The Affair of the Necklace
Encyclopedia
The Affair of the Necklace is a 2001 American historical drama film directed by Charles Shyer
. The screenplay
by John Sweet is based on what became known as the Affair of the Diamond Necklace
, an incident that helped fuel the French populace's disillusionment with the monarchy
and, among other causes, eventually led to the French Revolution
.
, orphaned at an early age, is determined to reclaim her royal title and the home taken from her family when she was a child. Some events were fictionalized in the movie. For example, her father was, in fact, the illegitimate offspring of a previous king and was not wealthy. When she is rebuffed by Marie Antoinette
and fails to achieve her goal through legal channels, she joins forces with the arrogant, well-connected gigolo
Rétaux de Villette
and her own wayward, womanizing husband Nicholas
. They concoct a plan to earn her enough money to purchase the property.
King Louis XV
had commissioned Paris
ian jewellers Boehmer and Bassenge to create an opulent 2800 carats (560 g), 647-diamond necklace to present to his mistress Madame du Barry
, but the king died before it was completed. Hoping to recover the high cost of the necklace, its creators try to persuade Marie Antoinette to purchase it. Knowing its history, she declines.
Jeanne approaches debauched libertine Cardinal Louis de Rohan and introduces herself as a confidant
e of the Queen. For years the Cardinal has yearned to regain the Queen's favor and acquire the position of Prime Minister of France
, and when he is reassured by occultist Count Cagliostro
that Jeanne is legitimate, he allows himself to be seduced by her promise to intervene on his behalf. He begins to correspond with the Queen and is unaware that his letters to her are intercepted and the Queen's responses are forgeries
intended to manipulate him. The tone of the letters become very intimate. The cardinal becomes more and more convinced that Marie Antoinette is in love with him, and he becomes ardently enamored of her.
Jeanne allegedly arranges a meeting between the two in the garden at the Palace of Versailles
. Portraying the Queen is Nicole Leguay d'Oliva, an actress bearing some resemblance to her. Heavily cloaked, with her face in the shadows, she agrees to forget their past disagreements. The Cardinal believes his indiscretions have been forgiven and he once again is in the Queen's good favor.
Jeanne advises the Cardinal the Queen has decided to purchase the necklace but, not wanting to offend the populace by openly buying such an expensive item, she wishes him to do so on her behalf, with a promise to reimburse him for the cost by the Feast of the Assumption
. The Cardinal gladly agrees and presents the necklace to Rétaux de Villette, believing him to be an emissary from the Queen. Nicholas de Lamotte sells some of the diamonds, and Jeanne uses the profits to buy her family home.
The Cardinal begins to panic when Jeanne disappears and his correspondence with the Queen comes to an abrupt end. His concern is put to rest by an invitation to visit the palace on the Feast of the Assumption, at which time he assumes he will be repaid in full and named Prime Minister. Instead, King Louis XVI
, who has been made aware of his machinations by Minister Breteuil, has him imprisoned in the Bastille
. Soon to follow are everyone else involved in the plot. A trial finds the Cardinal, Count Cagliostro, and Nicole Leguay d'Oliva innocent of all charges. Rétaux de Villette is found guilty and banished from France. Jeanne is found guilty and whipped
and branded before being imprisoned, although in real life the sentences were not carried out; she later escapes to London
where she publishes her memoir
s and regales the locals with her tales. Eventually Marie Antoinette, assumed to be a key player in the affair by an increasingly angry and restless populace, meets her fate on the guillotine
. We learn via an epilogue
Jeanne died after falling from her hotel room window and was rumored to have been killed by royalists
.
, Alincourt
, Compiègne
, and Paris in France
, and St. Barbara Church, Lednice
, and Valtice
in the Czech Republic
. Interiors were filmed at the Barrandov Studios
in Prague
.
The soundtrack included "Movement I: Mercy" by Alanis Morissette
and Jonathan Elias
, "Le Réjouissance - Allegro" and "Allegro from Sonata" by Georg Friedrich Händel, "Beatus vir" by Claudio Monteverdi
, "The Four Seasons, Summer - First Movement
" by Antonio Vivaldi
, "Aire A6 in G Minor" by William Lawes
, "Exsultate, Jubilate
" and "Requiem Aeternam, Dies Irae
" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
, and "Heidenröslein
" by Franz Schubert
.
