Grace of Monaco

I heard about this film during its release at cinemas, I knew the leading actress and some of the supporting cast, and then of course I heard mostly negative reviews by critics, I suppose I had to see why it was disliked, directed by Olivier Dahan (Le Vie en Rose). Basically Grace Kelly (Nicole Kidman) is one of the most glamorous and well loved actresses in Hollywood, one of her last roles was in To Catch a Thief for Alfred 'Hitch' Hitchcock (Roger Ashton-Griffiths), she has now given up acting after marrying Prince Rainier III of Monaco (Tim Roth). Hitch wants Grace to return to acting in his latest movie currently going into production, Marnie, she is eager and tells this to her husband, but this only causes a dispute, the arguments soon become a crisis for their marriage, and the press reporting this causes a controversy to the people of Monaco, they are outraged that a princess would consider acting. Settling that she has to act like a princess Grace gets some training for behaviour and facial expressions from Father Francis Tucker (Frank Langella), but worse comes when a political dispute occurs between Prince Rainier and Charles de Gaulle of France (André Penvern) over tax laws, this later turns into a French invasion. In the end, following all the troubles in the country, and wanting to please both her husband and the country, Grace steps out into the limelight to face an audience in her glamorous white and red dress with tiara to speak of the change she hopes will come. Also starring Paz Vega as Maria Callas, Parker Posey as Madge Tivey-Faucon, Heroes' Milo Ventimiglia as Rupert Allan, Derek Jacobi as Count Fernando D'Aillieres, Robert Lindsay as Aristotle Onassis, Harry Potter's Geraldine Somerville as Princess Antoinette and Nicholas Farrell as Jean-Charles Rey. I read the list of all actresses considered to play Grace Kelly, including Rosamund Pike, Charlize Theron (ironic, as she appears with Kelly in the Dior J'adore advert), Kate Hudson and Elizabeth Banks, Kidman has a mild likeness to the real actress, the problem is that she is too old, she does not convince being naive and her botox means hardly any facial expressions, ironically there is a scene where she is trained to pull particular faces using word cards, almost all look the same. Roth is alright being archetypal and supporting cast members like Lindsay and Ashton- Griffiths get their moments, the story is boring and does not convey properly the big issues at the time, the script is dull and the overall feel is shambolic, the only good thing I can say is that the costumes were good, apart from that it is a pointless and terrible biographical drama. Poor!

The bad thing about messing up history and making a movie about a real person that is not based on facts but fiction is that we tend to remember the movie. So, now thousands of people will believe that Kelly saved Monaco (de Gaulle never went to any ball, the situation was negotiated peacefully with France at the end). They will believe that the marriage with the prince did not include numerous extramarital affairs on both sides and they will believe that Grace was as tall and elegant as Nicole Kidman, the perfect princess. Too bad, because reality was good enough. The movie is beautiful, superbly esthetic, but that is all.

After six years of royal wedded bliss (or something like it), Grace Kelly - excuse me, Gracie to her friends - starts feeling the itch. No, not that kind of itch, but the itch to swap royal waves for Hollywood close-ups. Enter Alfred "Hitch" Hitchcock, who dangles the role of Marnie in front of her like a glittering carrot. But here's the catch: Prince Rainier, or Ray as I'm sure his poker buddies call him, isn't exactly thrilled about his wife abandoning her crown for a camera. Gracie signed up to be Monaco's First Housewife, not its latest export to Tinseltown. Ray has his own problems, like being perennially grumpy and dealing with that killjoy Charles De Gaulle. De Gaulle wants Ray to pay taxes (the horror!), or else France will swallow up tiny Monaco like a snack. What's a prince to do? Certainly not cheer up, that's for sure. But Gracie, ever the multi-tasker, decides to kill two birds with one impeccably thrown stone. She begins learning French (apparently six years in Monaco wasn't quite enough time to pick it up) and even manages to thwart the annexation. How, you ask? With a long-winded speech at the Red Cross ball that's as riveting as watching paint dry. But hey, disaster was averted, all thanks to Gracie's grace, style, and, of course, those cheekbones. Can you imagine the tragedy if Monaco had been annexed to France? I'm talking end-of-the-world stuff here, people! But thank goodness Gracie swooped in with her Hollywood charm, and voila, global crisis averted. Even with my low expectations, I was kind of hoping for a scene where Gracie teaches her Hollywood pals the fine art of gambling and partying, Monaco-style, to boost the principality's revenue. But alas, that would've been way too edgy for this royal snoozefest. What's truly laughable, though, is how the film treats Monaco-a glorified tax haven and playground for the rich-like it's some sacred ground. The movie acts like preserving the Grimaldi dynasty is somehow a matter of international importance, when we all know it's more about preserving a posh postal code. Obviously, I watched this on TV, and I'd recommend the same to anyone who occasionally enjoys the guilty pleasure of a truly terrible movie. Because let's be honest, sometimes you need a film so bad it makes your everyday life feel like Oscar material.

Hahahaha I wonder why people are so comparing this movie with the real life of princess Grace, this is a movie of course not 100% of it depicts 100% real life story of a person. However this movie is excellent to realize one time event of life yup the event where France tried to overtake Monaco but indeed Grace managed to save the whole country and became awesome magnificent princess and mother of 2 for this movie. Nicole Kidman acting wonderfully well which showed great struggle between staying in a foreign literally different culture with her liberal "freedom to speak" culture hometown, she obviously succeed showing her emotions and grace as the old nobility where "divorce" was taboo at that time. Tim Roth as prince Reiner showing great chemistry with her while not losing his excellent skill of acting. Most of the actors in this movie are great cast with wonderful scenery and setting. The director succeed bringing the best of the actors' skill and kept me watching this movie until the end without a hint of boringness. I don't really know about the history of Grace Kelly and her family that well just knew her as a beautiful actress and a princess who loved her family dearly but through this movie I really admire her more since she could survive the bad phase of her life and conflicts even though it's not the end of her problems yet she continued her role model as a wonderful princess, wive, and mother.

