If there’s anything we can expect from the Wes Anderson Cinematic Universe, it’s that everything will be beautiful. Famously dedicated to aesthetics, no detail is too small for the director. For his latest film, The Phoenician Scheme (which premiered yesterday at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival), Anderson tapped Cartier to fashion one of the most recurring props: a rosary.
Anderson’s 12th directorial venture follows a wealthy, embattled businessman, Zsa-zsa Korta (Benicio del Toro), who designates his only daughter, Liesl (Mia Threapleton), as the heir to his estate. Liesl, a nun, is almost always pictured with the rosary wrapped around her hand.
Anderson approached Cartier to create Liesl’s bespoke rosary after stumbling upon one of the house’s cross pendants from approximately 1880. Artisans from the high jewelry studio recreated the cross on a larger scale, at nearly 5.5 cm, to help enhance visibility onscreen. The ornate white gold cross is inlaid with rose-cut diamonds and a large central ruby cabochon, while the 78.5 cm chain features emerald beads, briolette-, square-, and rose-cut diamonds, along with five ruby cabochons.
Cartier opted to incorporate rose-cut stones into the necklace as they felt it lent to Anderson’s vision and penchant for vintage-inspired aesthetics. Meant to sparkle under candlelight, rose-cut diamonds peaked in popularity during the Victorian Era. So, while perhaps it would be unusual to see a nun carrying such an opulent piece of jewelry in our world, it fits right into the universe that Wes Anderson has created.
