The Affair of the Necklace

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JudeBlue

Date: Tuesday, 29-Mar-11, 3:11 PM | Message # 1

Cobber

Messages: 112

Status: Offline

The Affair of the Necklace is a based (some would say very loosely based) on the true story of Jeanne St Remy de Valois (Hilary Swank), a Countess whose name was stripped from her by the French Crown during the late 18th Century. The story is of her fight to restore her name and place in society.

She marries the Compte de la Motte (Adrien Brody) in order to get a title which will admit her to court. Once there she thinks that she will be able to talk to Marie Antoinette (Joely Richardson) about her plight.

Rétaux de Vilette (Simon Baker) - a gigolo - helps the Countess to con Cardinal Louis de Rohan (Jonathan Pryce) into buying a diamond necklace for the Queen - a necklace which the Countess then keeps for herself.

The costumes are fabulous and Simon fills his very nicely. biggrin His English accent is excellent (although I can't help but wonder why the Director wanted English accents in a story based in France). In fact his voice is pretty much unrecognisable - I guess the strain of achieving a completely different accent affected his mouth and throat. I don't even remember hearing that lovely 'break' that his voice so often has.

IMO Hilary Swank was miscast, it probably sounds silly but she just doesn't look right in a period drama to me.

Thrill

Date: Wednesday, 04-Jul-12, 2:28 PM | Message # 2

Dinkie-Di

Messages: 210

Status: Offline

Affair of the Necklace - Fun version!!

In pre-Revolutionary France, a young aristocratic woman (Hillary Swank) left penniless by the political unrest in the country, must avenge her family's fall from grace by scheming to steal a priceless necklace. She conspires with Retaux, a gigolo, (Simon). They start by using each other but develop feelings leading to a beautiful love scene. Ultimately the scheme goes awry and ends badly for all involved including unwittingly catalysing the downfall of Marie Antoinette.

This movie clip is a collection of scenes to create an image rather than telling the story - and set to music - Nothing Else Matters.
(By the By - Singer and rhythm guitarist James Hetfield wrote the song while he was on the phone with his then girlfriend (now wife - they also have 3 kids). The lyrics, "so close, no matter how far", reflected the bond they shared even when he was on tour. Initially, the song was not meant to be released, as Hetfield had written it for himself, but after drummer Lars Ulrich heard it, it was included on their 5th album Metallica (1992) and is now probably one of their best known tracks. It has been covered over 40 times...... There is a great version from a concert Metallica did with the SFSO in 2000 - check out YouTube).

Back to the movie clip - I have played around with iMovie - trying different video effects - flipping the image, sepia & "romantic" tones, zooming and adding stills - all to get enough footage to last the length of the track. There is alot of bare chested Simon. It may not be to everyone's taste. I hope i don't offend anyone.....

There is a clip at the end of Stella who was an extra in the crowd scene (thank you Sylvia for mentioning this).

Finally though I have to say I do prefer Simon as he is now....

Affair of the necklace Simon Baker view with music

Tina

Date: Thursday, 05-Jul-12, 9:57 AM | Message # 3

Fair Dinkum

Messages: 2066

Status: Offline

Thanks for the clip. That's I think the only movie I haven't seen yet. I just don't like Simon's look ..the hair ...but there are some interesting scenes in it ;-)
Maybe I should order the DVD at last.
I didn't know that Stella was in that movie. How cute.
I really do prefer Simon as he is now too!!! Never better.
But the young Simon was cute too in the other movies.

Tina

Thrill

Date: Friday, 06-Jul-12, 5:43 AM | Message # 4

Dinkie-Di

Messages: 210

Status: Offline

If you liked the clip - I have updated it - better quality audio and have added some slow motion. I cant improve the video pixelating due I think to the dim lighting - I have tried everything I can think of with video effects!

If you didn't like the other - don't bother with this one!!

Improved the video quality - a bit........ (new link)

Affair of the Necklace - Simopn view slow

Message edited by Thrill - Saturday, 07-Jul-12, 5:36 PM

Tina

Date: Friday, 08-Aug-14, 5:29 PM | Message # 5

Fair Dinkum

Messages: 2066

Status: Offline

I finally watched this movie, it was the only one with Simon I hadn't seen yet, and I was surprised that I actually liked it (better than some other movies).
Simon is looking really cute, even with this wig (I really hate these hairstyles of that time!).

The story kind of touched me, especially the end when Simon's character was arrested and found guilty.

How sad Jeanne (?) and him never met again.

I learned a little bit history with that movie, I had no idea about Marie Antoinette and that she ended up like this.

Thank you Thrill that you put the clips in your b-day movie, that made me really curious about the movie. Too bad they cut out the scene when Simon has a very good horse riding scene.

The Affair of the Necklace

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