I am sure my petit fours comment piqued your interest...or at least confused you. I compare "The Affair of the Necklace" to this fancified little cake because like petit fours, the film looks great but once you sink your teeth into it, it is quite unappealing. Looks good--but that is all is how I see this film.

"The Affair of the Necklace" is a costume drama set in the latter period of the reign of Louis XVI of France. It's based on a true story of intrigue that only served to discredit the monarchy more and tip the nation a bit closer toward revolution. The problem is....who cares?! The film is too jam-packed full of knowing glances and quiet intrigues that it lacks the one important element in such a film--energy. You just don't care about the characters and the film is pretty but also quite empty.

The film stars Hillary Swank--a very good actress and I am sure a nice person, but also a star hopelessly miscast. Her character is supposed to be an extremely desirable lady--but Swank just isn't that sort of actress and so the film was a stretch. I understood why the cast spoke English--it was NOT a French language production. But, it also seemed weird that the character of Marie Antoinette (Joely Richardson) was played by an English actress, as Marie was Austrian and SHOULD have had a German accent--or at least a trace of it. Regardless, the cast tried--but the material was too dry and too dull. The overall effort is slow going--and not especially involving.

Based on a true story, in 1767 Jeanne St. Remy de Valois grew up in privilege. However her father was sympathetic to the common man and the family loses everything. Her father is killed and soon she became an orphan. In 1784, Jeanne (Hilary Swank) sets off to plead her family's case to Queen Marie Antoinette (Joely Richardson). The House Minister Breteuil (Brian Cox) blocks her at every turn. With the help of Rétaux de Vilette (Simon Baker),she learns the ways of the corrupt superficial court. The duo seeks the patronage of Cardinal Louis de Rohan (Jonathan Pryce) to press her case. They convince him with forged letters to purchase a extravagant diamond necklace for the Queen. The scheme goes wrong and it causes a great scandal.

It's a costume drama with plenty of costume but not much drama. There is a lot of decadence without much context of the coming French revolution. Somehow this story must be placed more firmly in the scope of history. It isn't really and the movie loses its power. The french court needs more excesses. The french public needs to be shown on its knees. A few riots with lots of dead would help the cause. The movie needs blood on the streets, and a few action battle scenes to break up the stuffy court.

The acting is stiff for the most part. Hilary Swank has to take much of the blame. She doesn't fit costume drama that well. The dialog is clunky and it clunks off of her lips. The cast is composed of great actors and they do their best to keep this afloat but there is a general lack of tension in the story.

From what I've read, many facts were altered from the story of the real Countess Jeanne de Valois. But I'm not here to quibble over Hollywood's history of messing with facts. I'm here to praise or condemn this film as entertainment, and while I choose not the highest of praise, I do indeed praise it. This costume drama is an absolutely delightful dangerous liaison of revenge, set in the very same era of "Les Liaisons Dangerous", this is the story of another calculating female who seeks to regain what was stolen from her family, and that's merely the estate she was brought up in, not the throne taken away by the Bourbon dynasty. I question only lightly the decision to cast two time Academy Award winning actress Hilary Swank in the role of the devious social climbing countess, but once I got used to her, I forgot the fact that she seemed far two modern at first to be part of 18th Century France, taking place just as the peasants began plotting a little something called a revolution.

Like "Dangerous Liasons", this is often funny, using sly humor to grab the audience and bring them in. Swank has lost all efforts to become part of queen Marie Antoinette's court, so she turns to disfavored cardinal Jonathan Pryce to fool him into a conspiracy. A rather dark souled count (Christopher Walken) provides additional underhanded support, mentioned as being a part of the Illuminati. Joely Richardson doesn't always come off as commanding as Marie Antoinette but her role isn't written to be very layered, either. Classical music, both sweet and sinister, aides Swank in achieving her goal, but with the inclusion of a lavish diamond necklace into the plot and angered masses preparing for attack, it's running neck and neck as to who will end up with the necklace and who will find themselves facing a darker conclusion ironically involving their neck.

The real Countess Jeanette was presumably less sympathetic than as represented by Swank here, but so what. Everything about this film just strikes a cord with me as history and fiction mix together as dirt and blood would be on the staircase of the guillotine. Bringing back memories of "Dangerous Liasons", "Amadeus", various films about the lives of Marie Antoinette, Madame Du Barry, Cardinal Richileu and fictional characters created by Charles Dickens flowed through my memory. This might not be a perfect history lesson, but as dramatic license takes its right, so does this film to make its narrative riveting and unforgettable. The conclusion does tend to drag with its "whatever became of...." narrative, and by the time they got to Swank, I said to myself, "Well, it's about time!"