Grace of Monaco stars Nicole Kidman as Grace Kelly. The movie star who married a prince. It starts on a studio lot, I think it’s meant to be the last film that she shot before her marriage.
Grace walks to her dressing room and there are many flowers. Then it pans to a newsreel showing her marriage to Rainier III, Prince of Monaco (Tim Roth).
Mr Hitchcock arrives and visits Grace at her new palace. An aid tells him what he and can’t call her. He offers her a part in a film ‘Marnie’. After much debate, she can do the film, as long as she manages the publicity.
However, somebody leaks the story early that she intends to do a film. This causes a negative reaction in Monaco. The Prince is pressured to stop her and they have a bad argument at a dinner.
Can she be a movie star and a princess?
The trouble with the film was it was a bit long and bland. The main issue was the storylines; Grace rides a horse, Grace does a film, Grace takes ‘princess lessons’ from a Count etc.
There were some highlights, a rare comic moment in learning the language. When she does get tough, it’s in trying to find who is leaking stories to the press. This was very good.
Milo Ventimiglia appears as a sort of film studio liaison Rupert Allan. I didn’t really understand the point of the character but Milo does a very good job with the limited scenes he’s given. I was impressed.
Sadly, there just weren’t enough moments. There was no chemistry between Tim Roth and Nicole at all. It was like a marriage of convenience. Tim Roth seemed only to smoke his way throughout the film, just sitting about puffing away.
The film does not pretend to be an accurate account but simply exploring Grace Kelly’s decision. Whether a princess can hold a job and maintain a position in society. I felt this was a shame, if you’re going to cover a true story, you should at least do it properly. Even the director admitted in an interview he never intended it to be 100% true.
Frank Langella played Father Francis Tucker but I was unsure what the purpose of his role was. How did he end up as an advisor to the Prince? There was no explanation to the relationship. Furthermore, he left just after halfway through!
Some British actors got their oar in, but to no avail. The result was terrible accents and cringe-worthy scenes!
Due to the lack of effort about the history, the blandness of most of the cast and there being no real moments of joy. This gets a 6/10 from me.
Image reproduced from wikipedia.com
Trailer reproduced from Warner Bros. UK Trailers