neumu [ cinematronic ]




	The Affair Of The Necklace
	Charles Shyer Hilary Swank, Simon Baker, Jonathan Pryce, Joely Richardson, Christopher Walken 2001		Damning with faint praise: Comedy director/screenwriter Charles Shyer's foray into fancy costume drama — 18th-century pre-French Revolution scandal and intrigue, to be precise — is Not Terrible. It's just been done better. "The Affair of the Necklace" stars lanky Hilary Swank as Jeanne de la Motte-Valois, a young woman who was born to an aristocratic family but lost her title and land when her father made enemies in the royal court. Rebuffed by Queen Marie Antoinette (Joely Richardson), Jeanne concocts a preposterous scheme with charming Retaux de Villette (Simon Baker) to regain fortune and standing by pilfering a gem-studded necklace. Jeanne's plan pits her against predatory Cardinal de Rohan (a creepy Jonathan Pryce) who is aided in his own intrigues by nutty psychic Cagliostro (a creepier Christopher Walken). Swank won a best-actress Oscar as Brandon Teena, a Midwestern girl passing herself off as a boy, in the tragic "Boys Don't Cry." But she's out of her element here.