The Duchess Tagged Articles at Cinematical

You may have noticed there was no release list this past Tuesday, as the big releases are all hitting shelves today (or yesterday or tomorrow -- it' seriously varies depending on store), and we're fully in the Christmas lull. Read on for today's handful of Hollywood films and 12/23 releases.

The Duchess
Ah, another film with Keira Knightley in period clothing. This time around, she's Georgiana, the Duchess of Devonshire, and she's a powerful woman reduced to love in secret under the reign of a rigid and mean husband (Ralph Fiennes). However, while Mr. Fiennes pulls off a chilling performance as the Duke of Devonshire, this period offers little of Georgiana's triumphs, much of her romantic turmoil, and not enough compelling cohesiveness to give her story a chance. Skip it.

Eagle Eye
First, DJ Caruso brought us Shia LaBeouf under house arrest in Disturbia. Now he's let Shia run around maniacally with Michelle Monaghan for Eagle Eye, as two innocent strangers become at the whim of a powerful phone caller who turns them into fugitives. This is one of those action flicks that did well in the box office, but didn't get a lot of critical love. Nevertheless, it's action to break up the holiday monotony, so Rent it.

Cinematical has just received this exclusive clip from the period drama The Duchess (click image above or head after the jump to view), directed by Saul Dibb and based on Amanda Foreman's best-selling novel. Starring Keira Knightley as Georgiana, the Duchess of Devonshire, the film chronicles the life of a vibrant beauty and celebrity of her time; a woman held prisoner in an unhappy marriage, but one who'd risk it all for the love of a young politician. (Been there, done that -- right ladies?) Also starring Ralph Fiennes, Charlotte Rampling, Dominic Cooper and Hayley Atwell, the following clip takes us inside a pretty intense confrontation between Georgiana and the Duke of Devonshire (Fiennes) as they battle one another for the respect each feels they deserve.

The Duchess (which is currently enjoying a limited release) expands to theaters across the country on October 10.

Winners
Rachel Getting Married (Sony Pictures Classics)
The Duchess (Paramount Vantage)
Fireproof (Samuel Goldwyn)

Riding a wave of positive buzz and the rising stardom of Anne Hathaway, Jonathan Demme's Rachel Getting Married crushed all comers, earning $33,667 per screen at nine theaters in New York, Los Angeles, and Toronto, according to estimates compiled by Box Office Mojo. Hathaway appeared everywhere to promote it, even gamely spoofing herself as host on Saturday Night Live. (Loved her as Mary Poppins!)

Too much attention may be paid to Keira Knightley's ribs, but she was undoubtedly the reason that The Duchess made $7,047 per screen as it expanded to 127 locations in its third week. Keira and costume dramas seem to be the right fit; I wouldn't be surprised if this one drew an older audience that consistently attends British historical flicks.

Still ignored by the mainstream press (in contrast to Bill Maher's Religulous), faith-based Fireproof dropped just 40.5% (about the same as Eagle Eye) and took in $4,776 per screen at 852 theaters in its second week. So far the film has grossed more than $12 million. Was it ever advertised on TV? Or was the marketing done entirely through church groups? Whatever the case, with a reported budget of only half a million dollars, Fireproof appears to be a healthy success story.

Sex Still Sells
Elegy (Samuel Goldwyn)
Frozen River (Sony Pictures Classics)

Elegy, the 'old professor in love with a younger woman' adaptation of a Philip Roth novel starring Ben Kingsley and a sometimes naked Penelope Cruz, is in its ninth week of release and still playing in 70 theaters. The theater count is dropping, but the film has grossed more than $3.3 million.

Click image above to head directly to hi-res gallery

Can you guess which sought-after, Oscar-nominated actress is enjoying some time with fans on the red carpet above? [Photo via Getty Images]

I'd just like to point out that all our writers currently attending the Toronto International Film Festival have been working their asses off to bring you the best reviews, interviews and scene coverage found online. Speaking to James Rocchi before via IM, I thanked him for taking a Paris Hilton bullet for the team and asked if he needed us to inject anymore Red Bull straight into his veins. For those who've never attended or worked a major film fest before, let me just tell you that it is non stop all day, all night ... and you will return home with a nasty, week-long illness. These kids do it because they love it, and they love you for reading them. So thanks team -- keep up the good work!

We're back on the red carpet today with a bunch of tasty images from several different premieres, including The Brothers Bloom, The Duchess, Paris, Not France, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and more. Check out the gallery below for some fantastic images from this year's Toronto bash (more hi-res images here), and make sure to keep it tuned in right here all week as we still have a long way to go. For a comprehensive list of all our Toronto coverage so far, head on over to our official fest Hub, or check out some sweet daily recaps over on Moviefone.

A sweeping period drama about Georgiana, the Duchess of Devonshire, The Duchess is a bland, largely flavorless story that takes one of the more interesting women in British history and reduces her largely to her relationships with the men in her life. From a purely technical standpoint, there's nothing bad to say about the filmmaking: The extravagant period costumes are resplendent with detail, the cinematography is gorgeous, the music is soaring, and the acting's solid but not great, but overall the film left me with the feeling of biting into a cream puff and finding that someone forgot the custard filling, leaving nothing but a hollow pastry and empty air.

Part of what hurts the film is the script, which is based on the autobiography of the same name by Amanda T. Foreman. There are three screenwriters credited to the film (which may be part of the problem): Jeffrey Hatcher, Anders Thomas Jensen, and Saul Dibb, the film's director. Their script takes the life story of a vibrant woman who was politically active and influential a century before the women's suffrage movement, and dilutes it to little more than a romantic drama of love triangles and oppression. Which is fine, I suppose, if that's all you want or expect of a period piece, but I was left with the feeling that there was so much more that was important and interesting about Georgiana's life that got lost in the focus on making a tragically romantic tale.

