2008
Biography, Drama, History, Romance
Saul Dibb
Jeffrey Hatcher, Anders Thomas Jensen
Alexandra Arlango, Carolyn Marks Blackwood, François Ivernel, Michael Kuhn, Christine Langan, Cameron McCracken, Malcolm Ritchie, Andrew Semans, Gabrielle Tana, Jill Tandy, David M. Thompson, Andrew Warren, Colleen Woodcock, Mark Woolley
Keira Knightley, Ralph Fiennes, Charlotte Rampling, Dominic Cooper, Hayley Atwell, Simon McBurney, Aidan McArdle, John Shrapnel, Alistair Petrie, Patrick Godfrey, Michael Medwin, Justin Edwards, Richard McCabe, Calvin Dean, Hannah Stokely
Georgiana Spencer became Duchess of Devonshire on her marriage to the Duke in 1774, at the height of the Georgian period, a period of fashion, decadence, and political change. Spirited and adored by the public at large she quickly found her marriage to be a disappointment, defined by her duty to produce a male heir and the Duke's philandering and callous indifference to her. She befriends Lady Bess but finds she is once again betrayed by her husband who wields his power with the three eventually living uncomfortably together. Against this background, and with the pressures of an unfaithful husband, strict social pressures and constant public scrutiny, Georgiana falls passionately in love with Charles Grey, a rising young Whig politician. However, despite his ongoing liaison with Lady Bess, the Duke refuses to allow her to continue the affair and threatens to take her children from her. ------- After a careless youth, Georgiana Spencer is delighted to be married off at 17 by her parents in 1774 to the Duke of Devonshire, one of England's richest and most influential peers. Although his grace enables a lavish life-style in grand homes and privileged introduction to to the highest society circles, it comes at a price. The duke only cares for her as future mother of a male heir, and punishes her failing in that respect severely, while enjoying serial adultery and ordering her to help raise his illegitimate offspring, without omitting her sole confident Bess Foster. Even after the birth of a son, her indiscreet affair with rising politician Charles Grey is intolerable. ------- At the age of 17, Georgiana Spencer is married to the Duke of Devonshire. She soon realizes that hers is to be a loveless marriage and her only purpose in the arrangement is to provide her husband with a male heir. She hasn't much good fortune on that front, producing two daughters and having several miscarriages as well and it is many years before she succeeds. What relationship she does have with her husband breaks down completely when he begins what proves to be a lifelong affair with her best friend, Bess Foster. She does make a life for herself, becoming quite active in politics and the fashion icon of her day.
111 minutes (at 23.97 frames per second)
699 MB
DivX 5 - resolution: 660x276