THE DUCHESS/FORBIDDEN FRUIT

Reviews of this film are embargoed under pain of death until nearer its September 5th release date but photos suggest it will be an unparalleled treat for the fashion conscious as well as a star vehicle for Keira Knightley.

********************The Duchess is directed by Saul Dibb, who made a stunning debut with East London crime estates drama Bullet Boy two years ago.

Could he possibly work as deftly with a female heroine from two centuries back?

The photos scream YES!

The story is based on the recent biography 'Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire' by Amanda Foreman, a bestseller that told a tale of the Duchess as beautiful, glamorous and adored by the public but cursed in terms of love.

To wit, beneath Georgiana’s glamorous façade lay an intelligent, vulnerable woman stranded in a loveless marriage to the Duke of Devonshire, one of the richest men in England.

Frustrated by the limitations imposed on her by virtue of her sex and her class, she rebelled, entering into an intense relationship with the beautiful Bess Foster, thereby upsetting the cool balance of her marriage to the Duke and leading to a complex ménage a trois.

Georgiana’s rebellion extended to the public sphere where she tore down the conventions, becoming a political campaigner for the liberal party and galvanising the nation.

In so doing she fell in love with Charles Grey, the future Prime Minister, finally discovering the meaning of true love.

But could true love survive the strictures of the Duke, of Bess and of Society – the pressures of marriage and motherhood, of friendship and loyalty, of class and celebrity?

The film will supply the answer for all on September 5, 2008.

Posted August 6, 2008.