Not great. Not terrible

Very interesting movie and i loved the drama. When I watched it I did not realise it was based off a true story until the end

A beautiful and well acted film about a terrible and true story that reminds us somewhat of the story of Lady Di. Keira Knightley beautiful to die for in a very beautiful role. A nice moment of a princess in a strong and popular glass tower.

Keira Knightly looks stunning throughout. It's a remarkable story. Given those two facts, it's also remarkable how dull the film is. I really didn't care about the characters. I guess it's down to a poor screenplay.

A must see in women's history month. Knightley gives an incredibly emotive performance portraying a woman trapped in an abusive, unloving marriage.

Solid 18th century historical drama about the upper classes.

This is the first time I've ever completely revised a RT review. But this movie has done such a disservice to the legacy of the Duchess that I cannot endorse it anymore. Though the movie is hyped as being about her being an "activist" and "political influencer", in truth the film is just another potboiler about love, betrayal and motherly devotion. Nothing at all about how she affected British politics, or endorsed socially conscious issues, just scene after scene of her being disgusted by her husband (brilliantly played by everyone's favorite British aristocrat Fiennes) and his emotionless philandering. Wikipedia gives a lengthy description of her political life, literary career, her gambling problems and a later interest in the developing sciences. Altogether a wasted opportunity, sort of like making a movie about Madame Curie and only showing her changing diapers and mending clothes.

It's truly sad that the Duke never loved his wife in the way she wanted him to love her. The conflicts, the storyline, the end everything was well performed and done.

Beautiful movie, beautiful costumes and beautifully played. A must see if you like movies of that kind. The way it's inspired a lot about the real story fascinate me. Truly fantastic that a woman like that existed in the beginning of 1800 and Keira Knightley gives a powerful yet authentic representation of the Duchess.

Knightly makes it work, but the film seems more interested in elaborate costuming than story.

The movie started with a bang and from there it declined in intensity, it got me bored at the end.

I actually felt surprisingly engaged in Dibb's no B.S. screenplay and the frankly quite intriguing various characters of The Duchess.

Remarkable story about the Duchess - well beyond her years!

Knightly was tremendous as usual. Very good story, direction, cinematography and cast

Not a chick flick and should appeal to most people.

What a sad story....money really does not always translate to happiness.

It's hard to like the main charachters so you kinda dont care what happens to them.

Period films have one of three functions: to show us how things were once better, to show us how things were once worse, and to tell us something about our contemporary society. This one is arguably the second, but is actually the latter. Whether you agree that the problem is men, or society, or male society, there is and are only one victim - the girls. And this film hammers that message home like all our lives depend on it. Even women who betray one another are victims. And so in this era of what De Beauvoir might have retermed The First Sex we get this chocolate box monstrosity. A star for the score and half a star for some of the acting (Knightley not dreadful for once, but nothing for Fiennes, who dials in his usual tight-lipped performance, and Cooper who has gracefully sunk into oblivion since The History Boys).

Knightley gave an affecting performance as her probable best yet while gesturing towards genuine subtle feminism, along with Fiennes performing nicely though instigating the unresolved male privilege effects as a counter comment that had roughen the artistically not-so-distant fact-based melodramatic atmosphere. (B) (Full review TBD)

One of those films that makes you jump down a Wikipedia hole straight afterwards to find out how much of it really happened. Very evocative of the aristocratic society of the time - very good.