The Duchess (2008)

Latest Brit Costume Drama Turns Out To Be More Than A Fashion Show

To be perfectly honest, I shiver nowadays when I hear the word 'period drama'. The phrase reminds me of all the films I have seen with Keira Knightley in the title role and her stone-cold face free of any mimics or subtle emotions. With or without her though, such films are all over the place, always occupying the best costume slots in awards ceremonies but more importantly, always reducing history into a mere fashion show. Historical drama is on its way to replace romantic comedy as the genre that is relentlessly mass-produced in early 21st century with no sense of intelligence or originality to them whatsoever.

These were the thoughts on my mind when I sat down to watch The Duchess. I think I am beginning to develop a certain level of selection in my perception because I had never even heard about the film until I read the acting nominations this year. To say that I was pleasantly surprised would be an understatement. Despite average performances from most of the actors involved in the film (the rock-bottom being Dominic Cooper who miraculously manages to act worse than Knightley while sharing a movie with her; an honor previously held by Orlando Bloom) the film went beyond my wildest expectations, both with its complex subject matter and its intensely-real 18th century atmosphere of royalty and aristocracy. Yes, rarely in the history of filmmaking, the word 'costume drama' to denote a film means as much as it does in this case. The Duchess is a film where attention to detail for a realistic portrayal is a priority above everything else. The locations, people, language and practically everything else puts you right in the middle of all sorts of tragedies going on, like few films could do.

Why I loved the film so much on the other hand, has something to do with the fact that this realism goes way beyond accurately swanky dresses of the period and extends to all the characters and their actions. There are no black villains in this film, no rebellious teenager girls of the royalty, in love with a handsome farmers. No evil mothers who sell their daughter's hand in marriage for riches or a higher social status. There is only the reality from which such fairy tales emerge. Only real people and their tragedies. When the mother tells her daughter that the duke wants to marry her, we don't see a complaining, crying, depressed young girl; we see doubts but also hopes; happiness but also hesitation. Throughout the unsuccessful marriage, the mother is never uncaring towards her daughter despite all the bizarre advices she calms her down with. The duke, who is the Greek god of passive aggression and who does incomprehensibly merciless things throughout the whole ordeal, is not necessarily evil. We, as the audience, can clearly see his way of thinking and his disappointment of not having an heir, which is not necessarily less significant than that of the duchess.

When I was talking about the actors in one of the above paragraphs, I said most of it was average because Ralph Fiennes, who had remarkable works in his past such as Justin Quayle in The Constant Gardener and Amon Goeth in Schindler's List) gives nothing less than the performance of a lifetime. Every second he is on screen is a gift and he brings a certain sense of 'humanness' to his character (who otherwise would've been the cardboard villain) that the film direly needed. Not a single second goes by in which he is not mesmerizing; his flawless character-acting and the way he convinces us of his character's reality with merely his voice tones, body language and stable facial expressions should be a masterclass to some of his fellow actors. While Knightley-Cooper pair is incapable of even portraying a real love affair, he rapes his wife, demands a son from the incident, comes up with a reasoning for it years later and still stays human.

Still the film is filled with all sorts of real emotions of all the characters; it is both frustrating and captivating how we see the potential of everything turning out to be different and better for the duchess had she been able to deliver a son to her husband, which we today know is only in the hands of the male genes. There are many priceless moments such as the time when she hears her husband having sex with her dearest friend, or when she sees the duke teach how to handle a rifle to her friend's son, at which points it dawns on her what kind of life she missed merely because of the gender of her kid. The subtle feminist undertones such as these are universal despite the period and never go beyond the level of sincerity and maturity.

I was going through the nominations that this film received so far this year, and it pains me to see that Fiennes was not nominated for a SAG award. Although I acknowledge that Ledger's performance is superior (if comparing two such roles would be possible to begin with), I wouldn't be upset at all if I see Fiennes winning in any of the ceremonies. Last year it was Viggo Mortensen's tough luck to be nominated for the acting prizes along with Daniel Day-Lewis; this year it's Fiennes's.

8/10

Note: This article is a part of the 2008 awards season review series which will be the primary feature of The Long Take until the Oscar Night. The information below will be updated as listed awards are handed out and more nominations are announced.

Nominated For:

• Best Achievement in Art Direction (Michael Carlin & Rebecca Alleway) - Academy Awards
• Best Achievement in Costume Design (Michael O'Connor) - Academy Awards

• Best Actress (Keira Knightley) - British Independent Film Awards
  
• Best Supporting Actor (Ralph Fiennes) - British Independent Film Awards
  
• Best Supporting Actress (Hayley Atwell) - British Independent Film Awards
  
• Best Technical Achievement (Michael O'Connor) - British Independent Film Awards

• Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture (Ralph Fiennes) - Golden Globes

• British Actor of the Year (Ralph Fiennes) - London Critics Circle Film Awards
  
• British Supporting Actress of the Year (Hayley Atwell) - London Critics Circle Film Awards

• Best Costume Design (Michael O'Connor) - BAFTA Awards
• Best Make Up & Hair (Daniel Philips & Jan Archibald) - BAFTA Awards

• Excellence in Costume Design for Film, Period (Michael O'Connor) - Costume Designers Guild