Review: The Duchess (2008)

It seems that in the past year, I've seen a lot of movies that take place in the Georgian era, which is great since I had seen very little movies from that era before and I do so love the fashion of that era! Between Amazing Grace, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Mozart's Sister, The Kent Chronicles, Poldark, and now The Duchess, I finally have seen a number of films from one of my favorite fashion eras. We've actually owned The Duchess for a while now (my mom bought it at a low price on Amazon), but it was only recently that I got to watch it. I have seen pictures of it previously and thought the costuming looked good, but I did hear that there was some content with this movie. Off the bat, I want to warn you that this movie is not for children and that it has some mature scenes/themes (my review, on the other hand, doesn't get graphic as to the content), so if you do decided to watch this movie, just be ready to fast-forward.

Box Art

Synopsis
Based on historical events, The Duchess tells the story of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, and her marriage to William Cavendish, the Duke of Devonshire. At the age of seventeen, Georgiana marries the duke with hopes of a happy life with him, however she soon learns that the duke does not care for her and only wanted a male heir to inherit his title. Though she was in an unhappy marriage, she was loved by the people for her fashion sense. She was frequently involved in politics and helped a young politician by the name of Charles Grey, who she grows very fond of.

Review: Miss Potter (2006)

I think I remember seeing advertisements for Miss Potter... No, I'm nearly certain! But since it was before I got into period dramas, I hadn't taken much notice and quite forgot about it (for shame!). Recently (and by recently I mean less than a year), I've seen other blogs post about Miss Potter. And about a week or so ago, watched the trailer, showed it to my mom, and then next thing I knew, we had it on DVD.


DVD Box Art

Synopsis

30 and unmarried, Beatrix Potter has always enjoyed drawing pictures of animals and creating children's stories. She tries to get her book The Tale of Peter Rabbit published: the publishers, thinking her book will not sell well, pass off her book on their brother, Norman Warne. Beatrix and Norman become very good friends and Beatrix's book is published, and love grows between Beatrix and Norman.

Characters

There were a couple of actors and actresses you may recognize from other period dramas. Bill Paterson (Rupert Potter) was in Little Dorrit, Wives and Daughters, and Amazing Grace. David Bamber (Fruing Warne) was in Pride and Prejudice and was briefly in The King's Speech. Barbara Flynn (Helen Potter) was in The Barchester Chronicles, Wives and Daughters, He Knew He Was Right, and Cranford. Ewan McGregor (Norman Warne) was in the 1996 movie of Emma. Lucy Boynton (Young Beatrix Potter) was in the 2008 miniseries of Sense and Sensibility. And Phyllidia Law (Mrs. Warne) is known for being the mother of Emma and Sophie Thompson and was Mrs. Bates in the 1996 movie of Emma.

Renee Zellweger as Beatrix Potter

Renee Zellweger was wonderful as Beatrix Potter. In Miss Potter, Beatrix is portrayed as a spunky, creative woman of 30 who is passionate about her artwork and stories. Beatrix doesn't care for life in the city and prefers the country home that her family stays at during the summer. Her mother tried to create matches for her to men that were high in society but were oafish. Because of her refusing her mother's matches, Beatrix is constantly at odds with her mother, who doesn't recognize Beatrix's talent as an author and illustrator; her father, however, encourages Beatrix's talents. Unmarried, Beatrix tries to make a living selling children's stories. It was kind of cute how she would imagine her drawings coming to life. I was worried that the filmmakers would overdo it, but I am very glad to say that they didn't! Lucy Boynton also did a good job as a young Beatrix. The story does go a little bit back and forth between the "present" and the past when Beatrix was a child, but it did not get confusing like some movies can be with time changes.



Beatrix Potter with Norman Warne (Ewan McGregor), who is
reviewing The Tale of Peter Rabbit.

Ewan McGregor was great as Norman Warne. I was rooting for him and Beatrix for nearly the whole movie. Spoiler I was so sad when he died! It was difficult to hold back tears! Though I happened to read that in real life he died before marrying Beatrix, there was still that part of me that wanted them to get married. End of Spoiler On a side note, Ewan McGregor looked better in here than he did as Frank Churchill in Emma (finally! He got rid of the long hair!). But did anyone notice how he doesn't have a mustache on the DVD box? I hadn't noticed until I read about it online.

Barbara Flynn does another great job as Mrs. Potter. Sure, she wasn't a great character since she was always putting Beatrix down about her writing, but I still think that Barbara Flynn did a good job. There was something of humor in some of her lines ("I wish you wouldn't bring tradespeople into the house. They carry dust."). Spoiler I was a bit mad at her for disapproving of Norman! End of Spoiler Bill Paterson played a quiet Mr. Potter, but he was likable Spoiler (Though he didn't approve of Norman either...) End of Spoiler.

The Potter family (minus Bertram Potter).
Pictured is Mrs. Potter, Mr. Potter,
and a young Beatrix.

Scenery

You get a wide range of nice scenery. Scenes sometimes move back and forth between the city and the country, but both are very nice. The second half of the movie focuses more on the countryside Spoiler since Beatrix moves to the country after the death of Norman. With her fortune made from selling children's books, she begins to buy farmland to preserve the countryside. She spends much of her time on this farmland drawing and taking care of her property. End of Spoiler

Costuming

I enjoyed the costuming. I've only started to watch period dramas with Edwardian fashions, so I was really interested in the costuming. Beatrix had some nice outfits (though one got dirty with ink!). Mrs. Potter had some intersting costumes also: hers were fancier than Beatrix's due to her social climbing nature, but they still looked nice.

