Toronto and the UK. The Duchess.

Anyone planning to catch The Duchess in Toronto on Sunday or Monday may (or may not) want to take a peek the decidedly mixed reviews in the British press as the film opens in the UK today.

First, a quick introduction from Dave Calhoun in Time Out (five out of six stars): "If you've seen the posters for The Duchess, you'll know that they recall the marital woes of another Spencer, Princess Diana, born two centuries after Georgiana (Keira Knightley), the young noble whose tempestuous marriage in 1774 to William, Duke of Devonshire (Ralph Fiennes) is the subject of this intelligent and beautifully crafted Gainsborough-inspired costume drama from British director Saul Dibb."

Updated through 9/8.

The Independent's Anthony Quinn is also enthusiastic: "Dibb, working with a script adapted from Amanda Foreman's best-selling biography, understands the meat-and-drink of the genre - grand perspectives, social colour, formal propriety - yet never loses sight of the human drama."

"What is frustrating is that the movie does not give Knightley much of a chance to show the progression of her character," writes the Guardian's Peter Bradshaw. "We need to see Georgiana develop as a person, see her grow up, grow old even. Frankly, this doesn't happen, though I sensed that Knightley could have achieved this, had the script and direction allowed it."

"The trouble with being Ralph Fiennes is that, on a good day, firing on all thespish cylinders, you tend to make everyone around you look completely rubbish," writes Kevin Maher in the London Times. Here, "Fiennes is on punishingly good form, a dazzling cynosure surrounded by stiff gestures and self-conscious poses."

"There's no bite or edge to this narrative," writes the Telegraph's Sukhdev Sandhu. "[I]t's just another vaguely emancipatory costume affair in which the themes ('Freedom - in moderation?'), the baddies ('Give me a son, do as I say,' blusters William à la Don Corleone), and the drama (news of an unexpected baby is followed by a crash of thunder!) lack complexity or subtlety. Knightley looks woefully, painfully thin throughout. It's hard to listen to what she's saying when all you want to do is feed her chips."

"The director, Saul Dibb (Bullet Boy, The Line of Beauty), is capable of sounding comic or tragic notes with a single edit, but he shows a loss of nerve by soaking the film in Rachel Portman's score, or cramming in endless close-ups," writes Ryan Gilbey in the New Statesman. "These decisions betray a concern that the audience won't respond to characters who tend to be either victims or cold fish, or both."

Online viewing tip. Following a clip, the Observer's Jason Solomons talks with Dibb.

Updates, 9/8: "The much put-upon actress succeeds marvellously here, in the best, most complex and attractive performance of her career," writes the Observer's Jason Solomons. "Although viewers might be distracted by the splendour of her corsets and feathers, her hairpieces towering above her like Amy Winehouse after electric shock therapy, Knightley skilfully turns Michael O'Connor's exquisite costuming to her advantage." Even so: "You can't help but look at all that money on screen and wish it were being spent pushing talents like Saul Dibb and Keira Knightley into a brighter, more distinctive future rather than wallowing in the faded, foppish glories of the past."

For the New York Times, Barbara Kantrowitz talks with Foreman about the Diana parallels.

Esther Walker profiles Knightley for the Independent.

Posted by dwhudson at September 5, 2008 1:06 AM