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Title: The Affair of the Necklace (2001)
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Hilary Swank | ... | Jeanne St. Remy de Valois | |
| Jonathan Pryce | ... | Cardinal Louis de Rohan | |
| Simon Baker | ... | Rétaux de Vilette | |
| Adrien Brody | ... | Count Nicolas De La Motte | |
| Brian Cox | ... | Minister Breteuil | |
| Joely Richardson | ... | Marie-Antoinette | |
| Christopher Walken | ... | Count Cagliostro | |
| Hayden Panettiere | ... | Young Jeanne | |
| Simon Kunz | ... | Minister of Titles | |
| Paul Brooke | ... | Monsieur Bohmer | |
| Peter Eyre | ... | Monsieur Bassenge | |
 |
Frank McCusker | ... | Abel Duphot |
|
|
Simon Shackleton | ... | Louis XVI |
| Hermione Gulliford | ... | Nicole Leguay d'Oliva | |
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Geoffrey Hutchings | ... | President D'Aligre |
Paris, 1786: a woman in court. The Crown murdered her father for his views about the poor, now Jeanne wants her home and good name back. She believes all can be set right if she can talk to the Queen, whose House Minister rebuffs her. With the help of a courtside gigolo, she learns to use what others desire to get what she wants. She needs a patron: with forged letters, she convinces Cardinal de Rohan she is the Queen's confidante and can help him regain royal favor. Jeanne conspires to have the Cardinal purchase a fabulous diamond necklace for the Queen. He delivers it to Jeanne for Marie Antoinette. If the scheme breaks down, what then? Might this affair spark revolution? Written by <jhailey@hotmail.com>
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I love period dramas. I love the costumes, the sets, the horses, the street scenes. I love the fact that maybe I can learn a little bit about history along with being entertained. So it was with hope that I rented this movie even though it had only been in the theater two days and there were only two copies of it at Blockbuster (both bad signs). I understand now why no one had wanted anything to do with it from the beginning.
This film simply did not click. There was nothing in it that made me interested in or care about the protagonists. The main fault should go to the casting director who terribly miscast Hillary Swank as an 18th century French noblewoman. Don't get me wrong, I do like Hillary and have recently praised her depiction of the young cop in "Insomnia", but in "The Affair" she was like a fish out of water, too angular, too wooden and quite obviously a modern American actress faking an English accent depicting a French character.
Then we must blame the director, because the sense of tension in this film was minimal. This was a movie about a court intrigue where the stakes were huge both monetarily and punitively. Much more passion should have been injected, more fear, more highs, more lows, intense love and ferocious hate, anything to get the viewer engaged. That this was not done was unfortunate, because the film has a beautiful look to it and the sets and costumes do not disappoint.