Soap opera, 18th-century style

Keira Knightley: She is hot and British, and I almost got to meet her last week.’
For my 20th birthday present, I was given the option of meeting Keira at a New York previewing of her new film, ‘The Duchess,’ which opens in selected theatres Friday.’ So I made the journey to NYC on a weeknight to see the actress of my dreams.
When I arrived at the theater on Third Avenue, I couldn’t hold in my excitement.’ I sat there in the front row of the theater anticipating Keira’s arrival.
And then an astute-looking, smaller gentleman who claimed to be a professor at Fordham entered the stage and announced that Keira would not be coming.
I was immediately disappointed. Still, though, I was happy to be there at all. The writer, director, producer and a very appealing young British actor in the film, Dominic Cooper, were there to talk at the end of the film.
‘The Duchess,’ which is based on a true story, turned out to be very different than I had imagined. The film takes place around the time of the French Revolution in England. Keira plays Georgiana, the Duchess of Devonshire, who is like the Audrey Hepburn of her time, starting many fashions and being loved by all.
Very much like a soap opera of another time, the film focuses on Keira and her husband, the Duke, played by Ralph Fiennes.
He is cold-hearted and uninteresting, only caring for his dogs and the possibility of having a male heir. Worst of all, though, he is unfaithful.’
After Georgiana produces two daughters and cares for the Duke’s first child, a girl as well, he grows angrier every day she doesn’t produce a boy. Georgiana really goes mad when her husband has an affair with her best friend, and she tries to get back at him by sleeping with another man (Cooper). The story gets even better when she realizes she is pregnant with her new lovers’ child.
The story is very intriguing from start to finish, especially because of the elaborate costumes, music and mere look of the film, thanks to the fact that they filmed most scenes where the real events took place.
Sadly, though, I wouldn’t be surprised if the film doesn’t receive a great amount of attention or press in the States because it is a major chick flick.
See this movie if you like period films and love Keira Knightley as much as I do, which is probably unlikely.