I don’t want to imply that I find all corset movies to be boring — though I’ve never been a big fan of that stuffy period-piece genre — but after watching the new trailer for The Duchess (courtesy of Moviefone), I’ve bookmarked the film as potentially the most effective sleeping aid of 2008. The main problem is that Keira Knightley in a corset is one of the most tired things in filmmaking these days. In fact, Knightley in any type of period piece (even Domino was set in the past, remember) is apt to make me drowsy. Too bad, considering I’d like to give The Duchess a chance, what with it originally being adapted by the excellent Danish scripter Anders Thomas Jansen (the current screenplay appears to be reworked by period piece scribe Jeff Hatcher – yawn).

To me, The Duchess seems like a means for the true period-piece fans to take back what’s rightfully theirs. It’s like a more traditional take on themes we saw in the wonderfully fresh Marie Antoinette. After all, Georgiana Spencer (Knightley) was another 18th-century It Girl, fashionably innovative and something of a party animal. You might have figured this out from the beginning of the trailer, which clearly points her out as “the Empress of Fashion,” though you might have been confused or doubtful since the reveal of Knightley’s appearance is pretty underwhelming, considering both that the fashion to us is 300 years old and that on Knigthley it looks so commonplace. At least we get to see the actress with her “father” Jonathan Pryce’s wig from Pirates of the Caribbean and later a perm that would make Elsa Lanchester laugh with superiority.