Parents' Guide to

The Affair of the Necklace

By Charles Cassady Jr., Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 16+

Mature themes, big stars in French Rev. intrigue.

Movie R 2001 117 minutes
The Affair of the Necklace Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

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age 14+

Based on 1 parent review

MovieLover4Lyfe
MovieLover4Lyfe Adult
October 6, 2010
age 14+
This movie is highly romanticized. The real Jeanne de la Motte-Valois was more of a sly, con artist than how she is portrayed in the movie. There's a topless scene and some violence. I think anyone who likes the time period will like all the colors and backgrounds used here.

This title has:

Too much violence
Too much sex
See all 1 parent review

What's the Story?

THE AFFAIR OF THE NECKLACE dramatizes an 18th-century scandal and courtroom trial that sullied the king and queen of France with bad PR on the eve of the French Revolution. Jeanne de la Motte-Valois (Hilary Swank) is introduced as a little girl of noble birth, orphaned when her father is killed by French royal Imperial Stormtroopers for dubious reasons. Still on the fringes of the aristocracy via her loveless marriage to a philanderer, Jeanne seeks the return of her estate and prestige by appealing to Marie Antoinette (Joely Richardson). But when the queen just ignores her, Jeanne hooks up with another palace wastrel (Simon Baker), who becomes her lover and co-conspirator. They hatch a scheme to dupe the politically ambitious (and lusty) Catholic clergyman, Cardinal de Rohan (Jonathan Pryce), into falsely thinking Marie Antoinette wants his help in procuring an enormously costly diamond necklace, at a time when citizens are already furious about the monarchy's wasteful spending.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (1):
Kids say (1):

Centered more on intrigue and tabloid-grade duplicity than politics, The Affair of the Necklace has a slightly soap-operatic script. This makes it a case of Jeanne's righteous revenge snowballing into a scandal that doomed the French aristocracy -- which is probably overstating the truth a bit. Many books have dissected why the French Revolution happened, but the message here is that Marie Antoinette's apathy toward Jeanne (and, by extension, the rest of the citizenry) while the royals enjoyed fun, games, and wealth at Versailles, brought the wrath of the masses and a sentence of the guillotine.

Movies oversimplifying mighty historical events are nothing new, and the portrayal of idle decadence and spiritual charlatans (the Cardinal for starters) atop the 18th-century European social ladder is done well here.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the real-life circumstances of the French Revolution, and how the incidents of this film figure into it. You could research the fall of the monarchy, and perhaps fact-check whether this movie exaggerated the importance of the "necklace affair" or not, and maybe look into other screen portrayals or biographies of Marie Antoinette and her downfall. Did she get a royal raw deal, or was she asking for it? Are there any similar celebrities (or first ladies) around today?

Movie Details

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