuminate an actor clearly in magnificent command of his talents.

Knightley, often maligned for the dominance her beauty attains over her skills, silences such critics with keenly nuanced performances in two very different period films opening here within a week of each other.

As Vera Phillips, childhood sweetheart of poet Dylan Thomas, she looks extraordinary, yet backs this up with a smartly observed rendering of the "other woman" in Thomas's turbulent love life.

The same could also be said of her deeply touching portrayal of Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, although in The Duchess someone else occupies the precarious position of "other woman".

Combined, these performances illuminate an actress clearly maturing in her profession, and to wonderful effect.

The British, along with the French, are the masters of period drama. Their attention to detail and casting, not to mention the incredible history available to draw narrative from, make for wonderful films.

It's therefore fitting the British should turn their attention to the Duchess of Devonshire only a couple of years after Sofia Coppola attempted to portray her French counterpart, Marie Antoinette.

Whereas Coppola failed to make a film that engaged the audience on multiple levels, despite filming at Versailles, director Saul Dibb and his team have made a film that paints an intensely moving picture of the duchess and her doomed marriage to the duke.

Much of this is thanks to the prescient casting of Knightley and Fiennes, along with an excellent supporting cast that includes Charlotte Rampling as the matriarch.

The pair imbue their characters with so much heartfelt complexity it's difficult to judge or dismiss their feelings or actions.

Aided by Amanda Foreman's respected biography of the duchess, the director and Knightley fashion a portrayal of her as a tragic figure possessed of immense passion and fortitude.

"Georgiana was, in a sense, a cross between Marilyn Monroe and Lady Diana," remarks Foreman.

And it's a telling comparison. Knightley, who seems to live a charmed life, manages to capture the essence of both women's appeal and ultimate downfall.

Fiennes, whose Oscar-nominated performance as Amon Goeth in Steven Spielberg's Shindler's List in 1993 got under everyone's skin, has peeled back the historical accounts of the duke to find a way to understand his rejection of his beautiful wife.

Fiennes allows us to appreciate his's allegiance to duty and awareness of propriety, even as we're forced to criticise his taking of a mistress and subsequent treatment of his aggrieved wife.

It takes talent, intelligence, sensitivity and confidence to play such characters. Both Knightley and Fiennes possess these qualities in spades.

The Duchess
Director: Saul Dibb
Starring: Keira Knightley, Ralph Fiennes, Charlotte Rampling, Dominic Cooper, Hayley Atwell.
Rated: M
Time: 110 mins
Trailer: Flicks.co.nz

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