History Film / TheDuchess

''The Duchess'' is a 2008 film from BBC Films and Pathé (distributed in America by Creator/{{Paramount}}), directed by Saul Gibb, with musical score by Rachel Portman, and starring Creator/KeiraKnightley, Creator/RalphFiennes, Creator/HayleyAtwell and Creator/DominicCooper.

* AmbiguousDisorder: [[TheStoic The Duke]]. He appears to have no real friends and rarely interacts with ''anyone'' else in the film aside from Bess or Georgiana. He's cold, distant and admits several times he's not good at expressing his feelings; while the closest he comes to expressing any emotion (other than anger) is when interacting with Bess' sons and his pet dogs.

* PrettyInMink: One of Georgiana's outfits has a red fox muff and a NiceHat with fox tails. She also has a maternity dress with fur trim.

* QuestionableConsent: How much Bess had to say in regards of becoming the Duke's mistress is left ambiguous, since her response to being questioned by Georgiana about it is that the Duke was the only man with the power to return Bess's children to her, the implication being that the Duke exercised SexualExtorsion on Bess. Nonetheless, it's mentioned that Bess and the Duke ultimately continued their affair well after her children were a factor, and even married after Georgiana's death.

* MaritalRapeLicense: The Duke rapes Georgiana after his discovery of her affair with Charles Grey, and nobody does anything even when they hear her screaming. In the 18th Century, women were considered the property of their husbands who were thus ''entitled'' to sex with them, whether they wanted it or not. Given that marital rape wasn't completely outlawed in England until the R v R case in 1991, this ValuesDissonance isn't quite as old as many suppose.

* AdultFear: Your husband can take your children away from you, and there's nothing you can do about it because you're a woman and he has the law on his side. This briefly happens to Bess, while the Duke threatens to do this to Georgiana if she continues her affair.

* StarCrossedLovers: Georgiana and Charles Grey, due to her already being married to a neglectful and abusive {{Jerkass}}, in a society where divorce and a woman having an affair are considered huge taboos. [[spoiler: Georgiana is later forced by her husband to end her relationship with Grey, or he'll never let her see her illegitimate daughter again]].

* YourCheatingHeart: The Duke is very obvious about his affairs. Georgiana briefly has one with a Charles Grey, but it ends badly.

* EasilyForgiven: Georgiana forgives both the Duke and Bess in the end, despite all of the suffering they put her through. Bess is more easily forgiven as Georgiana comes to realise that Bess only had the affair (initially) to regain her children, something she herself experiences later. Georgiana however never fully forgives the Duke or [[NeverLiveItDown lets him forget]] the time he raped her, naturally.