The Affair of the Necklace (2001) on Netflix
R20011h 58mDramaHistoryRomance
Penniless in pre-Revolutionary France, Jeanne de Valois-Saint-Rémy wants the title and home her family lost. Rebuffed by Marie Antoinette, she schemes to obtain a diamond necklace.
- Netflix3.3/5
- IMDb6.0/105,815 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes15%
Trailer
Plot summary
Paris, 1786. Orphaned young, Jeanne de Valois-Saint-Rémy lost her home and noble title as a child and means to reclaim both. Her father was put to death for his views about the poor. She believes a word with Marie Antoinette will set matters right, but the Queen's House Minister turns her away, and legal channels fail. A gigolo at court, Rétaux de Villette, teaches her to use what others desire. King Louis XV had ordered an opulent diamond necklace from the jewelers Boehmer and Bassenge as a gift for Madame du Barry, and it was unfinished when he died; the Queen declines to buy it. Jeanne presents herself to Cardinal Louis de Rohan as a confidante of the Queen, and he, long eager for her favor, listens.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Affair of the Necklace (2001)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Unlike the film, which shows Jeanne de Valois-Saint-Rémy as coming from a wealthy family with an estate, the real Jeanne and her family were destitute and lived in the slums of Paris.
- The real Jeanne was not a full member of the royal House of Valois as the film portrays; she descended from an illegitimate branch, the house of Valois-Saint-Remy, tracing back to Henry de Saint Rémy, himself an illegitimate son of King Henry II.
- The film compresses history around Madame du Barry and the necklace: in fact Louis XV's mistress was banished from Versailles in 1774 shortly before he died of smallpox, and Marie Antoinette was offered the diamond necklace twice, in 1778 and again in 1781, refusing it both times.
- In real life, Cardinal de Rohan kept the forged letters instead of burning them as he does in the film, and when arrested he handed them over to the king, who furiously pointed out that the forged signature read 'Marie Antoinette de France,' since French royalty never used surnames.
SPOILER
The real Jeanne escaped to London disguised as a boy and died there in 1791 after falling from a hotel window; some believe she was hiding from tax collectors, while others suspect French royalists took revenge on her.- After his acquittal, occultist Count Cagliostro left France for England, then moved to Rome, where he was accused of forgery and imprisoned; he died at the Fortress of San Leo in 1795.
