The Duchess
Paramount Vantage | Release Date: September 19, 2008 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
62
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 34 Critic Reviews
Positive:
22
Mixed:
11
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
VarietyJustin Chang
A serviceable picture that offers all the sumptuous visual pleasures of a historical costume drama, yet little in the way of actual history. Read full review
60
NPRBob Mondello
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. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
A rousing period drama with all the familiar trimmings: gorgeous costumes, palatial settings and romantic intrigue. Read full review
60
Washington PostJohn Anderson
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. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
It has impeccable production values but feels like a "Masterpiece Theater" production of a Harlequin romance novel. Read full review
50
Village VoiceElla Taylor
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. Read full review
50
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
The problem isn't the history that the filmmakers leave in, but how much they leave out. Read full review
42
Christian Science MonitorRobert Koehler
A lumbering number that takes its identity as a costume drama quite literally. Read full review
40
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
An overstuffed, intellectually underbaked portrait of a poor little rich girl. Read full review
40
Wall Street JournalJoe 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. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleKimberley Jones
It’s a curiously inert, workmanlike production: a whole lot of pomp and incircumstance. Read full review
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