The film was a financial disaster, earning only $430,313 in the US .
melodrama
[that] drags and meanders when it wants clarity and clockwork, and bogs down in hazy, vague emotions . . . The earnest ineptitude of the picture makes it all the more painful to watch gifted actors . . . waste gravity and conviction on roles that could be saved only by parody
. . . The only actors who relieve the tedium are the ones who decline to take the proceedings seriously. Mr. Brody overacts with a loose bravado somewhere between Tom Jones
and Blackadder
, and reminds us that all that lechery and dissolution could be fun sometimes. And then there is Mr. Walken, who seems to be enjoying himself a great deal at the movie's expense. He is outfitted with facial hair that appears to have been made of industrial vinyl and a hairdo that owes more to science fiction
than to costume drama. Every time the camera moves his way, it seems to interrupt a deep reverie, and as soon as Mr. Walken opens his mouth your overwhelming impulse is to burst out laughing."
Roger Ebert
of the Chicago Sun-Times
said the film "only works if it understands Jeanne is one villain among many, not a misguided heroine . . . But the storytelling is hopelessly compromised by the movie's decision to sympathize with Jeanne. We can admire someone for daring to do the audacious, or pity someone for recklessly doing something stupid, but when a character commits an act of stupid audacity, the admiration and pity cancel each other, and we are left only with the possibility of farce
."
In the San Francisco Chronicle
, Edward Guthmann observed, "It's the kind of part that Cate Blanchett
or Kate Winslet
could play blindfolded, but with Swank in the role - surrounded by British actors who outclass her, saddled with plummy dialogue - it becomes an event, a test, an elaborate stunt . . . [She] makes a noble effort to inhabit this role and prove that Boys Don't Cry
wasn't an isolated piece of luck. She's not a bad actress, but she's out of her league here and her tendency to underplay - as if she were afraid of the material and didn't want to risk anything flamboyant or bold - makes her performance seem tentative, half-felt . . . I had a hard time staying interested in Affair of the Necklace, which plays like the cinematic equivalent of a paperback bodice-ripper with embossed type. The plot has its intrigues and surprises, and characters get trumped in ways we can't always foresee, but as historical drama it's never convincing."
Bruce Diones of The New Yorker
called it "visual hooey" and added, "Swank's laborious performance (she's too naturalistic an actress for such haughty manners) and the ham-fisted dialogue (delivered, mysteriously, with an English accent) sink the film into the lush folds of bad costume drama."
In Variety
, Todd McCarthy stated, "French history is reduced to the level of American tabloid-style gossip
in [this] staggeringly misguided stab at making the past come alive by people who have absolutely no feel for period filmmaking. Banal at best and laughable at worst, pic seems like it was inspired by the Monica Lewinsky
scandal . . . With the partial exception of Jonathan Pryce's prideful but vulnerable Rohan and Joely Richardson's witty Marie Antoinette, there is little credibility in the performances, least of all in Swank's Jeanne . . . many modern actresses . . . simply aren't convincing in pre-20th century roles, and by the evidence here, Swank is one of them. She seems hamstrung by the demands of matching the proper diction of her mostly British co-stars, and evidently didn't get much help from Shyer in figuring out how to convey seductiveness onscreen or in creating a characterization of any nuance or complexity."
Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly
graded the film C and commented, "Swank isn't great at clipped refinement. There's something eerily earnest about her - the blank modern voice, the eyes aglow with sincerity - that renders her all wrong for a costume drama pitched in the arched-eyebrow invective mode of Dangerous Liaisons
. Then again, it doesn't help that the liaisons here feel about as dangerous as a portfolio of mutual funds . . . The Affair of the Necklace is slipshod rather than sly. There's no fury to the movie, repressed or otherwise, which may be why when the Revolution arrives, it has all the impact of a guillotine with a deadly dull blade."