Music

There is some nice music in Miss Potter. Some of the songs were based on a music box that Beatrix showed Norman, which was a nice song. If you are interested, Amazon does have the CD for Miss Potter.

Overall: 4.5/5

I highly recommend this movie for all ages! It is rated PG, but aside from a couple of swear words, there wasn't anything bad in it: if it wasn't for one swear word (at least there was only one I could remember), it could have been G. It was rather cute and sweet! There are some sad parts in there (I did have a difficult time holding back tears), but it all turns out okay in the end! There are a number of good lines from this movie, so it's definitely quotable!

Miss Potter is available on DVD. It is rated PG for brief mild language. It runs for 92 minutes.

Review: Amazing Grace (2006)

YES! Finally, I got to watch Amazing Grace. I had wanted to see this movie when it came out in theaters, but as I don't go to the theaters often, I never got to see it. Then, years later, when I got into period dramas, I remembered this movie and really wanted to see it. And finally, I was able to watch it yesterday.  

DVD Box Art

Synopsis

William Wilberforce, a member of parliament, is taken to Bath to stay with his cousin, Henry Thornton, and Henry Thornton's wife Marianne Thornton. The Thorntons try to set William up with Barbara Spooner, a young lady of their acquaintance; both Barbara and William have a lot of things in common and the both become very close. The movie moves back and forth between the past where William begins the movement to abolish slavery and the present. In parliament, William faces much opposition: Lord Tarleton and the Duke of Clarence lead the opposition to keep the slave trade. Slowly and over many years, William makes progress toward the abolition of the slave trade.

Characters
There were quite a bit of period drama actors and actresses in this movie. If you scroll to the bottom of this review, I have included a table with all of them; there were just so many that the table would make everything look neater.

William Wilberforce (Right) seeking advice
from John Newton (Left)

The acting is great! Ioan Gruffudd was wonderful as William Wilberforce. He conveyed the emotion that a politician would need in order to win over people to the abolition movement. His performance here shows that he is a great actor. I am convinced by his portrayal of William Wilberforce. Romola Garai also starred as his future wife Barbara Spooner; her acting job was wonderful as well. My only complaint is that it would have been nice to have seen more of John Newton (Albert Finney), but it's only a minor one; my favorite quote from the movie is said by him: "...I remember two things clearly: I'm a great sinner and Christ is a great savior."


Scenery

William Wilberforce presenting a petition to parliament.

There is some nice scenery in Amazing Grace. There is a mixture of scenes in the country and in London, but everything looks good! The only scene that was not so great was when Olaudah Equiano was showing William the slave ship (in fact, if you do not want to hear the details of the treatment of slaves on the ships, you may want to skip that part). Other than that, the outdoor scenes and even the indoor scenes were great; the colors were very nice for the most part in both the indoor and outdoor scene.

Barbara Spooner (Romola Garai)

Costumes
The costuming was good. It's usually hard to review the men's costumes since most of the time they are pretty much the same; their costumes did seem to be period accurate, though. There were only three women in this movie, but their costumes were great. Through Barbara's dresses, you could tell roughly at what time each sequence takes place. When her and William first meet, she is wearing clothes that would represent the late 1700s, but before the Regency era (so before 1795), . Once her and William are married and have their first child, her clothes represent the very early Regency. Once the law is passed to abolish slavery, you can pretty much tell that her clothes are Regency.


Music
The song "Amazing Grace" does have some importance in this movie. It is sung once by William Wilberforce and it is sung again at William WIlberforce and Barbara Spooner's wedding. At the end, there is a band of bagpipes, drums, and wind instruments that play it. It was performed very nicely each time. The rest of the soundtrack had more serious music.

Overall: 4/5 4.5/5
This was a very good movie! It was very well acted, the scenery was great, and the costuming was good. I could have done without hearing about some details about the treatment of the slaves (which is probably something that children shouldn't hear). Other than that and some talk of the ill actions of a politician, there wasn't too much that was very bad. I would say that this would be great to watch in a history class.

Amazing Grace is available on DVD. It runs for 117 minutes and is rated PG for thematic material involving slavery and some mild language

Actor/Actress -- Role in Amazing Grace -- Other Period Dramas

Ioan Gruffudd -- William Wilberforce -- Pip in Great Expectations (1999)

Romola Garai -- Barbara Spooner -- Emma Woodhouse in Emma (2009), Gwendolen Harleth in Daniel Deronda

Benedict Cumberbatch -- William Pitt (the Younger) -- Sherlock Holmes in Sherlock (2010)

Michael Gambon -- Lord Charles Fox -- Mr. Woodhouse in Emma (2009), Thomas Holbrook in Cranford (2007), Squire Hamley in Wives and Daughters (1999)

Rufus Sewell -- Thomas Clarkson -- Will Landislaw in Middlemarch (1994)

Ciraran Hinds -- Lord Tarleton -- Captain Frederick Wentworth in Persuasion (1995)

Toby Jones -- Duke of Clarence -- Daniel Quilp in The Old Curiosity Shop (2007), Squercum in The Way We Live Now (2001)

Sylvestra Le Touzel -- Marianne Thornton -- Mrs. Allen in Northanger Abbey (2007), Fanny Price in Mansfield Park (1983)

Nicholas Farrell -- Henry Thornton -- Edmund Bertram in Mansfield Park (1983)

Bill Paterson -- Lord Dundas -- Mr. Meagles in Little Dorrit (2008), Mr. Gibson in Wives and Daughters (1999)

Michael Gambon as Lord Charles Fox

Movie Poster