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Christopher Orr, The New Republic: [Viewers] may wish to heed the marital advice Georgiana's mother offers early in the film: 'Equip yourself with patience, fortitude, and resignation.' Read more
Ben Lyons, At the Movies: There's something really special about Kiera Knightly in these period pieces. Read more
Tasha Robinson, Chicago Tribune: It's disturbingly shallow, focused so tightly on one woman's feelings of repression and loneliness that it lacks any perspective on their causes. Read more
David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: Although it skims the surface, The Duchess is an uncommonly well-crafted historical feminist tearjerker -- both anti-patriarchal and a monument to motherhood. Read more
J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: This is scandal-mongering fun that also lays bare the deforming power of the male aristocracy. Read more
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: Princess Di deserves livelier revisionism. Read more
Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Fiennes, an actor who disappears into roles like ice in a teacup, makes the Duke a complex and almost sympathetic figure, a bulky, unappealing man whose interests are in all the wrong things. Read more
Noel Murray, AV Club: The Duchess recalls Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette, in that it's about bed-hopping and courtly ritual during a time of revolution. Read more
Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: The Duchess is clearly Knightley's movie, ultimately rising or falling on her performance. She's up to the task, capturing both the charm and grace that made Georgiana so captivating. Read more
Ty Burr, Boston Globe: I'm not sure why The Duchess doesn't wholly succeed, because the pieces are all there and they're very watchable. Read more
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: Thanks to Fiennes, we come to understand the enigmatic duke as the immovable object deeply perplexed at having to contend with the unstoppable force that is his wife. It is a quietly complex performance almost beyond words. Read more
Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: It isn't just eye candy; there's an active intelligence behind this design. Read more
Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: It's easy to joke about Knightley's fondness for period dramas. But we shouldn't underestimate her ability to channel the historic and modern into one compelling figure -- or her grasp of the power of dress-up to free performance. Read more
Tom Long, Detroit News: Though extravagantly pretty, The Duchess still manages to be a costume drama in which the drama survives the costumes. Read more
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: [The filmmakers] have accomplished their goal of making the unorthodox life of the late-18th-century noblewoman Georgiana Spencer, Duchess of Devonshire, relevant to a 21st-century audience of moviegoers. Read more
Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Nice try, but the contemporary parallels are just an empty echo. Read more
Christy Lemire, Associated Press: Sure, The Duchess is a lavish exercise in style over substance, but it's a well-crafted, superbly acted one. Read more
Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: There's nothing here to show us what a remarkable woman Georgiana was, if indeed she was at all. Read more
Rafer Guzman, Newsday: [Knightley] breathes real life into the role of Georgiana Cavendish, an 18th century aristocrat with striking parallels to another, more modern, British notable. Read more
David Ansen, Newsweek: It's elegantly mounted and never dull -- and always easy on the eyes. Read more
Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Things unfold as neatly, and slowly, as a minuet, but there's none of the messiness of life. And that's a shame. Read more
Bob Mondello, NPR.org: Knightley's wig gets bigger and bigger as the character grows more unhappy, until finally it catches fire — leading to the potentially immortal line, "Please put out Her Grace's hair." Read more
Kyle Smith, New York Post: Knightley is a paper doll around whom the movie wraps hoop skirts and 21st century victimology. Read more
Rex Reed, New York Observer: It looks like outtakes from the nauseating bubble-gum fantasy Marie Antoinette. Read more
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Read more
Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: While I much liked The Duchess, this portrait feels unfinished. Read more
James Berardinelli, ReelViews: It has impeccable production values but feels like a Masterpiece Theater production of a Harlequin romance novel. Read more
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: The Duchess is a handsome historical film, impeccably mounted, gowned, wigged and feathered. Read more
Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: Knightley is up to the task. Her Georgiana is history with a human face. Read more
Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle: Beguiling. Read more
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: The Duchess gives us a gorgeous world, a detailed picture of a time and place that could have been painted by Constable, Gainsborough or Watteau. But you wouldn't want to live there. Read more
Linda Barnard, Toronto Star: Fiennes and Knightley are exceptional in their roles and Dibb proves himself ably in his first big-budget flick. Read more
David Fear, Time Out: Knightley does the best she can to enliven such thin Masterpiece Theatre material, but eventually, the sheer emptiness of the pageantry wears her -- and us -- out. Read more
Dave Calhoun, Time Out: He's also helped enormously by a mature, restrained portrayal from Knightley, a masterclass in passive aggression from Fiennes and a performance of tender seduction from Atwell. Read more