In USA Today
, Claudia Puig said, "French decadence has its virtues: There's the sumptuous seductiveness of the period, with its satin and lace costumes, which more often than not here get torn off in ornate boudoirs. And laudably, the lush film was made for a reasonable $20 million. But that's not enough to sustain a movie, particularly one that promises a juicy romp but delivers a plodding trudge. The affair may have raised eyebrows all over 18th century Paris, but it's not likely to elicit more than a shrug from 21st century moviegoers."
Maitland McDonagh of TV Guide
stated, "This sumptuously designed film . . . has all the ingredients of a juicy historical romp. But it's bloodless, fussy, and undermined by Hilary Swank's stiff, one-note performance . . . [she] is painfully uncharismatic, leaving Christopher Walken, in the minor role of occultist Count Cagliostro, to decamp with any scene in which he appears. His performance may not be historically credible, but it's hugely entertaining: Would that the same were true of the film overall."
and the Satellite Award for Best Costume Design
, but lost to Moulin Rouge!
in both instances.
Charles Shyer
Charles Richard Shyer is an American film director, writer and producer. Shyer's films are predominantly comedies, often with a romantic-comedy overtone...
. The screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
by John Sweet is based on what became known as the Affair of the Diamond Necklace
Affair of the diamond necklace
The Affair of the Diamond Necklace was a mysterious incident in the 1780s at the court of Louis XVI of France involving his wife, Queen Marie Antoinette. The reputation of the Queen, which was already tarnished by gossip, was ruined by the implication that she had participated in a crime to defraud...
, an incident that helped fuel the French populace's disillusionment with the monarchy
Monarchy
A monarchy is a form of government in which the office of head of state is usually held until death or abdication and is often hereditary and includes a royal house. In some cases, the monarch is elected...
and, among other causes, eventually led to the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
.
Plot
Jeanne de Saint-Rémy de ValoisComtesse de la Motte
Jeanne de Valois-Saint-Rémy, "Comtesse de la Motte" was a notorious French adventuress and thief; she was married to Nicholas de la Motte whose family's claim to nobility is dubious. She herself was an impoverished descendant of the Valois royal family through an illegitimate son of King Henry II...
, orphaned at an early age, is determined to reclaim her royal title and the home taken from her family when she was a child. Some events were fictionalized in the movie. For example, her father was, in fact, the illegitimate offspring of a previous king and was not wealthy. When she is rebuffed by Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette ; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and of Navarre. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I....
and fails to achieve her goal through legal channels, she joins forces with the arrogant, well-connected gigolo
Gigolo
Gigolo may refer to:* A male prostitute, escort, or dancer, who offers services to women* Gigolo , a 2006 single by Helena Paparizou* Gigolo , a 2003 single by Nick Cannon...
Rétaux de Villette
Rétaux de Villette
Rétaux de Villette was born in France in the late 18th century. The scion of a poor family, he was forced to become a gigolo to survive, but Villette also had a talent for forgery...
and her own wayward, womanizing husband Nicholas
Nicholas de Lamotte
Nicholas de la Motte , originally Marc Antoine-Nicolas de la Motte, was an 18th century Frenchman and adventurer known for his part as a swindler in the affair of the diamond necklace...
. They concoct a plan to earn her enough money to purchase the property.
King Louis XV
Louis XV of France
Louis XV was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1 September 1715 until his death. He succeeded his great-grandfather at the age of five, his first cousin Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, served as Regent of the kingdom until Louis's majority in 1723...
had commissioned Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
ian jewellers Boehmer and Bassenge to create an opulent 2800 carats (560 g), 647-diamond necklace to present to his mistress Madame du Barry
Madame du Barry
Jeanne Bécu, comtesse du Barry was the last Maîtresse-en-titre of Louis XV of France and one of the victims of the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution.-Early life:...
, but the king died before it was completed. Hoping to recover the high cost of the necklace, its creators try to persuade Marie Antoinette to purchase it. Knowing its history, she declines.
