The Duchess (2008)

Keira Knightley is a force to be reckoned with. She shines in the repressed society of 1770s England, where her main job is to provide her husband with a male heir, no matter what the cost.
Her mother, Lady Spencer (Charlotte Rampling) may love her daughter (in her own way) she also wants her daughter to succeed and marry well. So she lies and states that the distant but well-appointed Duke William of Cavendish (Ralph Fiennes, just as nasty as Voldemort) does love her which causes Georgiana (called G) to enter into a loveless marriage which gets tougher by the years as she fails to provide her husband with a healthy son. They don't talk and the Duke has few interests outside of his dogs and bedding any woman he can get his hands on. Even after Georgiana befriends the lovely and lonely Lady Elizabeth Foster (Hayley Atwell), he beds her. Georgiana is beyond devastated and though Bess claims it is in order to get her children back (she escaped an abusive marriage but  has no rights to her sons) but they do fall in love though William is more or less incapable of true love.
Though Georgiana falls in love with the politically ambitious Charles Grey (Dominic Cooper), she isn't allowed to have a lover on the side though her husband is as he holds all the cards. He rapes her, in a truly dreadful rape scene and then she bears him a son. Still, she can't be with Charles though for those few, brief moments, Georgiana is truly happy.
But then, William threatens everything. Charles's future will be ruined, he will see to that, never mind that he cares little about politics and speeches but by his word and reputation alone and she will never see her children again. So she returns, but it comes at a price. She is pregnant with Charles's baby.
This film doesn't really have a happy ending. Georgiana must give up her baby, and receives no sympathy from her husband but she accepts what must be done. She is as happy as she can be. She visits her youngest daughter in secret and wishes that others have happiness after she dies too young.
I am glad that women are valued for far more than their ability to bear children and that true love is more important than a smart match. Women have options and rights and for that, I am forever grateful.
That being said, this film truly shows how society was for women, with Georgiana choosing her children's happiness over her own, and how crippling it was for them, from the corset marks on her back to the money she receives when she finally bears a healthy son.
The acting is superb and Knightley was robbed of an Oscar nomination, showing every emotion in a society where being yourself wasn't allowed. Ralph Fiennes is completely unsympathetic; you can only hope that the children somehow turn out to be kind, decent people. The supporting characters also sink their teeth into their roles.
Also, the costumes and hairstyles (the way women express themselves, as Georgiana declares) make this film worth watching. Grade: A-