Grace of Monaco (2014)

"The idea of my life as a fairy tale is itself a fairy tale" -Grace Kelly

Grace of Monaco, Jesus it seems like it's been ages since i first heard about this movie, i think the movie was already on post production by the end of 2012 and only at this year's Cannes Film Festival it finally premiered. Until that premiered much was talked about, first Oscar buzz was all over this movie, people seemed to see Nicole Kidman as a lock for the Best Actress category and since it was directed by La Vie en Rose director Olivier Dahan and with a powerful producer like Harvey Weinstein backing the movie up, well it seemed like we could expect great things from it. This was until the movie was delayed from Cannes 2013 and the fights between the directors cut and Weinstein started, and well this went on for basically a whole year with the movie being postponed several times and with a lot of controversy on top of it as well. The movie finally premiered at Cannes 2014, it was the opening movie and the directors cut was shown and the Weinstein name doesn't even appear on screen when the movie starts. The reviews bashed the movie, many said that it was unforgettable because it was the worst Cannes opener they had ever seen. And although the movie has only been released for about a month, everybody seems to have already forgotten it, well i still had interest in seeing it, i mean how bad could it actually be?

Grace of Monaco is Directed by Olivier Dahan and it stars Nicole Kidman, Milo Ventimiglia, Paz Vega, Tim Roth, Parker Posey, Frank Langella, Derek Jacobi, Geraldine Somerville and Roger Ashton- Griffiths. "The story of former Hollywood star Grace Kelly's crisis of marriage and identity, during a political dispute between Monaco's Prince Rainier III and France's Charles De Gaulle, and a looming French invasion of Monaco in the early 1960s."

Well Grace of Monaco is not a straight up F movie, the movie does have it's redeeming things but for a movie that had such big buzz, for a movie that has such talent involved(in and out of camera), i got to say that this is still an incredibly flawed movie and very disappointing indeed.

I think this was a semi-interesting story, Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier III relationship and her whole adaptation to the her new life was kind of an interesting story, that could be told brilliantly and even earn some awards but this is not that story. I chose that quote from the movie: "The idea of my life as a fairy tale is itself a fairy tale", because basically what the movie presents us is a fairy tale version of actual events, the movie shows us a fairy tale that is quite ludicrous and naive at times but it shows us without being aware of what it is, the story is presented in a very self-serious way. The movie's major flaw is really it's screenplay and direction, the screenplay is totally insane, it's plain stupid at times and basically the director takes this script and tries to make a kind "King Speech" bio-pic.

Arash Amel's screenplay is really where it all begins, it's an empty screenplay. So we have Grace Kelly who is having some problems in her marriage, she feels to much pressure being a princess and she feels a disappointment Kelly is really the only character that at times pops out of the screen and it's really because of Kidman, the rest of the characters have nothing to say and when they do the dialogue is dull and incredibly bland. Tim Roth, Paz Vega, Derek Jacobi, Frank Langella are the supporting roles in this movie and their characters simply have no weight, they are boring they really are just cardboard tick. This movie should never had gotten such talented actors for such a weak screenplay.

And unfortunately the direction is not any better, with Olivier Dahan giving violent shifts in tone, at times the movie is very but very serious and it tries to focus on Kelly's problems as an artist and at other times it kind of becomes a comedy i mean not only because what's written it's ridiculous but because the approach is not the best either, i mean even the score at times makes it feel like we are watching a comedy. The movie does hit a low point when all the the sudden, we are not watching a Bio-Pic nor a Drama or Comedy but a thriller with spies and sh*t it was at that time that threw the towel down because things had gotten a bit to ridiculous and the movie is really just all over the place tone wise. I mean i also have to mention that all those meeting scenes about whether or not there would be an invasion were really terrible too, i mean just amateurish with no kind of tension or even believability.

Nicole Kidman is a great talent and she rally gives her all here but even her was kind of hard to buy as Grace Kelly. She really gives her heart and talent to this movie that didn't really deserve it, her performance is really what kept me watching this movie and she carries it on her back but even her was not nearly enough. The movie does look pretty good for the most part, with some good cinematography and Set-Decoration but i mean that is more or less expected from this kind of period piece.

Grace of Monaco is quite a big fat mess although not as terrible as some said. This is a bad movie no doubt on that, with a disgusting screenplay and direction that's out of hand, still it's elevated by a good lead performance by Kidman who could not save the day.

Rating:C-