The Affair of the Necklace | |
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Directed by | Charles Shyer |
Written by | John Sweet |
Produced by | Charles Shyer Andrew Kosove Broderick Johnson Redmond Morris |
Starring | |
Narrated by | Brian Cox |
Cinematography | Ashley Rowe |
Edited by | David Moritz |
Music by | David Newman |
Production company | |
Distributed by |
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Release dates |
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Running time | 118 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $30 million [1] |
Box office | $471,210 [2] |
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. [3] The film received negative reviews from critics, but the sets, music and costume design were praised. [4]
Jeanne de Valois-Saint-Rémy, orphaned at an early age, is determined to reclaim her noble title and the home taken from her family when she was a child. 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 Parisian jewellers Boehmer & Bassenge to create an opulent 2,800-carat (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 Queen Marie Antoinette to purchase it. Knowing its history, she declines.
Jeanne approaches debauched libertine Cardinal Louis de Rohan and introduces herself as a confidante 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 becomes 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 gardens of the Palace of Versailles. Portraying the Queen is Nicole Leguay d'Oliva, a prostitute 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 trinket, 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 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. Nicholas is almost arrested for selling without proper certification, but he escapes. Jeanne advises him to not sell any more diamonds in Paris. She sends correspondence to the jewelers, saying that Marie Antoinette is no longer interested in the necklace and they must ask the Cardinal for reimbursement. However, Minister Breteuil comes upon an anxious Boehmer on his way to the Cardinal's estate. The Cardinal is invited 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, excluding Nicholas who fled to the border and into Austria. 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, whipped and branded before being imprisoned; she later escapes to London where she publishes her memoirs 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. Via an epilogue, Breteuil explains that Jeanne never returned to France as she died after falling from her hotel room window and was rumored to have been killed by Royalists.
Filming locations included the Palace of Versailles, Vaux-le-Vicomte, 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. [1]
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. [5]
The Affair of the Necklace earned negative reviews from critics, with most of the criticism focusing on the casting of Hilary Swank as Jeanne, whom they felt didn't seem comfortable within the film's period setting and refined dialogue. The costume design and stylized period setting were praised. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has a 15% rating based on 62 reviews. The site's consensus states: "A film about court intrigue, The Affair of the Necklace turns out to be more dull than juicy. Swank seems flat and miscast in the central role of Jeanne." [12] On Metacritic it has a score of 42% based on 22 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews" . [13]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave it 2 out of 4 and wrote: "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." [14]
CNN Entertainment praised Hilary Swank and Charles Shyer's contributions to the film, writing, "Shyer is known for such lightweight comedies as Baby Boom and Father of the Bride , but he's made a major change with this lavish period piece" and on the casting of Swank they said "Her graphic portrayal of Brandon Teena in Boys Don't Cry (1999) gave no hint as to whether or not she could pull off [an] 18th-century drama complete with feathered hats and tight corsets. She can." [1]
Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "Shyer and Sweet bring consistent clarity and ever-increasing depth to the playing out of Jeanne's bold scheming and single-minded resolve; a tone of brisk wit gives way effortlessly to poignancy and ultimately tragedy." [15]
Richard Roeper found the film to be very entertaining and was willing to overlook the script's historical liberties, stating "I'm sure that it's sort of a 'Fractured Fairy Tale' version of the real events that happened, but the fact that it was inspired by real-life events made me enjoy it all the more."[ citation needed ]
The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Costume Design and the Satellite Award for Best Costume Design, but lost to Moulin Rouge! in both instances. [16]
Marie Antoinette was the last queen of France prior to the French Revolution. She was born an archduchess of Austria, and was the penultimate child and youngest daughter of Empress Maria Theresa and Emperor Francis I. She became dauphine of France in May 1770 at age 14 upon her marriage to Louis-Auguste, heir apparent to the French throne. On 10 May 1774, her husband ascended the throne as Louis XVI and she became queen.
Jeanne Bécu, Comtesse du Barry was the last maîtresse-en-titre of King Louis XV of France. She was executed by guillotine during the French Revolution on accusations of treason—particularly being suspected of assisting émigrés to flee from the Revolution. She is also known as “Mademoiselle Vaubernier”.
The Affair of the Diamond Necklace was an incident from 1784 to 1785 at the court of King Louis XVI of France that involved his wife, Queen Marie Antoinette.
