The Affair Of The Necklace [2002]

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Amazon.co.uk Review
Widely ridiculed on its cinematic release, The Affair of the Necklace is a fascinating mixture of the spectacular, the romantic and the simply dreadful. Director Charles Shyer--best-known for mediocre comedies like Father of the Bride--leaps perhaps unwisely into the bodice-ripping palace intrigue genre. Admittedly Shyer does have an eye for spectacle--many of the Versailles scenes were shot there and Prague does its usual excellent service as pre-Revolutionary Paris--but he fumbles when it comes to telling the complicated story. The real-life scandal of Jeanne de la Motte-Valois, whose machinations crippled the French monarchy, was complicated enough, but Shyer manages to make it incomprehensible. Even the excellent Brian Cox cannot make the leaden narrative work successfully and some complicated, misleading games with time simply fail to do anything other than irritate.

Hilary Swank--excellent in Boys Don't Cry and Insomnia--is weirdly doll-like and passive as the con-woman La Motte-Valois and only excels in her role when she is pulling pistols on people. As her husband and lover, Adrian Brody and Simon Baker respectively have rather more chemistry, and Jonathan Pryce sweeps around as a depraved gullible cardinal. But the scene-stealers are Christopher Walken, who hams it up spookily as the psychic crook Cagliostro, and Joely Richardson, who plays Marie-Antoinette as an icy, charismatic bitch. The score is an irritating pot-pourri that avoids French music in favour of Bach, Handel and the just-about contemporary Mozart. The gorgeous frocks appear to be where most of the budget was blown--if only a little more was invested into making sense of the script.

On the DVD: The Affair of the Necklace is presented in a 2.35:1 widescreen visual aspect and has sumptuous Dolby 5.1 sound that does full justice to both dialogue and score. The film has generous extras, including a "making of" documentary and an intelligent piece on the show's design, as well as a director's commentary and deleted scenes which reveal more than we wanted to know about the hesitation and changes that mar the story-telling. --Roz Kaveney

DVD Description
DVD Special Features:

Behind-the-scenes documentaries: The Affair of the Necklace: The Making of a Scandal and Designing the Affair
Feature-length audio commentary by Director Charles Shyer
Additional scenes with optional Director's commentary
Gag reel
Trailer
Widescreen 2.35:1 anamorphic 16:9
Dolby Digital 5.1 English
Subtitles: English
Hearing impaired: English

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