It’s traditional for Cannes to start with something spectacular. This year they’ve chosen to begin with Olivier Dahan’s biography drama Grace of Monaco.
The film is a stately and swooning homage to Princess Grace, formerly Grace Kelly, focusing on her alleged courage in keeping plucky little Monaco safe for tax-avoiding billionaires. This was during its supremely parochial and uninteresting 1962 face-off with Charles De Gaulle, who wanted to absorb the principality and its monies into France’s national bosom. Grace is giving up her life and her passion for movies, to become a supportive, loving wife.
The film begins with a sketch of jowly and adorable old Alfred Hitchcock (played by Roger Ashton-Griffiths) coming to Monaco hoping to tempt Grace back to the movies, proffering a juicy leading role in his latest film, Marnie. Here, we stay with Kidman’s Grace, who is effectively confronted by a dilemma. Should she return to her selfish, shallow life in Hollywood or build a new shallow, selfish life in Monte Carlo?
And so the terrible mental fight begins. At nights she pores over the script and lives her life in scripts with stylish reading glasses. But during the day, she is trying her best to impress the wittering ladies of Monaco by entering into the spirit of charity galas and a completely different lifestyle. Grace worries about plotting against her at court. She consults her confidant, one Father Francis Tucker, a sorrowing priest who is evidently permitted the familiarity of calling her “Gracie”, played with conviction by Frank Langella.
Grace of Monaco has reached the audience of Cannes Film Festival and has already received a lot of criticism. We can an all see and judge ourselves the built life story of Grace Kelly on June 6.
Watch trailer here:
