Rating: 
Summary: Diamonds are a girl's best friends
Review: The sumptuous period visuals are what make THE AFFAIR OF THE NECKLACE worth watching once one gets by the initial "Oh, puhleeze!" reaction to an improbable plot. (The story is ostensibly based on a actual historical event. But when Hollywood acts as the filter, one is perhaps justified in lifting a skeptical eyebrow.) Hilary Swank plays Comtesse Jeanne de la Motte-Valois, the direct descendent of a previous French monarch, whose family, the Valois, was stripped of its lands and title by the current King Louis XVI in a spasm of royal vengeance. Now, wanting the family estate back, our heroine haunts Versailles seeking an audience for her petition. But the King carries a grudge, so no lackey of his with any power is prepared to listen. Then Jeanne meets Retaux de Vilette (Simon Baker), a young and handsome court insider who advises her to learn what the movers and shakers want. With that knowledge, she can leverage what she wants. Well, as it so happens, there's this ab fab diamond necklace that a couple of fawning jewelers wish to sell to Queen Marie Antoinette (Joely Richardson), otherwise they're out the considerable costs associated with the stones' acquisition. But Marie, knowing it was originally crafted for another Babe, scorns the offer. She only wants the Paris Mob, which desires her head on a platter (so to speak), off her back. Then there's Cardinal Louis de Rohan (Jonathan Pryce), who otherwise spends his time giving willing young mademoiselles, um, energetic one-on-one religious instruction. The good Cardinal wants to be made Prime Minister, an office apparently within the gift of the Queen, but she's hated his guts for years. Finally, there's Count Cagliostro (Christopher Walken), a friend of de Rohan's and reputedly a powerful seer of future events, who's willing to spin a good vision if the price is right. Now sufficiently educated, the Comtesse hatches a scam with de Vilette and her own philandering and usually absent husband (Adrien Brody) to get her birthright back. As I've said, one will perhaps appreciate THE AFFAIR OF THE NECKLACE only after accepting the dubious premise of profound gullibility on the part of France's #1 Catholic primate, and Jeanne's incredible naiveté in believing her house of cards won't collapse in the first breeze of scrutiny. Swank's de la Motte is pretty and vulnerable, but perhaps too innocent as the injured and righteous party to be real. Pryce has the most interesting role as the randy, ambitious and impressively liveried prelate. Indeed, the film's costuming is first rate. And there are memorable visuals, as the meeting between Jeanne and Marie Antoinette in the courtyard of the Bastille in gently flurries of snow, and the progress of a marvelously caped de Rohan down an ornate courtier-filled hall after being tossed out of a royal audience. I liked this film as a video diversion to watch over two dinner hours . And it piqued my curiosity about the facts surrounding the real story. Intellectual stimulation is a good thing.
Rating: 
Summary: Make it a Blockbuster night
Review: There is an old saying in theater that instructs you not to "put a gun onstage in the first act if it is not going to go off in the second". By the same turn, do not introduce Christopher Walken into your movie unless you are going to send your script up on itself a little. Jonathan Pryce, Adrien Brody, and Walken all hit the right demi-tragic, mostly comic, tone, as do the minor characters. Everyone else, though, seems to have shown up thinking that they had been cast in "The Hours." "The Affair of the Necklace" has to be viewed with a generous suspension of disbelief, or with one's forehead protected for a lot of flat-palming. Ninette's final, "If I reached for anything that shown brightly..." speech- which is a bit too Shirley Temple for the rest of the movie- actually diminishes our sympathies for her and cuts the film's last thread of realism. Marie Antoinette's sub-guillotine, "well, maybe I was a bit excessive," flashback, is also a little inexplicable given the modern frame of the movie. Only on Google groups does one still find such negative and simplistic representations of her. And Louis XVI was more fully encompassed in "Start the Revolution Without Me". The scenery, however, especially at Versailles, is fantastic and- though I have doubts about the wisdom of Swank's "Annie"-style hair on the cover (given her character's orphaned status)- the movie generally fits in well with other flawless, high-end costume dramas. If it hadn't been "based on true events," a tag which subjects a movie to a greater deal of scrutiny than most can stand, I would have thought this one much stronger than it was. In the end, Pryce, Brody, and Walken do save the movie from itself, and generally make it an entertaining, if not accurate, weekend rental. As an addition to one's video library, however, it is best passed on.
