There’s another trailer out for The Duchess, and this one really pushes the Princess Diana connection – which is odd, since to my knowledge Diana wasn’t known for making the same goddamned face in every picture.  I’m all for buying Keira Knightley a tea set and letting her play dress up if she wants, but filming it just seems wasteful.

[via Empire] 

Keira Knightley, Sienna Miller, and Cillian Murphy star in The Edge of Love, a British WWII period piece whose synopsis sounds a lot more interesting than the trailer (after the jump):

The film centers around Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, his wife Caitlin and the curious real-life incident in which childhood friend Vera Phillips (Knightley) and her eventual husband William Killick opened fire on the Thomas home with a machine gun and a hand grenade. [RoS]

So I was watching the trailer, praying Keira Knightly would tuck in her goddamned bottom lip so that it doesn’t get shot off by a sniper, when she started whining “I love you,” exactly like she did in the Atonement trailer.  Almost on cue, the trailer flashed a review:  “This year’s Atonement, only better.” 

Hmm, you’re gonna have to be a little more specific.  That’s like saying, “It’s like the holocaust, but better.”  So yeah, Edge of Love.  On the fun scale it’ll fall somewhere between 5 million Jews dying and your niece’s 6th birthday party.   

I don’t know about you, but I’m worried that The Duchess with Keira Knightley (our generation’s greatest underbiter) just isn’t going to be enough to slake my thirst for period pieces about fashionable ladies – specifically Duchesses. 

Just when I thought my craving couldn’t get any worse, I find the trailer for this, The Duchess of Langeais.  I don’t know much about pronouncing French stuff, but I’m pretty sure it practically has "gay" in the title! 

Antoinette is the Duchess of Langeais, a married coquette who frequents the most extravagant balls in 1820’s Paris during The Restoration, where hypocrisy and vanity reign. Upon the handsome general Armand de Montriveau’s first meeting with her, he realized it was true love. Flattered by his attentions, the alluring Antoinette orchestrates a calculating game of seduction, but she repeatedly refuses Montriveau. Despite his sincere romantic declarations, Montriveau’s passion remains unfulfilled. When the humiliated Montriveau eventually seeks his revenge, Antoinette’s love awakens. But it may well be too late for the star-crossed lovers.

Snap! I wonder if they’ll finally get it together before the credits roll. I hope there’ll be longing and unrequited passions, I’m a sucker for that shit. 

I’m all for a period piece if it involves pirates, dueling, cannons, vikings, nazis, mongols, rape humor, or human sacrifice.  So… what’s The Duchess about?

The film is based on Amanda Foreman’s best-selling novel ‘Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire’, chronicles the life of 18th century aristocrat Georgiana, an ancestor of Princess Diana who was also celebrated and reviled for her extravagant political and personal lives. The movie also stars Ralph Fiennes as the Duke of Devonshire. [/film]

"Duchess of Devonshire’" was my high school football nickname and that still sounds more boring than watching chamomile steep.  Seriously, if you know someone who finds this exciting, you should secretly get her addicted to heroin. You’d be doing her a favor, really.