Not perfect, but definitely worth watching
Added 8/6/2009
Plus for a very entertaining film with a captivating story. I always prefer movies that are based on true events and characters, so this was my cup of tea. The film provides a fascinating glimpse of the most crucial moment in French history. Great scenography and costume, and an excellent cast.
Minus for an actress who made me think of "Nip/Tuck" in the role of Marie Antoinette.
It would also have felt more authentic with a French cast.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Very fun intro to the intricacies of the pre-Revolutionary Court of Louis XVI
Added 5/29/2009
The reviewers were awfully hard on this one. I must admit that I found it an excellent and fascinating entertainment, a stimulus to look into the historical sources as there are obviously inaccuracies.
I liked Swank's interpretation of the character. She has a mission - perhaps even lying to herself, it is unclear - and needs a mentor to learn the ropes of the Court intrigues. She finds one in a gigolo, for whom she also apparently grows to have genuine affection. They form a team with her husband, to steal a necklace as a way to gain political clout. Along the way, they expertly con a corrupt Cardinal, whom they play for a fool via his outsized ambitions and appetites, enlist a sleazily funny magician/seer to help, and create a scandal of historic proportions. Once caught, everyone falls, including the monarchy.
What is so fun is the portrayal this offers of the way that government worked at the time, from aristocratic privilege to reward and punishment. in social and historical context. I found it fascinating, though would have wanted much more detail, which I can only get from books. The scandal was a catalyst that ended a monarchy that was rotten already.
Regarding the characters, the film adds much detail that can never be known. Thus, it is historical fiction. La Motte-Valois is ambitious and uses the leers available - sex, lies, and fraud. We do not know what she personally thought, etc. I found the acting uniformly excellent and subtle, with many layers that can be peeled away at later viewings. Perhaps she was a whore and simple con artist, perhaps her motives were noble to her. I liked the mix of motivations and characters. Her libertine husband is hilarious, her lover-mentor kind of sad in his love. The house minister is convincingly shrewd.
Recommended warmly for lovers of history and political intrigue.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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The Affair of the Necklace
Added 4/10/2009
I loved the movie! But, I did not like the way it was shipped to me. This is the first one I have ever had a complaint about and I order from Amazon quit a bit!!! It did not come with the cover when it was shipped to me!!! It was just placed in the envelope!! I am very upset about this. The movie itself (luckliey)was unharmed and it plays very well.
Thanks,
M.Fox
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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I just can't put my finger on it.
Added 1/18/2009
I bought this movie because the cast was wonderful, from Hillery Swank, Simon Baker to Christopher Walken I figured I couldn't go wrong....The tone of the film is lovely, the sets wonderful, the costumes divine and yet some how this piece just didn't work for me.
Okay I expect film makers to rewrite history, so that didn't get to me. The plot seemed interesting enough, but somehow it left me flat.
But still a good way to waste a couple of hours, I'm not sure if I will ever watch this film again, but I'm glad I did.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Skin-deep beauty
Added 11/22/2008
The setting is the court of France during the reign of Louis XVI, where Marie Antoinette has just refused to accept a massive diamond necklace (which was originally intended for a rival). Jeanne de Valois, who has reason to hate the royals, designs a scheme involving the 2800-carot necklace: Using the ambitious and unsuspecting Cardinal de Rohan as a pawn, Jeanne comes to possess the jewels, but the plan backfires with disastrous results.
The movie is based on a true story, but the facts are twisted and the plot so complicated that I had a hard time understanding it or even caring. Jeanne should have been the villain of the case, but instead she's made to be a pathetic victim and brave heroine, and it doesn't make sense. The narration tells us that the affair of the necklace was a huge contributing factor in Marie Antoinette's downfall, but there's nothing in the plot to show this.
The casting of Hillary Swank as Jeanne and Adrien Brody as her husband was a big mistake; they're both too contemporary and ungainly to play in this delicate period piece and they look out of place. No expense was spared for the opulent Oscar-nominated costumes and the magnificent sets, but the movie is a major clunker thanks to its confusing script.
2 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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Not perfect, but definitely worth watching
Added 8/6/2009
Plus for a very entertaining film with a captivating story. I always prefer movies that are based on true events and characters, so this was my cup of tea. The film provides a fascinating glimpse of the most crucial moment in French history. Great scenography and costume, and an excellent cast.
Minus for an actress who made me think of "Nip/Tuck" in the role of Marie Antoinette.
It would also have felt more authentic with a French cast.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Very fun intro to the intricacies of the pre-Revolutionary Court of Louis XVI
Added 5/29/2009
The reviewers were awfully hard on this one. I must admit that I found it an excellent and fascinating entertainment, a stimulus to look into the historical sources as there are obviously inaccuracies.
I liked Swank's interpretation of the character. She has a mission - perhaps even lying to herself, it is unclear - and needs a mentor to learn the ropes of the Court intrigues. She finds one in a gigolo, for whom she also apparently grows to have genuine affection. They form a team with her husband, to steal a necklace as a way to gain political clout. Along the way, they expertly con a corrupt Cardinal, whom they play for a fool via his outsized ambitions and appetites, enlist a sleazily funny magician/seer to help, and create a scandal of historic proportions. Once caught, everyone falls, including the monarchy.
What is so fun is the portrayal this offers of the way that government worked at the time, from aristocratic privilege to reward and punishment. in social and historical context. I found it fascinating, though would have wanted much more detail, which I can only get from books. The scandal was a catalyst that ended a monarchy that was rotten already.
Regarding the characters, the film adds much detail that can never be known. Thus, it is historical fiction. La Motte-Valois is ambitious and uses the leers available - sex, lies, and fraud. We do not know what she personally thought, etc. I found the acting uniformly excellent and subtle, with many layers that can be peeled away at later viewings. Perhaps she was a whore and simple con artist, perhaps her motives were noble to her. I liked the mix of motivations and characters. Her libertine husband is hilarious, her lover-mentor kind of sad in his love. The house minister is convincingly shrewd.
Recommended warmly for lovers of history and political intrigue.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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The Affair of the Necklace
Added 4/10/2009
I loved the movie! But, I did not like the way it was shipped to me. This is the first one I have ever had a complaint about and I order from Amazon quit a bit!!! It did not come with the cover when it was shipped to me!!! It was just placed in the envelope!! I am very upset about this. The movie itself (luckliey)was unharmed and it plays very well.
Thanks,
M.Fox
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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