The Affair of The Necklace - Critical Reception

Critical Reception

The Affair of the Necklace earned negative reviews from critics with most comments focusing on Hilary Swank's performance within the film's highly stylized period drama setting. The film currently holds a 15% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 61 reviews.

CNN Entertainment praises Hilary Swank and Charles Shyer's contributions to the film, writing, "Writer/director/producer Charles Shyer is known for such lightweight comedies as Baby Boom and Father of the Bride, but he's made a major change with this lavish period piece, shot in Prague on a modest $30 million budget. He also took somewhat of a chance with Oscar winner Hilary Swank in the leading role. Her graphic portrayal of Brandon Teena in "Boys Don't Cry" (1999) gave no hint as to whether or not she could pull off a 18th-century drama complete with feathered hats and tight corsets. She can."

Kevin Thomas of The L.A. Times writes, "Shyer and Sweet bring consistent clarity and ever-increasing depth to the playing out of Jeanne's bold scheming and single-minded resolve; a tone of brisk wit gives way effortlessly to poignancy and ultimately tragedy."

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times said the film "only works if it understands Jeanne is one villain among many, not a misguided heroine . . . But the storytelling is hopelessly compromised by the movie's decision to sympathize with Jeanne. We can admire someone for daring to do the audacious, or pity someone for recklessly doing something stupid, but when a character commits an act of stupid audacity, the admiration and pity cancel each other, and we are left only with the possibility of farce." Yet, fellow film critic Richard Roeper disagreed with this review, instead arguing, "I'm sure that it's sort of a 'Fractured Fairy Tale' version of the real events that happened, but the fact that it was inspired by real-life events made me enjoy it all the more."

However, in more negative reviews, the New York Times's A.O. Scott stated that the film "drags and meanders when it wants clarity and clockwork . . . The only actors who relieve the tedium are the ones who decline to take the proceedings seriously. Mr. Brody overacts with a loose bravado somewhere between Tom Jones and Blackadder, and reminds us that all that lechery and dissolution could be fun sometimes. And then there is Mr. Walken, who seems to be enjoying himself a great deal at the movie's expense. He is outfitted with facial hair that appears to have been made of industrial vinyl and a hairdo that owes more to science fiction than to costume drama."

Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly graded the film C and commented, "Swank isn't great at clipped refinement. There's something eerily earnest about her - the blank modern voice, the eyes aglow with sincerity - that renders her all wrong for a costume drama pitched in the arched-eyebrow invective mode of Dangerous Liaisons. Then again, it doesn't help that the liaisons here feel about as dangerous as a portfolio of mutual funds . . . The Affair of the Necklace is slipshod rather than sly. There's no fury to the movie, repressed or otherwise, which may be why when the Revolution arrives, it has all the impact of a guillotine with a deadly dull blade."

Maitland McDonagh of TV Guide stated, "This sumptuously designed film . . . has all the ingredients of a juicy historical romp. But it's bloodless, fussy, and undermined by Hilary Swank's stiff, one-note performance . . . is painfully uncharismatic, leaving Christopher Walken, in the minor role of occultist Count Cagliostro, to decamp with any scene in which he appears. His performance may not be historically credible, but it's hugely entertaining: Would that the same were true of the film overall."