 Starring: Keira Knightley, Ralph Fiennes, Charlotte Rampling, Dominic Cooper, Hayley Atwell
Director: Saul Dibb
Year Of Release: 2008
Plot: It’s the 18th Century and after marrying the Duke Of Devonshire at the age of 17, Georgiana soon realises that her husband doesn’t really care for her (especially after he begins a long-standing affair with her friend) and he just wants her to produce an heir. However she becomes a fashion icon, adored by the public, even while her home life is increasingly miserable. |
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I’ve written before about how I’m not entirely sure what the point of Keira Knightley is. However watching The Duchess I had any idea as to what makes her popular (other than her looks). I think it’s that she’s generally in films that call on her to wear ridiculous costumes, which perhaps helps distract from the fact she can’t act. After all, when she’s wandering around with a three foot wig on her head, as she does in The Duchess, it’s difficult not to concentrate on that, rather than her performance.
Not since the early days of Helena Bonham Carter has an actress seemingly chosen her roles largely on the strengths of the get-ups she’d be asked to wear, whether it’s decked out as semi-Chinese pirate in PotC: At World’s End, an 18th Century clothes horse in the Duchess, putting a leopdead sheep pork pie on her head in the TV version of Doctor Zhivago or wearing what looks like a leather bikini in King Arthur.
In fact I can’t think of many other actresses who in such short a space of time have gone to such couturial extremes. But as I say, maybe she realises that looking a bit silly (yet pretty) helps cover up the fact that she isn’t actually a particularly good actress, and nor does she have that much on-screen charisma. There’s no doubt though, thanks to the clothes, you certainly notice her.
So rather than rabbiting on any more, I thought it would be best just to take a visual tour through the ridiculous costumes of Keira Knightley, and revel in what’s she’s worn over the last decade, all in the name of art.
Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999)
Role: Sabe (Padme’s Double)
AKA: The mourning peacock, I’m glad no one knows who I am look
Doctor Zhivago (2002)
Role: Lara
AKA: The an animal just died on my head look
King Arthur (2004)
Role: Guinevere
AKA: The if I distract people with a leather bikini and a big, phallic sword, no will notice how I’m the least convincing warrior in history look
Pride & Prejudice (2005)
Role: Elizabeth Bennett
AKA: The tramp chic look
Domino (2005)
Role: Domino Harvey
AKA: The if I distract people by wearing combats and carry a big, phallic gun, no will notice how I’m the least convincing bounty hunter in history look
Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006)
Role: Elizabeth Swann
AKA: The Miss Haversham in training look
Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World’s End (2007)
Role: Elizabeth Swann
AKA: The I’ve got to find some way to pull focus from Johnny Depp look
Atonement (2007)
Role: Cecilia
AKA: The I wish they had falsies in the 1930s look
The Edge Of Love (2008)
Role: Vera Phillips
AKA: The see how sophisticated I am look
The Duchess (2008)
Role: Georgiana, Duchess Of Devonshire
AKA: The look how massive my brain is look
AKA: The I’m seeing how far I can take the ridiculous costumes before someone realises I’m taking the piss look (or, the if you wear a bird of your head, you've got to expect a fox to try and kill it look)
TIM ISAAC
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