Rating:
Summary: Make it a Blockbuster night
Review: There is an old saying in theater that instructs you not to "put a gun onstage in the first act if it is not going to go off in the second". By the same turn, do not introduce Christopher Walken into your movie unless you are going to send your script up on itself a little. Jonathan Pryce, Adrien Brody, and Walken all hit the right demi-tragic, mostly comic, tone, as do the minor characters. Everyone else, though, seems to have shown up thinking that they had been cast in "The Hours." "The Affair of the Necklace" has to be viewed with a generous suspension of disbelief, or with one's forehead protected for a lot of flat-palming. Ninette's final, "If I reached for anything that shown brightly..." speech- which is a bit too Shirley Temple for the rest of the movie- actually diminishes our sympathies for her and cuts the film's last thread of realism. Marie Antoinette's sub-guillotine, "well, maybe I was a bit excessive," flashback, is also a little inexplicable given the modern frame of the movie. Only on Google groups does one still find such negative and simplistic representations of her. And Louis XVI was more fully encompassed in "Start the Revolution Without Me". The scenery, however, especially at Versailles, is fantastic and- though I have doubts about the wisdom of Swank's "Annie"-style hair on the cover (given her character's orphaned status)- the movie generally fits in well with other flawless, high-end costume dramas. If it hadn't been "based on true events," a tag which subjects a movie to a greater deal of scrutiny than most can stand, I would have thought this one much stronger than it was. In the end, Pryce, Brody, and Walken do save the movie from itself, and generally make it an entertaining, if not accurate, weekend rental. As an addition to one's video library, however, it is best passed on.
Rating:
Summary: TAKE HILARY TO THE PILLORY...
Review: This film is loosely based upon a true story. While Queen Marie Antoinette of France still held on to her head, she became embroiled in a scandal over a necklace. The scandal, in fact, contributed to the rise of the French Revolution and the demise of the monarchy in France. The leading jewelers of the day, Charles Boehmer and Paul Bassenge, had wanted Marie Antoinette to buy an elaborate and very expensive, multi-looped diamond necklace, weighing approximately 2800 carats. This necklace, which had six hundred and forty seven diamonds, had purportedly been designed for Madame Du Barry, the mistress of Marie Antoinette's father-in-law, the late King Louis XV, and a woman she despised. Marie Antoinette was not at all interested in this necklace and made herself quite clear to the somewhat desperate jewelers, who had invested much of their capital in this necklace. In the film, a young woman, Jeanne St. Remy de Valois (Hilary Swank), who called herself a Countess by virtue of her marriage of convenience to a certain rake, Nicolas de La Motte (Adrien Brody), wanted to get back her father's estates, which had been taken by the crown after he had been, she believed, wrongfully executed for his perceived political beliefs. She was obsessed with righting this wrong and regaining her family's lost honor. When she was unable to secure that which she so desired, she took up with a court gigolo, Retaux de Vilette (Simon Baker). With his assistance, she concocted an elaborate scheme, rife with political intrigues, and secured possession of the notorious diamond necklace under the ostensible color of Queen Marie Antoinette's authority. This theft ultimately came to light, and she and her cohorts were arrested in this matter, although the necklace was never recovered. This would lead to a sensational trial, because her accused accomplice in the matter was none other than Cardinal Louis Constantin de Rohan (Jonathan Pryce), a prince of France. The film, woodenly directed by Charles Shyer, centers around the character, Jeanne. Unfortunately, Hilary Swank is unable to carry the day. Her portrayal of Jeanne is one dimensional. She also seques back and forth between her obvious American accent and a pseudo-British one. To sum up her performance in a nutshell, it is sub-par. An otherwise excellent actress, she is simply out her element in this period film, because she is unable to overcome her contemporary veneer. Of course, as she is the centerpiece of the film and fails, so does the film, no matter how well meaning the endeavor. Of course, she had help, as the script has its problems. There is very little tension for a film that is about one of the greatest thefts ever conceived. Not even the delicious performance of Jonathan Pryce, as the dissolute Cardinal de Rohan, can overcome some of the fundamental flaws in this film. Still, there are some intriguing moments in the film, and those who enjoy period pieces and historical dramas may get a modicum of enjoyment viewing it.