Jeanne approaches debauched libertine Cardinal Louis de Rohan and introduces herself as a confidant
Confidant
The confidant is a character in a story that the lead character confides in and trusts. Typically, these consist of the best friend, relative, doctor or boss.- Role :...
e of the Queen. For years the Cardinal has yearned to regain the Queen's favor and acquire the position of Prime Minister of France
Prime Minister of France
The Prime Minister of France in the Fifth Republic is the head of government and of the Council of Ministers of France. The head of state is the President of the French Republic...
, and when he is reassured by occultist Count Cagliostro
Alessandro Cagliostro
Count Alessandro di Cagliostro was the alias of the occultist Giuseppe Balsamo , an Italian adventurer.-Origin:The history of Cagliostro is shrouded in rumour, propaganda and mysticism...
that Jeanne is legitimate, he allows himself to be seduced by her promise to intervene on his behalf. He begins to correspond with the Queen and is unaware that his letters to her are intercepted and the Queen's responses are forgeries
Forgery
Forgery is the process of making, adapting, or imitating objects, statistics, or documents with the intent to deceive. Copies, studio replicas, and reproductions are not considered forgeries, though they may later become forgeries through knowing and willful misrepresentations. Forging money or...
intended to manipulate him. The tone of the letters become very intimate. The cardinal becomes more and more convinced that Marie Antoinette is in love with him, and he becomes ardently enamored of her.
Jeanne allegedly arranges a meeting between the two in the garden at the Palace of Versailles
Palace of Versailles
The Palace of Versailles , or simply Versailles, is a royal château in Versailles in the Île-de-France region of France. In French it is the Château de Versailles....
. Portraying the Queen is Nicole Leguay d'Oliva, an actress bearing some resemblance to her. Heavily cloaked, with her face in the shadows, she agrees to forget their past disagreements. The Cardinal believes his indiscretions have been forgiven and he once again is in the Queen's good favor.
Jeanne advises the Cardinal the Queen has decided to purchase the necklace but, not wanting to offend the populace by openly buying such an expensive item, she wishes him to do so on her behalf, with a promise to reimburse him for the cost by the Feast of the Assumption
Assumption of Mary
According to the belief of Christians of the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, and parts of the Anglican Communion and Continuing Anglicanism, the Assumption of Mary was the bodily taking up of the Virgin Mary into Heaven at the end of her life...
. The Cardinal gladly agrees and presents the necklace to Rétaux de Villette, believing him to be an emissary from the Queen. Nicholas de Lamotte sells some of the diamonds, and Jeanne uses the profits to buy her family home.
The Cardinal begins to panic when Jeanne disappears and his correspondence with the Queen comes to an abrupt end. His concern is put to rest by an invitation to visit the palace on the Feast of the Assumption, at which time he assumes he will be repaid in full and named Prime Minister. Instead, King Louis XVI
Louis XVI of France
Louis XVI was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before being executed in 1793....
, who has been made aware of his machinations by Minister Breteuil, has him imprisoned in the Bastille
Bastille
The Bastille was a fortress in Paris, known formally as the Bastille Saint-Antoine. It played an important role in the internal conflicts of France and for most of its history was used as a state prison by the kings of France. The Bastille was built in response to the English threat to the city of...
. Soon to follow are everyone else involved in the plot. A trial finds the Cardinal, Count Cagliostro, and Nicole Leguay d'Oliva innocent of all charges. Rétaux de Villette is found guilty and banished from France. Jeanne is found guilty and whipped
Flagellation
Flagellation or flogging is the act of methodically beating or whipping the human body. Specialised implements for it include rods, switches, the cat o' nine tails and the sjambok...
and branded before being imprisoned, although in real life the sentences were not carried out; she later escapes to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
where she publishes her memoir
Memoir
A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...
s and regales the locals with her tales. Eventually Marie Antoinette, assumed to be a key player in the affair by an increasingly angry and restless populace, meets her fate on the guillotine
Guillotine
The guillotine is a device used for carrying out :executions by decapitation. It consists of a tall upright frame from which an angled blade is suspended. This blade is raised with a rope and then allowed to drop, severing the head from the body...
. We learn via an epilogue
Epilogue
An epilogue, epilog or afterword is a piece of writing at the end of a work of literature or drama, usually used to bring closure to the work...