Louis-René-Édouard de Rohan known as 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. His parents were Hercule Mériadec, Prince of Guéméné and Louise Gabrielle Julie de Rohan. He was born in Paris.
Marie Antoinette is a 1938 American historical drama film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed by W. S. Van Dyke and starred Norma Shearer as Marie Antoinette. Based upon the 1932 biography of the ill-fated Queen of France by the Austrian writer Stefan Zweig, it had its Los Angeles premiere at the legendary Carthay Circle Theatre, where the landscaping was specially decorated for the event.
The Queen's Necklace is a novel by Alexandre Dumas that was published in 1849 and 1850. It is loosely based on the Affair of the Diamond Necklace, an episode involving fraud and royal scandal that made headlines at the court of Louis XVI in the 1780s.
Jeanne de Valois-Saint-Rémy, self proclaimed "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 was dubious. She herself was an impoverished descendant of the Valois royal family through an illegitimate son of King Henry II. She has been known for her prominent role in the Affair of the Diamond Necklace, one of many scandals that led to the French Revolution and helped to destroy the monarchy of France.
Nicholas de la Motte, born Marc Antoine-Nicolas de la Motte, was a French adventurer known for his part as a swindler in the affair of the diamond necklace. He was the husband of Jeanne de Valois-Saint-Remy, whom he married on 6 June 1780.
Louis Charles Auguste Le Tonnelier, Baron de Breteuil, Baron de Preuilly was a French aristocrat, diplomat and statesman. He was the last chief minister of the Bourbon Monarchy, appointed by King Louis XVI only one hundred hours before the storming of the Bastille.
Royal Affairs in Versailles is a 1954 French-Italian historical drama directed by Sacha Guitry. Described as "a historical film showing Versailles from its beginnings to the present day", it tells some episodes through portrayal of the personalities who lived in the Palace of Versailles. Its sister films are Napoléon (1955) and If Paris Were Told to Us (1956).
Armand Gabriel Rétaux de Villette was a French procurer, forger, blackmailer and pimp. He participated in the famous "Affair of the Diamond Necklace".
Marie Louise de Rohan, also known as Madame de Marsan, was the governess of Louis XVI of France and his siblings. She was an influential figure of the French court and a driving force of the Dévots and the conservative fraction of the court nobility.
Black Magic is a 1949 American adventure drama romance film adaptation of Alexandre Dumas's novel Joseph Balsamo. It was directed by Gregory Ratoff. Set in the 18th century, the film stars Orson Welles in the lead role as Joseph Balsamo, a hypnotist, magician, and charlatan who also goes by the alias of Count Cagliostro, and Nancy Guild as Lorenza/Marie Antoinette. Akim Tamiroff has a featured role as Gitano. The film received mixed reviews.
Queen Marie Antoinette of France is best remembered for her legendary extravagance and her death: she was executed by guillotine during the Reign of Terror at the height of the French Revolution in 1793 for the crime of treason. Her life has been the subject of many historically accurate biographies and the subject of romance novels and films.
Victoire Armande Josèphe de Rohan, Princess of Guéméné was a French noblewoman and court official. She was the governess of the children of Louis XVI of France. She is known better as Madame de Guéméné, and was Lady of Clisson in her own right.
The Queen's Necklace is a 1929 synchronzied sound French historical drama film directed by Tony Lekain and Gaston Ravel and starring Marcelle Chantal, Georges Lannes and Diana Karenne. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects. The film is an adaptation of Alexandre Dumas's novel The Queen's Necklace which portrays the Affair of the Diamond Necklace which occurred before the French Revolution. The film's art direction was by Lucien Carré. The film was made and distributed by Gaumont. In Germany it was released by the major studio UFA.
The Queen's Necklace is a 1946 French historical drama film directed by Marcel L'Herbier and starring Viviane Romance, Maurice Escande and Jacques Dacqmine. The film portrays the Affair of the Diamond Necklace which damaged the reputation of the French queen Marie Antionette during the 1780s.
Julie Louise Bibault de Misery née de Chemault (1732-1804) was a French court official. She was the Première femme de Chambre to the queen of France between 1765 and 1786.
Marie Nicole Le Guay d'Oliva, was a French prostitute and memoirist. She is known in history as one of the participants of the famous fraud known as the Affair of the Diamond Necklace.