From the Heart of the Ocean to the Evenstar to that ring in the Phantom of the Opera movie, jewelry can play a big part in a film’s narrative. Despite being a large part of the book, Esmeralda’s necklace has never been seen in the movie version.
Costume design from the Opera La Esmeralda
Esmeralda wears a small oblong bag fasten to a necklace of red seeds. The bag is made from green silk and has a large imitation emerald made from glass. This is where she gets her name from but the fact that the stone is fake means that she too is fake. Esmeralda is not a real Gypsy. Inside the bag is her only link to her real self, a baby shoe.
Sister Gudule (Gladys Brockwell) showing the necklace to Esmeralda Hunchback Notre Dame 1923
Having the pouch in a movie would mean that Esmeralda’s backstory would have to be played out in some way. In the 1923 movie, Esmeralda did have a necklace to signify her origins but it was a medallion and in the 1999 parody version she had a birthmark.
Esmeralda Smiling, Maureen O’Hara 1939 HUnchback of Notre Dame
However, a few years ago there was talk that the Brolin movie would be more of an action-adventure tone and treasure hunts are popular plot mechanic for that genre. If the narrative was somehow centered around Esmeralda’s jewelry having a connection to a treasure that could be location at Notre Dame, like it’s a key or just part of it, you could have a story that keeps are as a Gypsy since films like that and have her jewelry as a focal point.
Esmeralda and Sister Gudule by Benjamin Lacombe from Notre Dame de Paris Tome 2
Personally, I wish the origins of Esmeralda and her original necklace would be played out in a film very but also I like jewelry in general so I would just like to see how a film could work it in to a narrative even if as stupid as the idea I proposed in that last paragraph.
on Amazon, sad to say the Rose Window are not there but there stuff is very pretty I love their St. Brendan’s Cross.