Das Halsband der Königin (2001)

Das Halsband der Königin: Directed by Charles Shyer. With Hilary Swank, Jonathan Pryce, Simon Baker, Adrien Brody. In pre-Revolutionary France, a young aristocratic woman left penniless by the political unrest in the country, must avenge her family’s fall from grace by scheming to steal a priceless necklace.

“I wanted to watch this film because of an interest in the period, and in that sense, I wasnu0026#39;t disappointed. For someone without a nitpicky, in-depth knowledge of the era, I thought the u0026#39;courtu0026#39; costumes were stunning, and the u0026#39;love sceneu0026#39; was made all the more interesting because of the layers of clothes Hilary Swank had to get through!u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI wasnu0026#39;t aware of the details of u0026#39;true storyu0026#39; beforehand, and so I didnu0026#39;t have any cause to object to the u0026#39;Hollywood interpretationu0026#39;, nor would I now. I can recognise the difference between a movie and a documentary, and donu0026#39;t think the former should necessarily sacrifice its magic for each and every fact of the latter. The opening flashback, recounting the events of Jeanneu0026#39;s childhood, however, was a little too formulaic – the hazy, sunset meadow setting, with the young Jeanne on a swing, and her father returning home to his pregnant wife, reminded me of the opening to the dire u0026#39;Musketeeru0026#39;, which I started to watch for similar reasons. More u0026#39;syrupyu0026#39; than magical.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI would prefer a film, particularly an adaptation, where French characters are played by French actors. A perfect u0026#39;experimentu0026#39; would be a faithful portrayal of Orczyu0026#39;s u0026#39;Scarlet Pimpernelu0026#39;, with an English actor who can break into believable French! Until that ceiling-smashing film comes, however, I think English actors are less u0026#39;distractingu0026#39; in such roles than their American counterparts. At least u0026#39;BBC Englishu0026#39; can be mentally interpreted as aristocratic French, and (true) Cock-er-nies, or Northern English accents, taken as the language of the u0026#39;peopleu0026#39;. Hilary Swanku0026#39;s American drawl sat awkwardly with the era and the setting. I know that an American film has every right to select an American actress, but if such a choice is perfectly fitting, then why was Hilary Swank desperately trying to clip her natural speech into a forced British accent? Her lines sounded like a high school recital. Adrien Brody suited the part physically, and I loved the scene with the doctor after he was accidentally shot, although it did seem slightly u0026#39;Carry On ..u0026#39;-esque. The rest of the film seemed to demand he should have been fatally wounded. With the light-weight Simon Baker, I just kept wondering which Australian soap I recognised him from (Heartbreak High).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThere were a number of fade outs towards the end of the film where I thought the credits should have rolled – I agree with a previous review, in that there really wasnu0026#39;t enough story to sustain nearly two hours of film – but, in the style of Spielbergu0026#39;s u0026#39;A.I.u0026#39;, the bulk of the running time was easy enough to watch.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eA superficially well-dressed dramatisation.”