The Affair of the Necklace

“Her birthright was stolen. Her dignity taken. Her rights denied. Deception was the only option.”

Jeanne St. Remy de Valois (Hilary Swank) has the name of a noble house and nothing else, her family ruined by the unrest in France before the Revolution. She sets out to avenge them by stealing a priceless necklace, working her way toward Cardinal Louis de Rohan (Jonathan Pryce) and the court around Louis XVI. Charles Shyer fills the frame with royal splendor, and Jeanne stands in the middle of it, penniless.