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 Langell

Fmovies: I can't believe so many people have given this movie any stars. It's both ridiculous and inept. So, where to begin?

The idea that France would annex Monaco is treated with the world-shaking importance of the Cuban Missile Crisis. It's a spat about taxes. Hardly earth-shaking. Another crisis is whether Grace will return to Hollywood, beckoned by Hitchcock, to star in "Marnie." That movie was also a mess with Tippi Hedren and is certainly on the bottom of the Hitchcock oeuvre, alongside "Topaz". It would have been no better with Grace Kelly. The script meanders about with one poorly conceived scene after the next. None, even vaguely plausible. Do you think that people went around calling Rainier "Ray" and Grace "Gracie"? I think not.

As for Nicole Kidman, not for one minute does she look like Grace Kelly - or even seem to try. Kidman has red hair when Grace Kelly was one of the world's great blonds. Didn't anybody care? In addition, Kidman's face is as waxy as a polished dance floor. In endless, painful close-ups, Kidman looks like an ad for what can go wrong with too much Botox. She makes no effort to convey the famous Kelly, breathy speech pattern. And, while there are some beautiful gowns, her hair is simply unlike the way Princess Grace wore her hair. Real jewels from Cartier - with a nice product placement leaving the Paris store - can't make up for this plastic performance.

Tim Roth doesn't look like Rainier. Neither do the Onassis or Callas stand-ins. But why bother?

This is simply an insult to Monaco, to the memory of Le Princesse Grace, the craft of screen writing and the art of film making. This was jeered at its opening of the Cannes Film Festival. Rightfully so.

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 Général Charles De Gaulle, and a looming French invasion of Monaco in the early 1960s.

The 67th Festival de Cannes opened with a royal fiction. It's traditional for Cannes to start with something spectacular. This film displays an homage to Princess Grace, formerly Grace Kelly. Nicole Kidman is magnificent and breathtaking in the part of this iconic figure of American Cinematography. In fact she embodied a sort of elegance through Hitchcock movies. In this film she's introduced mostly as a wife and a mother who wants to keep her career still. The director, Olivier Dahan (La Môme), had created this whole couple interactions. On the other hand Prince Rainier, starring Tim Roth, is a two faces character. With a complicated identity as he's dealing with his political and public image as well as his private family life. Plus, Grace's Royal life hasn't really turn out the way she imagined. yet for all the movie's efforts to turn this long forgotten Côte d'Azur missile crisis, it never registers as more than a turf war - whose worst possible outcome is that a few thousand tax- dodging bourgeois might be forced to become French citizen. The script is agonisingly airless, especially when it tries to fill into a conspirational plot involving Rainier's sister. Dahan keeps things very busy on the visual front even making sure to have a real fireworks erupting in the background of one marital argument. As Langella said once "At some point, every fairy tale must end" - only in the case of Grace of Monaco, not really soon enough.

Overall the resulting film is like a 104 minutes long Chanel ad editing with Instagram filters.

Grace of Monaco fmovies. Oliver Dahan's biopic of Hollywood's darling, Grace Kelly, has been pretty much thumped by critics universally. Most would have you believe Grace of Monaco is an arduous, dull swamp of a film on a par with Oliver Hirschbiegel flop, Diana.

It isn't. Not quite.

Described as a fictional story based on true events, Grace of Monaco looks at Grace Kelly's (Nicole Kidman) struggle to maintain her own identity as her marriage to Monaco's Prince Rainier III (Tim Roth) bounces around the rocks while her husband's subjects reject her and his staff resent her. Add to that Charles De Gaulle's impending invasion and the principality's nosedive into economic ruin, and all was not happy in Grace's life. Allegedly.

Grace of Monaco is a long way from Dahan's 2007 biopic triumph, La Vie en Rose. It is far too long, far too dull, with questionable 'truth' and rather too much melodrama. Dahan repeatedly cuts to lingering ECUs of Kidman's eyes, vainly hoping that soft focus shots of her regal visage will imbue his film with serenity and beauty. It doesn't. It merely serves to increase the boredom and slow the pace still further.

No matter how good Kidman and Roth are, they cannot raise Grace of Monaco above the status of star Sunday afternoon matinée to the magnificent period piece it desperately wants to be. Both actors are pleasant to watch here with Grace's relationship with Frank Langella's Father Tucker a highlight that allows Kidman to scratch under the veneer of the princess. Likewise, Roth is more than adequate as the overbearing monarch who occasionally remembers to show he cares about his wife, but it lacks the truth of his sensitive and truthful performance in last year's fantastic Broken.

When Roger Ashton Griffiths waddles onto the screen as Hitchcock aiming to seduce Grace Kelly back to Hollywood, the teeth begin to rattle as memories of Toby Jones pouring out the definitive depiction of Hitch in The Girl diminish anything that Ashton Grifiths can produce. Amongst the supporting cast Robert Lindsay, surprisingly cast as Aristotle Onassis, and Derek Jacobi as Count Fernando D'Aillieres engage the eye but there is a very odd collection of accents on display for a film set in an annex of France.

The production design is eye-catching and detracts momentarily from the clunky dialogue, but it isn't sufficient compensation. Contrary to popular opinion, Grace of Monaco is not a turkey. It is merely overlong and dull. Approach with low expectations and you won't be disappointed.

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I was really pleasantly surprised by this film. It was interesting and well played. I like Nicole Kidman and she really looked like a princess in this film.

Story of Monaco was very interesting and this particular episode in life of the Principality was well described in the history and well portrayed in this film.

In the movie theater where I watched this film 99 percent of the audience were women. I guess all of the dream to marry a Prince charming. Be careful what you wish for, you might get it! My ex got her and she ran for her life ;)

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.