Charting a year of her marriage to Prince Rainier III of Monaco, Nicole Kidman steps into the very expensive shoes of Grace Kelly in a movie that wants to capture the real life fairytale the actress lived (I know this, because they mentioned she was living a fairy tale about fifty times). Set in 1962, the same year Rainier (Tim Roth) clashed with France over tax law, it tries to delve into the drama of the obvious culture clash Grace experienced, but instead delivers an absolute shambles of a film, choking us with melodrama until we pass out.
Grace of Monaco kicks off with a title card tellings us this is a fictionalised account of real life events. That should tell you all you need to know about the movie really, clumsily shoehorning Grace into proceedings in the most eye rolling way possible. Now, I don't claim to know the ins and outs of how these events played out in real life, but I highly doubt they went on as shown here, savvy PR work and shadowy detectives being brought into play. Also, the conflict isn't the most interesting event to hang a movie on, basically amounting to nothing more than men in sharp suits sitting around a table talking about money, and the decision to intensify proceedings with an ominous score, more suited to a spy thriller, that drowns out most scenes doesn't help matters any. As I've said before, the movie has the air of a fairy tale about it, the sumptuous surroundings of Monaco and the royal palace looking stunning and dream like at times. But with a story that goes absolutely nowhere, manufacturing conflict for the sake of conflict only to drop it almost immediately, it is all style and no substance. Director Olivier Dehan makes some odd choices at times, slowing down the narrative with some meaningless scenes (especially the final five minutes, which make no sense whatsoever), and coming over all arty for no reason, with extreme close ups of various parts of Kidman's face that don't fit in with the rest of the movie. It's really surprising, considering he previously brought us the wonderful La Vie En Rose.
Kidman does try her best as Kelly, convincing as a member of old school Hollywood. But the door hasn't even closed on the first act, and she fades into the background, basically becoming a side character in her own story. You never believe she has the strength we are lead to believe she has, most of the time coming across as a doe eyed debutante who follows her husbands every move. Roth makes no impression as Rainier, to the point that there was times he was in this. The rest of the cast are also nothing to write home about, with the exception of cameos from Frank Langella and Derek Jacobi, who make the movie almost bearable.
A vapid, typically Hollywood fudging of real life events, Grace of Monaco doesn't offer much in the way of cinematic worth.
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Grace of Monaco kicks off with a title card tellings us this is a fictionalised account of real life events. That should tell you all you need to know about the movie really, clumsily shoehorning Grace into proceedings in the most eye rolling way possible. Now, I don't claim to know the ins and outs of how these events played out in real life, but I highly doubt they went on as shown here, savvy PR work and shadowy detectives being brought into play. Also, the conflict isn't the most interesting event to hang a movie on, basically amounting to nothing more than men in sharp suits sitting around a table talking about money, and the decision to intensify proceedings with an ominous score, more suited to a spy thriller, that drowns out most scenes doesn't help matters any. As I've said before, the movie has the air of a fairy tale about it, the sumptuous surroundings of Monaco and the royal palace looking stunning and dream like at times. But with a story that goes absolutely nowhere, manufacturing conflict for the sake of conflict only to drop it almost immediately, it is all style and no substance. Director Olivier Dehan makes some odd choices at times, slowing down the narrative with some meaningless scenes (especially the final five minutes, which make no sense whatsoever), and coming over all arty for no reason, with extreme close ups of various parts of Kidman's face that don't fit in with the rest of the movie. It's really surprising, considering he previously brought us the wonderful La Vie En Rose.
Kidman does try her best as Kelly, convincing as a member of old school Hollywood. But the door hasn't even closed on the first act, and she fades into the background, basically becoming a side character in her own story. You never believe she has the strength we are lead to believe she has, most of the time coming across as a doe eyed debutante who follows her husbands every move. Roth makes no impression as Rainier, to the point that there was times he was in this. The rest of the cast are also nothing to write home about, with the exception of cameos from Frank Langella and Derek Jacobi, who make the movie almost bearable.
A vapid, typically Hollywood fudging of real life events, Grace of Monaco doesn't offer much in the way of cinematic worth.
Follow @themoviebit