Jeanne died after falling from her hotel room window and was rumored to have been killed by royalists
House of Bourbon
The House of Bourbon is a European royal house, a branch of the Capetian dynasty . Bourbon kings first ruled Navarre and France in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Bourbon dynasty also held thrones in Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Parma...
.
Production notes
Filming locations included the Palace of Versailles, Vaux-le-VicomteVaux-le-Vicomte
The Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte is a baroque French château located in Maincy, near Melun, 55 km southeast of Paris in the Seine-et-Marne département of France...
, Alincourt
Alincourt
Alincourt is a commune in the Ardennes department in northern France.-Population:...
, Compiègne
Compiègne
Compiègne is a city in northern France. It is designated municipally as a commune within the département of Oise.The city is located along the Oise River...
, and Paris in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, and St. Barbara Church, Lednice
Lednice
Lednice is a village in South Moravia in the Czech Republic. In 1996 it was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as "an exceptional example of the designed landscape that evolved in the Enlightenment and afterwards under the care of a single family." It contains a palace and the largest...
, and Valtice
Valtice
The town of Valtice in the Czech Republic contains one of the most impressive Baroque residences of Central Europe. It was designed as the seat of the ruling princes of Liechtenstein by Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach in the early 18th century. Construction was supervised by Domenico...
in the Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
. Interiors were filmed at the Barrandov Studios
Barrandov Studios
Barrandov Studios is a famous set of film studios in Prague, Czech Republic. It is the largest film studio in the country and one of the largest in Europe.Several of the movies filmed there won Academy Awards...
in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
.
The soundtrack included "Movement I: Mercy" by Alanis Morissette
Alanis Morissette
Alanis Nadine Morissette is a Canadian-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, record producer, and actress. She has won 16 Juno Awards and seven Grammy Awards, was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards and also shortlisted for an Academy Award nomination...
and Jonathan Elias
Jonathan Elias
Jonathan Elias is a U.S. composer and record producer, known for his movie soundtracks, production for several pop and rock acts, and his award-winning advertising music including the PBS logo instrumental from October 1, 1984 to October 1, 1989....
, "Le Réjouissance - Allegro" and "Allegro from Sonata" by Georg Friedrich Händel, "Beatus vir" by Claudio Monteverdi
Claudio Monteverdi
Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, gambist, and singer.Monteverdi's work, often regarded as revolutionary, marked the transition from the Renaissance style of music to that of the Baroque period. He developed two individual styles of composition – the...
, "The Four Seasons, Summer - First Movement
The Four Seasons (Vivaldi)
The Four Seasons is a set of four violin concertos by Antonio Vivaldi. Composed in 1723, The Four Seasons is Vivaldi's best-known work, and is among the most popular pieces of Baroque music. The texture of each concerto is varied, each resembling its respective season...
" by Antonio Vivaldi
Antonio Vivaldi
Antonio Lucio Vivaldi , nicknamed because of his red hair, was an Italian Baroque composer, priest, and virtuoso violinist, born in Venice. Vivaldi is recognized as one of the greatest Baroque composers, and his influence during his lifetime was widespread over Europe...
, "Aire A6 in G Minor" by William Lawes
William Lawes
William Lawes was an English composer and musician.-Life and career:Lawes was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire and was baptised on 1 May 1602...
, "Exsultate, Jubilate
Exsultate, jubilate
Exsultate, jubilate K. 165, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was written in 1773.This religious solo motet was composed at the time Mozart was visiting Milan....
" and "Requiem Aeternam, Dies Irae
Requiem (Mozart)
The Requiem Mass in D minor by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was composed in Vienna in 1791 and left unfinished at the composer's death. A completion by Franz Xaver Süssmayr was delivered to Count Franz von Walsegg, who had anonymously commissioned the piece for a requiem Mass to commemorate the...
" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
, and "Heidenröslein
Heidenröslein
"Heidenröslein" or "Heideröslein" is a poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, published in 1799. It was written in 1771 during Goethe's stay in Strasbourg when he was in love with Friederike Brion, to whom the poem is addressed...