A new poster of The Duchess has appeared online, exclusive to ComingSoon.net.There's a snip of it to the right, and if you click on the lovely Keira Knightley, you'll be taken to the blindingly enormous version.

It's a stunning poster, although I think they could have lightened up on the airbrushing, as Knightley looks appallingly plastic. The dress, however, excuses all sorts of Photoshop sins. You know how I love my lush costumes, and The Duchess promises to have loads of gorgeous, frothy items. (One of my favorite sites, The Costumer's Guide to Movie Costumes, has a whole page devoted to it already. I want that fox hunting outfit for my own, but I'm not sure what to do with it since I don't hunt foxes. Or ride horses.)

But that's the big question about the film, isn't it? Will the movie actually say something relevant about Georgiana Spencer, Duchess of Devonshire? She was quite the figure in her own time; as the official press release notes, she was a leader of the progressive Whig Party, and an active political campaigner in an era when women couldn't even vote. The comparisons to her descendant, Princess Diana, are apt -- but both women would probably agree that such remarks are a bit glib. The movie marketing, however, is trading on that fact very heavily. I remain excited, but historical dramas can only go one of two ways: wonderful or awful. There's no in-between.

The Duchess opens September 19th, 2008.

It's been a long time since we saw the first trailer for The Duchess, an historical period piece starring Keira Knightley as the real-life 18th century Georgina Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire. But the film opens in September, so it's time to start the onslaught of more trailers and clips. First, we have one from the UK (via Empire), which is a little longer than that first U.S. version. One thing that's added in is a nice shot of Knightley's bum.

Another addition is a strange title card connecting Georgina to Princess Diana. It's true that the two ladies were related, though somewhat distantly (Diana was descended from Georgina's brother, George, who doesn't seem to be portrayed in the film), and I guess they were both celebrated as fashion icons. But I have to agree with Empire that pushing the connection "might be considered more than a little crass."

Also, I'm not sure I understand the title card that says "History Repeats Itself." Does it mean that portraying historical events on film is a repeat of those events? Because, to me, it seems more a confirmation of my feeling that we've already seen this movie a million times before.

The Duchess also stars Ralph Fiennes and Charlotte Rampling and will open in the States on September 19.

Who says that only superhero flicks and fanboy movies should get months of advance hype? Paramount Vantage has taken the unusual move of releasing a trailer for The Duchess, a period costume drama that won't be released until the fall of 2008. You can check out the trailer exclusively at Moviefone, or feel free to watch it above.

Back in September 2006, Danish director Susanne Bier was set to take on the adaptation of Amanda Foreman's novel, Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire. Plans changed, though. As Cinematical's Monika Bartyzel told us this past July, Saul Dibb was brought on to direct and Keira Knightley signed on to play Georgina, duchess of Devonshire, a controversial real-life figure from the 18th century. She lived "an extravagant, profligate and promiscuous life of political and romantic intrigue, becoming an important powerbroker amid Blighty's ruling elite, but also running up catastrophic gambling debts." Monika passed on more news in September: Ralph Fiennes, Dominic Cooper and Hayley Atwell were added to the cast. Filming began on September 23.

The trailer is restrained and buttoned up -- a horse-drawn carriage, a palace, a ballroom -- and Keira looks prim and proper until she exclaims: "You can't ask me to battle nature and my own heart!" and kisses a man that's probably not her husband; then we see some carefully shot bare flesh and a roaring fire; cue music swelling to a crescendo in the background. In other words: not much to set it apart from other period pictures or set tongues a-wagging.

Personally, I prefer Ms. Knightley in more contemporary fare, but I'm evidently in the minority on that opinion. Still, The Duchess has pretty pictures and all that, and Keira-fanatics should be happy to see her laced up in a corset again. Maybe the next trailer will be more distinctive.

In case you haven't noticed, I can get pretty vocal about my skepticism. One thing I often complain about is the immigration of talented foreign filmmakers, who come over and make disappointing English-language debuts. I won't name names this time around, but you know it is common. Now, the great Dane Susanne Bier announced her own debut long ago, and the film, Things We Lost in the Fire, is actually due next month and it could actually be decent (even with Halle Berry). Then there's her English-language screenplay debut (co-written with Jeffrey Hatcher), The Duchess, which is being directed by Saul Dibb and which stars Keira Knightley and Ralph Fiennes. That will probably be pretty good, too. But her newly announced second film in English, well, that could be awful.

According to Variety, Bier has signed to helm Lost for Words, a romantic comedy or something about a movie star who falls in love with a Chinese actress and her female translator. I'm not sure if its a love triangle thing or a threesome thing or what, but it was scripted by Jamie Curtis, who co-wrote Spice World, so it is sure to be hokey. Now, I make no secret of the fact that I love Spice World. Doesn't matter, I still think this is going to be bad, if only because of my skeptical prejudice. The movie has some more British talent involved, too; it will be produced by Love Actually writer-director Richard Curtis, along with Mr. Bean's Holiday (and Hot Fuzz) producers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner.

In her native Danish language, Bier last gave us After the Wedding, which was nominated for an Oscar earlier this year. She's also the director of festival hits Open Hearts (aka Dogme #28) and Brothers, both of which are being remade into English. Zach Braff (Garden State) is tackling the former while Jim Sheridan (In the Name of the Father) is helming the latter. We'll just have to wait and see what translates better, her films or her filmmaking skills.