Read about the Duchess
Critical reception
The Duchess movie received largely positive reviews. Rotten Tomatoes offers a score of 61% based on 163 reviews, with the general feeling that the film follows in the now-familiar footsteps of the corset-ripper, the costumes look brilliant and Keira Knightley's performance is stellar.
Marketing controversy
Studio executives wished to use digitally-altered images of Keira Knightley in advertising materials. The alterations were targeted at enlarging her breasts. Knightley complained about these alterations and they were subsequently not used. The campaign also drew criticism for its utilisation of Diana, Princess of Wales, who was an indirect descendant of Knightley’s character, Georgiana.
The advertising used taglines such as "two women related by ancestry and united by destiny" and they said, "There were three people in her marriage. This latter is an almost identical copy of a well-known quote that Diana, Princess of Wales said during her famous Panorama interview. Michael Hellicar of the Daily Mail stated that the Diana link is being so heavily, and it has to be said, so cynically and crudely promoted." Georgiana was in fact descended from much royalty.
Author’s thoughts
Amanda Foreman, who wrote Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, criticised the marketing campaign too, saying that the promoters probably thought the only way to get the young audience to see the movie was if they thought it was about Princess Diana, but it wasn't necessary and they should never have done that. And the line 'united by destiny' is wrong. I don't think Georgiana actually died in a carriage crash.