The Affair of the Necklace (2001)
Film:
DVD:

Features:

• Running audio commentary with director Shyer
  
• Behind-the-scenes docu
  
• "Designing Affair" featurette
  
• Additional scenes with optional commentary by Shyer
  
• Gag reel
  
• Theatrical trailer
  
• Cast and crew highlights
  

Anamorphic: Yes.

My Advice: Rent It.

Jeanne de la Motte-Valois (Swank) has had a bit of a rough go at it. Her father was a purveyor of unpopular speech against the French monarchy, and for that he was summarily executed in front of his wife and young Jeanne. Her mother died not too long after that. Left an orphan with no access to her seized land and family name, she grows up wanting to restore dignity to her family. However, the monarchy, headed up by Marie Antoinette (Joely Richardson) and her house minister (Cox), keep her from her goal at every turn--with very little effort. It's only when she is befriended by court gigolo Rétaux de Villette (Baker) that she begins to learn how one goes about getting what one wants...and so Jeanne starts to formulate a plan.

Well, first the good news: the film is blisteringly gorgeous. There's good reason for this--costume designer Milena Canonero and production desinger Alex McDowell, both proven masters of their respective crafts, absolutely crush the visuals. The bad news is that, well, it never really seems to take off. The plot, which sounds interesting enough--downfall of a monarchy and all--takes forever to go anywhere. And it's torn between being a solid historical piece and being a Film With a Moral (TM), which comes across like a ton of bricks in the second-to-last reel. The performances are all solid enough, with Christopher Walken's Cagliostro as a standout--just because he looks so damn cool. However, his come-and-go accent makes one wonder if it's a statement on his character...or just a mistake. I tend to consider it the latter.

As far as the DVD goes, there is more good news than bad to be had--those who think the film worthy of one will find the running commentary by Shyer to be a welcome addition. Especially when he's talking about absinthe and the inclusion of relatives of cast and crew in certain shots--most amusing. The behind-the-scenes featurette is pretty much nothing you haven't seen before, no surprises there. The best entry from the disc, though, is the "Designing Affair" featurette. Hearing Canonero and McDowell discuss the decisions they made and why they did so is fascinating, so much so that I wished for them to have a commentary of their own, to build upon the "court full of ghosts" idea that Canonero puts across. Great stuff. The Gag Reel is worthwhile also, if for nothing else to hear what happens when great actors like Cox and Pryce start messing with people's heads.

Probably the biggest disappointment, though--and this is going to sound odd--is that they have left off the teaser trailer in favor of the incredibly inferior full trailer. The teaser features the Alanis Morissette track from Jonathan Elias' The Prayer Cycle and no narration, and is what made me want to see this film in the first place (not to mention seek out the Elias album and buy it immediately). Instead, the theatrical trailer panders to the Great Unwashed Masses, making the film look even more like something it isn't. Oh well.

Fans of costume dramas or those who make a study of such things will want to pick this up. From a design standpoint there haven't been many that can surpass this one. However, the rest of us will be find with a rental when we get around to it.