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
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
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. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubNoel Murray
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. Read full review
80
TimeRichard Schickel
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. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
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. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
An uncommonly well-crafted historical feminist tearjerker--both anti-patriarchal and a monument to motherhood. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
This is scandal-mongering fun that also lays bare the deforming power of the male aristocracy. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLisa 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. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
It's Knightley who makes The Duchess a royal treat. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia Puig
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. Read full review
75
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
perfectly serviceable costume drama. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
While I much liked The Duchess, this portrait feels unfinished. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleRuthe Stein
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. Read full review
75
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
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. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
Keira Knightley is a terrific choice to play the 18th century socialite. Read full review
70
SalonStephanie Zacharek
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. Read full review
70
NewsweekDavid Ansen
For a number of reasons The Duchess isn't all it could have been. It's fun, but falls short of fabulous. Read full review
67
Seattle Post-IntelligencerPaula Nechak
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. Read full review
67
Portland OregonianMarc Mohan
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. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
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. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneTasha Robinson
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. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
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. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy Burr
At a certain point, The Duchess stops attending to the topiary and becomes a women's melodrama instead. Read full review
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