"The Duchess" - Puzzling

I saw "The Duchess" on the last day of my vacation.  It wasn't my first choice - I wanted to see the comedy "Ghost Town" but it was playing at the wrong time and in the wrong place.

"The Duchess" is beautifully filmed, the costumes are lovely, the acting is very good and the story...well, frankly, the story is kind of boring and common.  Young girl married to a rich older Duke, girl doesn't conceive sons, Duke has affairs, girl falls in love, girl suffers, Duke doesn't care.  I know it was based on a true story, but I still wasn't that impressed.

One of the reasons we went to this movie was that my companion said they had heard that Ralph Fiennes (pronounced Rafe Fines, BTW) was especially good in it.  I love him.  LOVE HIM.  This movie did little for me in regard to his acting ability or charisma or...anything.  If you want to see him BRILLIANT in a movie, see "Schindler's List".  I know, I know - hard to watch.  Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes and Ben Kingsley were amazing in this movie.  What hope lies there - even in the darkest times, someone can do something that turns out to save generations of people.  

I digress...back to "The Duchess"...

I didn't hate it.  I just didn't love it.  It was a pleasant enough couple of hours, but it just didn't create any kind of feeling for the characters.  I wanted to feel some kind of empathy or caring for the Duchess, but by the time it happened, the movie was nearly over and I was kind of done with it.   I don't know.  I guess my standards are too high.

Here are the visual high points of the film for me:

There were some GREAT previews, though.  I am excited for the coming movie season...

"Defiance", "The Soloist", "Doubt" and "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" are all looking good.  I saw some print ads for other movies, too, that are coming down the pike.  I have been dying for some good dramas and some good comedies - not the "Dumb and Dumber" variety.  And all the dramas last year that caught any attention were all the manly, "There will be blood" or "No Country for Old Men" or whatever...yuk.  Not appealing at all for me.  I'm thinking this year is my year for movies.  Yay.

P.S.  I am working on "Spring Awakening" - interpreted performance on Thursday evening at 7:30pm.  Weird show.  Very odd.  Provocative.  Good music, but very dark.  A good fluffy show wouldn't go amiss.