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Georgiana was just a teenager when she became the Duchess of Devonshire. She was young, beautiful, a fashionista of her day. Many Anglophiles compare her to Princess Diana. Only Georgiana was more progressive than Diana. She fought against the double standard between men and women and was active in politics. This movie on her life captures the repressive era toward women and the struggles she had to endure.

When Georgiana (Keira Knightley, PRIDE & PREJUDICE) first learns that the Duke of Devonshire, William Cavendish (Ralph Fiennes, THE ENGLISH PATIENT), plans to marry her, she is excited, believing in an innocent way that the older man has actually fallen in love with her. But in reality all he really wants from her is to keep up appearances and produce him an heir. The affairs with other women start early and Georgiana is early on forced to take in an illegitimate daughter of his and raise her as her own. As someone states, the Duke is the only person in England who doesn’t love Georgina. Lonely, the Duchess finally befriends Bess Foster (Hayley Atwell, 2008’s BRIDESHEAD REVISITED), a woman who has been kicked out of her home by her husband. But with the Duke bedding many women, how can Georgiana resist her feelings for the handsome young politician Charles Grey (Dominic Cooper, MAMMA MIA!), who she has known since she was young.

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Check Out the Trailer

Those who know the work of avant-garde French filmmaker Eric Rohmer would not draw a connection to edge-pushing comedian Chris Rock. But here we have Rock putting his own twist on Rohmer’s famed film, CHLOE IN THE AFTERNOON. Minus the artistry (or pretense depending on your point of view), Rock takes the theme of Rohmer’s film and makes it his own, including his own raunchy comedy.

Richard Cooper (Rock) is an investment banker, married with two kids. His wife Brenda (Gina Torres, SERENITY) and he are going through a rough patch in their marriage. The spark is gone and Richard is frustrated that they no longer have sex. Then enters Nikki Tru (Kerry Washington, LAST KING OF SCOTLAND), the sexy former girlfriend of one of Richard’s old friends. She has moved back to New York and is desperate for a friend to help her out. Richard can hardly resist. While the relationship stays platonic, this distraction starts to make waves at Richard’s office that soon break at home.

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