★★★☆☆
Ah, the royals; they really are the gift that keeps on giving. So many millions of pages, billions of bytes, bloviation and bollocks. For every small, incisive examination, so much dire drivel. Wading into this milieu come director Mike Newell and screenwriter Louise Fennell, bringing something unexpectedly quite interesting.
My Duchess is the story of the latter years of the Duchess of Windsor and American divorcée Wallis Simpson (Dame Joan Collins), bereaved wife of Edward VIII who, in the midst of a constitutional crisis, abdicated the English throne. For love. Set between 1972, immediately following Edward’s death, and 1978, My Duchess means to show us the woman behind the wealth and privilege.
Following some helpful newsreel backgrounding, the film opens in a tacky 1970s Paris nightclub, Chez Chou Chou, where a drag show featuring a Duchess of Windsor lookalike is playing. Watching from the audience are Wallis and good friend Laurent Lafitte (endearingly portrayed by Jean-Claude De Montalbon).
This setup could be taken as a provocation, but the screenplay imagines Wallis having a sympathetic conversation with her doppelgänger. It’s a fascinating introduction that reveals much about Wallis’ character.
Newly widowed, Wallis is holed up in Paris, ostracised by the royal family, and under siege from the English press. Increasingly frail but retaining her famed glamour and wit, Wallis hires a lawyer, Maître Suzanne Blum (Isabella Rossellini), to fix a PR problem.
What begins as a friendly relationship becomes a nightmare of coercion, as Blum slowly asserts control over every facet of Wallis’ life. The travails of Harry and Meghan are hyperbolic trifles in comparison.
My Duchess is apparently something of a personal project for Collins, who sees in Wallis’ persecution by the press some similarities with her own career. And indeed, Collins gives a fine performance, capturing the glamour and self-possession, if not all the haughtiness of Wallis. It’s a very humanising portrayal, especially in the later scenes where Collins eschews makeup and gives us advanced old age, liver spots and all.
Rossellini, while clearly the bad guy here, nevertheless provides some lovely nuance to Blum, noticeably her sad domestic life. Blum’s husband, openly and patronisingly, has a mistress he loves. Blum craves that same love but, unable to have it, substitutes her need with control.
Blum bristles at Wallis’ dismissive shallowness while still desiring that which she can never acquire – wealth and love. Obsession becomes possession. Incrementally, Blum’s severe, masculine appearance softens as she appropriates a little of Wallis’ overt femininity and most of her freedom.
For all its exploration of Wallis as a mere mortal subjected to disgraceful elder abuse, something in this film grates. Well, a couple of things. The first is tone. Newell can’t seem to settle on what sort of film My Duchess wants to be: A drawing room drama, a psychological thriller or a full-tilt gothic horror.
Mike Eley’s cinematography heightens the horror element with shallow focus, extreme close-ups, and shadow effects. In fact, the final scenes look more in place down the M4 at Hammer Horror rather than Ealing Studios.
The effect of this falls unfairly on Rossellini, who is terrific in the small moments but at times seems unsure how to position Blum, with pantomime villain a live option. I don’t mind OTT, as long as it’s consistent. Rossellini is a wonderful actor and deserved that consistency from writer and director.
Then there is the elephant in the room – Edward and Wallis’ fascist sympathies. And the elephant is actually mentioned – by name! – in a very brief discussion between Wallis and her neighbour Lady Mosely (Miranda Richardson, underused), an unapologetic fascist and friend of Hitler.
This matters, not least because Blum herself was Jewish. And the film isn’t hiding it – even placing a menorah on Blum’ desk. If Blum’s Jewishness is important context, it’s not pursued; we only get a glimpse of the elephant’s left foot. I understand this film’s focus is elsewhere, but still. A hagiography is as bad as a hatchet job.
Production design by Gemma Jackson is gorgeous. Sandy Powell and Charlotte Law have a ball with costumes. There is some terrific acting, including a delicious turn from Charles Dance as a condescending Lord Mountbatten.
Buom Tihngang is wonderful as Louis, Wallis’ loyal footman who, in a delightful scene, classily slaps down Mountbatten’s avarice. Yves Heck conveys long-serving butler Antoine’s doomed balance of survival with grace.
My Duchess is an interesting portrait of an endearingly uncompromising woman, occasionally her own worst enemy, whose privilege was powerless in the face of cruel, obsessive psychopathy. In the hands of Dame Joan Collins, Wallis Simpson’s last years make for poignant, if frustrating, viewing.
The Russell Hobbs British Film Festival is on now in Sydney, Melbourne, Ballarat, Byron Bay, Canberra and Adelaide Brisbane. It opens Thursday 5 November in Perth.
Tickets are on sale now at the website.
Tickets for My Duchess: https://britishfilmfestival.com.au/films/bff26-my-duchess
Website: https://britishfilmfestival.com.au/
Socials: https://www.instagram.com/britishfilmfest/
Watch the British Film Festival trailer here:
Film details:
Title: My Duchess
Director: Mike Newell
Cast: Joan Collins, Laurent Lafitte, Miranda Richardson, Isabella Rossellini, Charles Dance, Buom Tihngang
Country of Origin: UK
Duration: 95 mins
Rating: M
The Russell Hobbs British Film Festival presented by Palace screens in the following locations:
Canberra: 28 Oct – 29 Nov Palace Electric Cinemas
Adelaide: 28 Oct – 29 Nov, Palace Nova Eastend Cinemas, Palace Nova Prospect Cinemas
Melbourne: 28 Oct – 29 Nov, The Astor Theatre, Palace Balwyn, Palace Brighton Bay, Palace Cinema Como, Palace Westgarth, Palace Penny Lane, The Kino, Pentridge Cinema, Palace Church St
Ballarat: 28 Oct – 29 Nov, Palace Regent Ballarat
Sydney: 28 Oct – 29 Nov, Palace Norton Street, Palace Moore Park, Palace Central
Byron Bay: 28 Oct – 29 Nov, Palace Byron Bay, Ballina Fair Cinemas
Brisbane: 29 Oct – 29 Nov, Palace Barracks, Palace James Street
Perth: 5 Nov – 6 Dec, Palace Raine Square, Luna on SX, Leederville and Windsor
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