Rating:
Summary: Inaccurate historical recreation & what's more, it's DULL
Review: This film tries to make a believable drama out of what was in fact one of the most hopelessly bungled con jobs in history. While the Affair of the Necklace did, indeed, help to blacken Marie Antoinette's reputation, it didn't do all that much new damage; as Hilary Swank's character remarks near the end of the film, the king and queen had already pretty much ruined the monarchy well before 1785-86, when the events of the story actually took place.
Overall the outlines of the plot are accurate in so far as the actual swindle is concerned, but the film has one unforgivable deliberate fault.
The historical Jeanne de Lamotte-Valois (to use her correct birth name, Jeanne de St-Remy) was indeed descended from one of the many illegitimate sons of the Valois king Henri II, who died more than 200 years before Jeanne got her hands on that necklace. Jeanne's ancestor was legitimized and created baron de St-Remy; his offspring used that surname and not the royal Valois name--Jeanne herself used it to give herself some social leverage, and then added it to her husband's surname, Lamotte. Otherwise the film's representation of Jeanne's background is false.
Nicolas de Lamotte was not a genuine count any more than Jeanne was the unfairly dispossessed daughter of a high-minded socially reforming baron killed by the government. Her father was a wastrel and drunkard who, before his early death, gambled away whatever was left of the family fortune (and it wasn't much to begin with). Jeanne had a brother and sisters, though none of them seems to have come to much good. Her mother was an illiterate peasant, not a member of the noble class.
All the folderol about Jeanne's idyllic childhood in the family chateau, and her determination to win it back, was apparently added by the film's writer and producers to whitewash Jeanne's otherwise disreputable story. Simply put, she was an adventuress and a con woman whose real social standing was typified by the ease with which she and her husband found a prostitute to impersonate the queen during the midnight meeting with Cardinal de Rohan in the gardens of Versailles.
While most of the events the film represents are accurate, the story thus rests upon heavily fictionalized foundations. The film's unevenness, however, is not exclusively for that reason.
Its main drawback is Swank, who lacks the dramatic presence for a film of this nature. She looks nothing like an eighteenth-century Frenchwoman and fails to create a remotely believable characterization of such a woman. Some of the other characters succeed rather better, especially the House Minister, Baron de Breteuil, and Jeanne's lover, Retaux de Villette, who forged the real queen's correspondence with Cardinal de Rohan (a third excellent performance).
Unfortunately the other weak spot here is Joely Richardson's Marie Antoinette. Not that Richardson is not a bad actress--for that matter, neither is Swank. But both are out of their element here. Richardson tumbles into every pitfall that awaits when as heavily-cliched an historical figure as Marie Antoinette is portrayed. Her performance gives the beleaguered queen no hint of humanity, though we know that the queen was in fact troubled by her unpopularity though she never understood how to reverse it. Richardson can be seen to much better advantage in the TV series "Nip/Tuck" and Swank in pretty much every other film she has ever made--just not this one.
Costumes, sets and photography are excellent across the board. But the sound track is dominated by the music of Georg Frideric Handel, a Germano-British composer who died nearly 20 years before the events in the film took and whose splendid music by the 1780s was hardly ever heard outside England. Marie Antoinette was fond of works by Haydn, Gluck, Mozart and-auugh!-Salieri, and their music would have been much more appropriate here than Handel's.