" by Franz Schubert
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
.
The film was a financial disaster, earning only $430,313 in the US .
Cast
- Hilary SwankHilary SwankHilary Ann Swank is an American actress. Swank's film career began with a small part in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and then a major part in The Next Karate Kid , as Julie Pierce, the first female protégé of sensei Mr. Miyagi...
as Jeanne de Saint-Rémy de ValoisComtesse de la MotteJeanne de Valois-Saint-Rémy, "Comtesse de la Motte" was a notorious French adventuress and thief; she was married to Nicholas de la Motte whose family's claim to nobility is dubious. She herself was an impoverished descendant of the Valois royal family through an illegitimate son of King Henry II... - Jonathan PryceJonathan PryceJonathan Pryce, CBE is a Welsh stage and film actor and singer. After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and meeting his longtime partner English actress Kate Fahy in 1974, he began his career as a stage actor in the 1970s...
as Cardinal Louis de RohanLouis René Édouard, cardinal de RohanLouis René Édouard de Rohan known as the Cardinal de Rohan , prince de Rohan-Guéméné, was a French bishop of Strasbourg , politician, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, and cadet of the Rohan family... - Christopher WalkenChristopher WalkenChristopher Walken is an American stage and screen actor. He has appeared in more than 100 movies and television shows, including Joe Dirt, Annie Hall, The Deer Hunter, The Prophecy trilogy, The Dogs of War, Sleepy Hollow, Brainstorm, The Dead Zone, A View to a Kill, At Close Range, King of New...
as Count CagliostroAlessandro CagliostroCount Alessandro di Cagliostro was the alias of the occultist Giuseppe Balsamo , an Italian adventurer.-Origin:The history of Cagliostro is shrouded in rumour, propaganda and mysticism... - Simon BakerSimon BakerSimon Baker is an Australian actor. Since 2008, he has starred in the CBS television series The Mentalist.-Early life:...
as Rétaux de VilletteRétaux de VilletteRétaux de Villette was born in France in the late 18th century. The scion of a poor family, he was forced to become a gigolo to survive, but Villette also had a talent for forgery... - Adrien BrodyAdrien BrodyAdrien Brody is an American actor and film producer. He received widespread recognition and acclaim after starring in Roman Polanski's The Pianist . Winning the Academy Award for Best Actor in 2003 at age 29, he is the youngest actor to do so...
as Nicholas de LamotteNicholas de LamotteNicholas de la Motte , originally Marc Antoine-Nicolas de la Motte, was an 18th century Frenchman and adventurer known for his part as a swindler in the affair of the diamond necklace... - Joely RichardsonJoely RichardsonJoely Kim Richardson is an English actress, most known recently for her role as Queen Catherine Parr in the Showtime television show The Tudors and Julia McNamara in the television drama Nip/Tuck...
as Marie AntoinetteMarie AntoinetteMarie Antoinette ; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and of Navarre. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I.... - Brian Cox as Baron de BreteuilLouis Auguste Le Tonnelier de BreteuilLouis Charles Auguste le Tonnelier, baron de Breteuil, baron de Preuilly was a French aristocrat, diplomat, statesman and politician...
/NarratorNarratorA narrator is, within any story , the fictional or non-fictional, personal or impersonal entity who tells the story to the audience. When the narrator is also a character within the story, he or she is sometimes known as the viewpoint character. The narrator is one of three entities responsible for... - Simon Shackleton as King Louis XVILouis XVI of FranceLouis XVI was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before being executed in 1793....
- Hermione GullifordHermione GullifordHermione Gulliford is an English actress, born in Somerset. She trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama, graduating in 1994.She has worked extensively in the theatre, including The Merchant of Venice, Othello, and A Midsummer Night's Dream with the Royal Shakespeare Company.Television...
as Nicole Leguay d'Oliva - Hayden PanettiereHayden PanettiereHayden Leslie Panettiere is an American actress and singer, best known as cheerleader Claire Bennet on the NBC television series Heroes. She began her acting career by playing Sarah Roberts on One Life to Live , and Lizzie Spaulding on Guiding Light , before starring at age 10 as Sheryl Yoast in...
as Young Jeanne de Saint-Rémy de ValoisComtesse de la MotteJeanne de Valois-Saint-Rémy, "Comtesse de la Motte" was a notorious French adventuress and thief; she was married to Nicholas de la Motte whose family's claim to nobility is dubious. She herself was an impoverished descendant of the Valois royal family through an illegitimate son of King Henry II...