I hope Hollywood would stop using famous and well-known actors to embody famous actors whose lives they pay homage to. As a viewer, my perception becomes too skewed with trying to remember who the homage is for and how well the actor is performing. I would love to imagine the honored person's life being played out in the big screen, if Hollywood doesn't mind. In my opinion, a less known or unknown look-alike would do that. Nicole Kidman is a beautiful actor but I couldn't imagine nor remember Princess Grace. Also, Nicole Kidman does NOT have Grace Kelly's facial bone structure nor the look in her eyes that made Grace Kelly so famous and loved. Now Tim Roth who played the role of Prince Rainier was just frustrating. Disappointing.

Sometimes a trailer is so bad, you feel obliged to watch the whole movie. This is such a case. To one's disappointment, the film is a little better than the trailer, but bad enough. Nicole Kidman, why does she have to whisper all the time? Kudos for hair- dos and clothes, but it's not enough giving the illusion of 1961, just from watching that year's fashion magazines. But one can't but be impressed by the education system in Monaco during that era. It's so good, that almost everybody speaks English instead of French. Great job. We would all have done well at the casinos. And keep our national independence.

When you're buying a ticket to a movie called 'Grace of Monaco', then you are expecting a biopic right? However, the movie starts with the message that this is a fictional story based on non fiction events. Those expecting a full run down on the rise and fall of Grace will be hugely dissatisfied: the story chronicles a political dispute in Monaco about taxes. The director suggests that Grace had a critical role in the outcome of that dispute... but this might also be a fairytale on top of a fairytale (that is probably the fictional part as mentioned at the beginning of the movie). If anything this movie does not demystify Grace, it only adds to the legend now even accrediting her for solving a major historical problem in France. Probably would have been better anyway if the tax problem would not have been solved and President De Gaulle would have invaded Monaco because since then it serves as a tax free haven for drug lords and the super rich (who would rather buy another Lambo or Ferrari, rather then to pay the state for redistributing money). So to me it's puzzling why a mediocre actress who marries royalty in Monaco gets so much attention: it's obvious that the charity goals of Grace are half baked, because she chose to live in abundant luxury herself in a country which hosts mostly tax evaders. So presenting her as some kind of angel figure or a royal Mother Theresa is laughable at best. Kidman has a good run trying to mimic the angel like posture of Grace, but the lines smother her with cheesy dialog and real drama is nowhere in sight. I missed 10 minutes because I fell asleep but was still perfectly able to follow the storyline... so don't expect any surprises. I asked my companion and he said I did not miss anything... so there you have it.

11 June 2014 Film of Choice at The Plaza Dorchester Tonight - Grace of Monaco. Generally slated by the critics I decided to see this film anyway and I was glad I did. A fictional story based on true events, this enjoyable film was a very haunting portrayal of Grace Kelly's move from Hollywood Princess to Royal Princess and the difficulties that arose during the transition. Centred around the very trying times when Charles de Gaulle was trying to gain control of Monaco, Grace Kelly was portrayed as a lost figure. Lost in her marriage, lost in her identity and lost in her way. Unfortunately, Nicole Kidman, although a very accomplished actress who was dressed well and at time did look very much the princess, did not convince me that she was Princess Grace. For starters physically she was too red, Grace Kelly was blonde, not a Marilyn Monroe sort of blonde but a regal blonde, and a serene blonde, Nicole just looked like a red head, furthermore she didn't make me believe that she was Grace Kelly, I just felt that I could see many of her other parts all tumbling together to try to encompass this icon of movie and Royal history. Having said that, I don't know exactly who could have played the part of Princess Grace of Monaco.........except perhaps ......... Grace Kelly!!!!!

There is some strange casting here. Nicole Kidman just doesn't look like Grace Kelly. She doesn't have the right blonde coloring - her hair is too orange. Her face is too narrow - she doesn't have Grace's square jaw. Nicole is too tall and slim - not angular enough. But worst of all Nicole didn't imitate Grace's voice and carriage well. She only looked like Grace a bit at the Red Cross Ball with the wig and gown. Tim Roth looks even more unlike Prince Ranier. He is so un-princely it's terrible. Paz Vega is more beautiful than the real Maria Callas. The actor playing Ari wasn't made up to look like him. A few eye bags would have helped. The Hitchcock actor actually looked like him more so than Anthony Hopkins. The story itself is a bit of a storm in a teacup about some tax dispute thing that France was threatening Monaco with. A dry topic to focus on. It suffers from some of the same problems that the Naomi Watts Diana biopic had - mainly an uninteresting part of the subject's life to focus on. The scenery and production are quite beautiful and glamorous. This movie is disappointing and it's a such a waste since the people are so interesting a good movie could have been made.

First of all, this is not a biography, it's about an event that apparently took place in Monaco in the early 1960's. The French President deciding Monaco should pay taxes to France? After all the negative reviews, I was expecting the worst, but was surprised I quite enjoyed it. Nicole Kidman was most effective as Grace Kelly, and I can't think of anyone else today who could have handled that difficult role so well. Tim Roth was not as good looking as the real Prince Rainier, and Nicole's 5'11" towered over him. I thought the guy who played Hitchcock was better than the recent screen versions! Perhaps the film should have been titled 'Monaco in Crisis' or some such, so as not to mislead people into thinking this would be a bio of Grace Kelly?