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In the 1780's, King Louis XVI (Simon Shackleton) and Queen Marie Antoinette
(Joely Richardson) are in power but the French Resistance is trying to
eliminate the monarchy. As a young girl, Jeanne de la Motte-Valois (Hilary
Swank) loses her fortune and her home when her father is killed for being
a sympathizer. She vows to restore the honor and good name of the Valois
family, and get her estate that was confiscated by the crown. She needs
a way into the court, so she weds Count Nicolas de la Motte (Adrian Brody)
- a marriage of convenience.
Jeanne devises an elaborate plan with the help of her lover, the court
gigolo Rétaux de Villette (Simon Baker). They convince Cardinal
de Rohan (Jonathan Pryce) that the only way to get in the good graces of
the Queen is to buy this exquisite 2,800-carat diamond necklace created
by the royal jewelers and present it to her. The Cardinal is hesitant,
but after his seer Count Cagliostro (Christopher Walken) foretells that
this move will lead to a royal appointment, he agrees. Jeanne then steals
the necklace to buy back her estate and Nicolas starts fencing the diamonds,
when House Minister Baron de Breteuil (Brian Cox) discovers the conspiracy,
the parties are all brought to justice.
The movie is based on an actual scandal that may have led the King and
Queen directly to the guillotine. This should have been a good movie -
it had the treachery, the lavish locations (the Palace at Versailles and
the Bastille Prison), the period costumes and jewelry that would have been
at home in a museum, and the love triangle with a couple of beautiful men
(Adrian Brody and Simon Baker - both who appear in various states of undress)!
So, what happened? It could be the pacing is bad (it drags on terribly), it could be Hilary Swank acts better when she's playing a boy than she does playing a French Countess, it could be the bad dialog which doesn't create suspense, intensity, emotion, or sympathy in the characters (and everybody has a British accent - in France), or it could be all of the above - in which case it must be the director's fault this falls flat. Or blame it on the writer - I mean please, he doesn't even let Marie say, "Let them eat cake."
© 2001 Warner Bros. Pictures - All rights reserved
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