Critical reception
In his review in the New York Times, A.O. Scott called the film a "swooshy, bejewelled periodPeriod piece
-Setting:In the performing arts, a period piece is a work set in a particular era. This informal term covers all countries, all periods and all genres...
melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
[that] drags and meanders when it wants clarity and clockwork, and bogs down in hazy, vague emotions . . . The earnest ineptitude of the picture makes it all the more painful to watch gifted actors . . . waste gravity and conviction on roles that could be saved only by parody
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
. . . The only actors who relieve the tedium are the ones who decline to take the proceedings seriously. Mr. Brody overacts with a loose bravado somewhere between Tom Jones
Tom Jones (film)
Tom Jones is a 1963 British adventure comedy film, an adaptation of Henry Fielding's classic novel The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling , starring Albert Finney as the titular hero. It was one of the most critically acclaimed and popular comedies of its time, winning four Academy Awards...
and Blackadder
Blackadder
Blackadder is the name that encompassed four series of a BBC1 historical sitcom, along with several one-off instalments. All television programme episodes starred Rowan Atkinson as anti-hero Edmund Blackadder and Tony Robinson as Blackadder's dogsbody, Baldrick...
, and reminds us that all that lechery and dissolution could be fun sometimes. And then there is Mr. Walken, who seems to be enjoying himself a great deal at the movie's expense. He is outfitted with facial hair that appears to have been made of industrial vinyl and a hairdo that owes more to science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
than to costume drama. Every time the camera moves his way, it seems to interrupt a deep reverie, and as soon as Mr. Walken opens his mouth your overwhelming impulse is to burst out laughing."
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
of the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
said the film "only works if it understands Jeanne is one villain among many, not a misguided heroine . . . But the storytelling is hopelessly compromised by the movie's decision to sympathize with Jeanne. We can admire someone for daring to do the audacious, or pity someone for recklessly doing something stupid, but when a character commits an act of stupid audacity, the admiration and pity cancel each other, and we are left only with the possibility of farce
Farce
In theatre, a farce is a comedy which aims at entertaining the audience by means of unlikely, extravagant, and improbable situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humour of varying degrees of sophistication, which may include word play, and a fast-paced plot whose speed usually increases,...
."
In the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
, Edward Guthmann observed, "It's the kind of part that Cate Blanchett
Cate Blanchett
Catherine Élise "Cate" Blanchett is an Australian actress. She came to international attention for her role as Elizabeth I of England in the 1998 biopic film Elizabeth, for which she won British Academy of Film and Television Arts and Golden Globe Awards, and earned her first Academy Award...
or Kate Winslet
Kate Winslet
Kate Elizabeth Winslet is an English actress and occasional singer. She has received multiple awards and nominations. She was the youngest person to accrue six Academy Award nominations, and won the Academy Award for Best Actress for The Reader...
could play blindfolded, but with Swank in the role - surrounded by British actors who outclass her, saddled with plummy dialogue - it becomes an event, a test, an elaborate stunt . . . [She] makes a noble effort to inhabit this role and prove that Boys Don't Cry
Boys Don't Cry (film)
Boys Don't Cry is a 1999 American independent romantic drama film directed by Kimberly Peirce and co-written by Andy Bienen. The film is a dramatization of the real-life story of Brandon Teena, a transgender man played by Hilary Swank, who pursues a relationship with a young woman, played by Chloë...
wasn't an isolated piece of luck. She's not a bad actress, but she's out of her league here and her tendency to underplay - as if she were afraid of the material and didn't want to risk anything flamboyant or bold - makes her performance seem tentative, half-felt . . . I had a hard time staying interested in Affair of the Necklace, which plays like the cinematic equivalent of a paperback bodice-ripper with embossed type. The plot has its intrigues and surprises, and characters get trumped in ways we can't always foresee, but as historical drama it's never convincing."
