This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon: October 9, 2008 - The great theme of Jane Austen was that women were forced by society to choose between independence and security - even survival. In her peerless novels, Austen handled the theme with wit and passion, populating her pages with characters who live and breathe to this day.
Saul Dibb is no Jane Austen. "The Duchess," based on a recent novel by Amanda Foreman and directed by Dibb, explores the Austen theme in roughly the same time period - the late 18th century - and even in some of the same British locales, but as melodrama rather than as social comedy and satire. The movie has some dramatic force but is too often overwrought and exhibits little wit.
"The Duchess" does boast a superb cast, and its opulent period settings and costumes, particularly the outrageous headwear worn by the women of the nobility, are a marvel. It may also be of interest because of the connection of its protagonist with lavishly celebrated events of the recent past.
The title character, Duchess Georgiana Spencer (Keira Knightly), was an ancestor of Princess Diana. Georgiana, who was popular with the common folk, was trapped in a loveless marriage with the Duke of Devonshire (Ralph Fiennes, in full glower). The Duke slept with other women and at one point invited his mistress, formerly Georgiana's best friend, to live with him and Georgiana in his mansion. He reacted in fury when Georgiana fell in love with a man more nearly her age (Dominic Cooper) and, when she suggested it was only fair that she, too, take a lover, he forbade her to see the man. She rebelled against his commands, but ultimately the power was in his hands.
French Drama Saved by Dedpth of Characters
"A Girl Cut in Two" proceeds from a supremely French premise: Falling in love is like falling into a deep hole; both happen fast, both can really hurt, and both situations are hard to climb out of.
This twisty psychological drama from French New Wave veteran Claude Chabrol is an emotionally satisfying, unpredictable discourse on class and sexual politics. Ludivine Sagnier, the young seductress who competed with the stunningly mature Charlotte Rampling in "The Swimming Pool," plays Gabrielle Deneige. The name is translated as "Gabrielle Snow" in the English subtitles, and the last name becomes a pun when we learn that Gabrielle reads the weather reports on a television station in provincial Lyon.
The name is clearly intended to be ironic, and perhaps foreboding, since flirtatious Gabrielle is, at least at first, as sunny (and as saucy) as the South of France. Then she encounters an aging, balding novelist of some acclaim (Francois Berleand), and falls deeply into the pit of love. After a brief fling that includes suggestions of sado-masochism, the novelist dumps Gabrielle and she falls tearfully into the arms of an egregiously spoiled rich kid (Benoit Magimel) who is as unstable as the stock market in October. He marries her despite his aristocratic mother's severe disapproval. The couple do not live happily ever after.
Although it contains elements of tragedy, "A Girl Cut in Two" is elevated above the level of melodrama by its refusal to play on cheap emotions and by the depth of its characters. It also can be funny, particularly in some painfully satirical looks at the almost unbelievable arrogance of the rich and/or famous.
Gabrielle has some rough going on the rocky road of love, although at the end, clearly with a twinkle in his eye, Chabrol offers her a kind of ironic redemption in a clever, thought-provoking conclusion.
Harper Barnes, the author of Never Been A Time: The 1917 Race Riot That Sparked The Civil Rights Movement, has also been a long-time reviewer of movies.