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The Affair of the Necklace (2001)

tomatometer

15

Average Rating: 3.7/10
Reviews Counted: 61
Fresh: 9 | Rotten: 52

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.

25

Average Rating: 4.4/10
Critic Reviews: 20
Fresh: 5 | Rotten: 15

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.

audience

44

liked it
Average Rating: 3.1/5
User Ratings: 3,587

My Rating

Movie Info

A director of contemporary comedies, Charles Shyer makes a genre leap into period costume drama with this lavish epic based on a controversial chapter of French history. Hilary Swank stars as Jeanne de la Motte Valois, a countess whose royal title has been stripped from her family by the crown in late 18th century. Determined to restore her good name and privilege, Jeanne schemes politically and sexually with a trio of co-conspirators that includes her gigolo lover, Retaux de Villette (Simon

R, 2 hr.

Drama, Romance

John Sweet

Jun 25, 2002

Warner Bros. Pictures

Cast

All Critics (71) | Top Critics (23) | Fresh (12) | Rotten (52) | DVD (15)

A cheap bauble of a flick.

March 22, 2002 Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | Comment
Globe and Mail
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The film has a desperate, disjointed feel that suggests the filmmakers realized it wasn't working and kept trying, ineffectually, to fix it.

February 8, 2002 Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | Comment
Houston Chronicle
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The entire film seems a series of disjointed pieces, a screenful of iron filings waiting in vain for the magnet that will line them up in a unified field.

December 26, 2001 Comment
Boston Globe
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Shyer's film denies us the double dip of vice and virtue. It's moralistic.

December 25, 2001 Comment
Philadelphia Inquirer
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The storytelling is hopelessly compromised by the movie's decision to sympathize with Jeanne.

December 25, 2001 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | Comment
Chicago Sun-Times
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Little more than sexed-up soap opera in powdered wigs.

December 24, 2001 Full Review Source: Detroit Free Press | Comment
Detroit Free Press
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Mature themes, big stars in French Rev. intrigue.

December 1, 2009 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment
Common Sense Media

Much of the dramatic juice and intrigue have been drained out of this old-fashioned costume drama, that in the hands of director Charles Shyer and actress Hilary Swank becomes stiff, stuffy, and banal affair.

December 1, 2005 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | Comment

Swank's honest mistake is in trying to be worthy of a project that's beneath her.

February 1, 2005 Full Review Source: Blogcritics.org | Comment
Blogcritics.org

I felt as if I was at an Yves St. Laurent fashion show and the actors were modeling the latest in 18th-century fashions.

January 22, 2003 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | Comment
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Jeanne is no fun at all.

October 2, 2002 Full Review Source: L.A. Weekly | Comment
L.A. Weekly

... takes a fascinating footnote and reduces it to a mediocre and fitfully entertaining film.

August 5, 2002 Full Review | Comment
Baseline.Hollywood.com

Fans of costume dramas or those who make a study of such things will want to pick this up.

July 8, 2002 Full Review Source: Needcoffee.com | Comment
Needcoffee.com

A crass, often ridiculously misguided period drama that spells everything out in nice, big block letters so even a small child could comprehend it.

June 26, 2002 Full Review Source: Matinee Magazine | Comment
Matinee Magazine
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for The Affair of the Necklace

Decent movie. Good cast. Apparently based on true-ish events, but much was added for theatrical purposes, I would think. Hilary Swank is good in everything she does, and this movie is no exception. I knew nothing about this time period, but after watching this film I found myself looking for information. Interesting

December 5, 2011
itsjustme2004

Super Reviewer

It looks so stunning that you (or at least I) can take it seriously or not on whim.

October 1, 2007
newvogueravyn

Super Reviewer

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