Rating:
Summary: Should Have Been Better
Review: This historical drama is very nearly fabulous - but just misses it. It is a famous tale of intrigue and scandal, one that lent fiery fuel to Marie Antoinette's bad reputation, which in turn led to her beheading. It is the story of Countess Jeanne St. Remy Valois, played by Hilary Swank in her first role after winning an Oscar for *Boys Don't Cry*. Perhaps the point was to see how Miss Swank could act while wearing a dress, but the results are mixed, to say the least. Made out to be completely sympathetic, the Countess sees her father murdered and their property taken from them, and she wishes to avenge the wrong done to them. Begging for an audience with the Queen (Joely Richardson *is* fabulous as Marie Antoinette), the Countess is rebuffed. Meanwhile, in an unrelated episode, the Queen's jewelers have designed a magnificent diamond necklace, but the Queen, though she allegedly covets the necklace, does not purchase it, leaving the jewelers in a tight spot. The Countess falls in with an attractive courtier and also forms an alliance with Cardinal de Rohan (played magnificently by Jonathon Pryce), who is out of favor with the Queen, and convinces him to buy the necklace to smooth things over between them. Of course, the Countess is planning on stealing the necklace so that she may live happily ever after. Through machinations such a stolen letterhead, mistaken identities and other deceptions, the story comes to a boil when the details of the scandal begin to see the light of day, and unravels the careers of everyone concerned (especially Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette). It is a gripping story in the right hands. Clearly director Charles Shyer's oeuvre is comedy, and he's written, directed or produced many fine ones, such as *Private Benjamin*, *Irreconcilable Differences*, *Father of the Bride* and *The Parent Trap*. But historical drama is not his long suit. The supporting cast, cinematography, costumes and art direction are superb and engaging, but Swank is the weak link in the equation. She is simply not skilled enough to handle the role - she is passionless and wooden, but fortunately there are many scenes without her that sizzle with drama. All in all, there is a great deal of entertainment here, and if you though Hilary Swank was good in *Beverly Hills 90210*, then you'll love her in this.
Rating: 
Summary: Reclaimed Honor
Review: This is a wonderful film; one with talented acting, surperb cinematography, and a well fitted contemporary music score. Sadly, I'm not as sangine about the prospects for this film's popularity as a previous reviewer. It's not the film's fault, but rather the fault of the majority of the popular viewing public who may not relish finely made historical dramas that contain such Machiavellian intrigue, mixed with the struggle for personal vindication. This is a film that will be mainly appreciated by a more knowledgeable and educated audience. I would suggest that a brushing up on the social and political history of late 18th century France would be helpful in adding to the richness of experience that this film has to offer.
Rating:
Summary: A Masterpiece
Review: This is one of the most historically accurate movies that I have ever seen. This movie is about the scandal that rocked the French monarchy during the late 1780's and helped set the stage for the French Revolution that overthrew the monarchy. Hilary Swank delivers a superb performance as the scheming Jeanne de la Motte-Valois. Jonathan Pryce and Christopher Walken also shine in this well executed movie. The Affair of the Necklace is a movie that combines greed, lust, corruption and sexuality in a most beguiling mix. This movie is the end result of a rare combination of quality acting, distinguished directing, skillful script writing, a large budget and careful attention to historical accuracy in every detail. The Affair of the Necklace is a masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: A Masterpiece
Review: This is one of the most historically accurate movies that I have ever seen. This movie is about the scandal that rocked the French monarchy during the late 1780's and helped set the stage for the French Revolution that overthrew the monarchy. Hilary Swank delivers a superb performance as the scheming Jeanne de la Motte-Valois. Jonathan Pryce and Christopher Walken also shine in this well executed movie. The Affair of the Necklace is a movie that combines greed, lust, corruption and sexuality in a most beguiling mix. This movie is the end result of a rare combination of quality acting, distinguished directing, skillful script writing, a large budget and careful attention to historical accuracy in every detail. The Affair of the Necklace is a masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: Can't believe this movie got so many bad reviews
Review: This movie is really good. While it may seem soap-operatic at first, it gets better and better as the movie continues. Hilary Swank really shines as the Countess striving to regain her family honor. I've never seen a period film this good. It's probably one of the finest films I've seen in a long time. I just think this film is not for everyone, which is probably why it garnered so many bad reviews. For all those who like stupid, mindless trash movies, please stay away. For all those who have an open mind and are willing to watch something different than what every other movie studio offers, please step right up.
|