Bruce Diones of The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
called it "visual hooey" and added, "Swank's laborious performance (she's too naturalistic an actress for such haughty manners) and the ham-fisted dialogue (delivered, mysteriously, with an English accent) sink the film into the lush folds of bad costume drama."
In Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
, Todd McCarthy stated, "French history is reduced to the level of American tabloid-style gossip
Gossip
Gossip is idle talk or rumour, especially about the personal or private affairs of others, It is one of the oldest and most common means of sharing facts and views, but also has a reputation for the introduction of errors and variations into the information transmitted...
in [this] staggeringly misguided stab at making the past come alive by people who have absolutely no feel for period filmmaking. Banal at best and laughable at worst, pic seems like it was inspired by the Monica Lewinsky
Monica Lewinsky
Monica Samille Lewinsky is an American woman with whom United States President Bill Clinton admitted to having had an "improper relationship" while she worked at the White House in 1995 and 1996...
scandal . . . With the partial exception of Jonathan Pryce's prideful but vulnerable Rohan and Joely Richardson's witty Marie Antoinette, there is little credibility in the performances, least of all in Swank's Jeanne . . . many modern actresses . . . simply aren't convincing in pre-20th century roles, and by the evidence here, Swank is one of them. She seems hamstrung by the demands of matching the proper diction of her mostly British co-stars, and evidently didn't get much help from Shyer in figuring out how to convey seductiveness onscreen or in creating a characterization of any nuance or complexity."
Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
graded the film C and commented, "Swank isn't great at clipped refinement. There's something eerily earnest about her - the blank modern voice, the eyes aglow with sincerity - that renders her all wrong for a costume drama pitched in the arched-eyebrow invective mode of Dangerous Liaisons
Dangerous Liaisons
Dangerous Liaisons is a 1988 drama film based upon Christopher Hampton's play, Les liaisons dangereuses, which in turn was a theatrical adaptation of the 18th-century French novel Les Liaisons dangereuses by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos....
. Then again, it doesn't help that the liaisons here feel about as dangerous as a portfolio of mutual funds . . . The Affair of the Necklace is slipshod rather than sly. There's no fury to the movie, repressed or otherwise, which may be why when the Revolution arrives, it has all the impact of a guillotine with a deadly dull blade."
In USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
, Claudia Puig said, "French decadence has its virtues: There's the sumptuous seductiveness of the period, with its satin and lace costumes, which more often than not here get torn off in ornate boudoirs. And laudably, the lush film was made for a reasonable $20 million. But that's not enough to sustain a movie, particularly one that promises a juicy romp but delivers a plodding trudge. The affair may have raised eyebrows all over 18th century Paris, but it's not likely to elicit more than a shrug from 21st century moviegoers."
Maitland McDonagh of TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
stated, "This sumptuously designed film . . . has all the ingredients of a juicy historical romp. But it's bloodless, fussy, and undermined by Hilary Swank's stiff, one-note performance . . . [she] is painfully uncharismatic, leaving Christopher Walken, in the minor role of occultist Count Cagliostro, to decamp with any scene in which he appears. His performance may not be historically credible, but it's hugely entertaining: Would that the same were true of the film overall."
Awards and nominations
The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Costume DesignAcademy Award for Costume Design
The Academy Award for Best Costume Design is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for achievement in film costume design....
and the Satellite Award for Best Costume Design
Satellite Award for Best Costume Design
The Satellite Award for Best Costume Design is one of the annual Satellite Awards given by the International Press Academy.- Winners and nominees :The following listing is based on the web postings of the International Press Academy.- 1990s :- 2000s :...
, but lost to Moulin Rouge!
Moulin Rouge!
Moulin Rouge! is a 2001 romantic jukebox musical film directed, produced, and co-written by Baz Luhrmann. Following the Red Curtain Cinema principles, the film is based on the Orphean myth, La Traviata, and La Bohème...
in both instances.