No Grace In Olivier Dahan's 'Grace Of Monaco'

The night before I watched “Grace of Monaco,” I ran into the wonderful William Wyler classic “Roman Holiday,” which starred Hollywood royalty as real royalty. That film is the story of a witty, sympathetic yet at times sardonic romantic getaway of a European princess with a cunning American journalist, and along the way the viewer gets to see that no matter how much fun the royals would like to have, their public duties will never allow them to have normal lives.

Now of course the main thing was that Wyler made this point in such a humorous and tender way that the romance between the protagonists, Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck, came off as convincing though fleeting and fairytale-like. This film was just pure fun; it satisfied all our yearnings and curiosities for the royal lifestyle without taking itself seriously. This very quality is what is lacking in Olivier Dahan's “Grace of Monaco,” in which Nicole Kidman stars as Hollywood icon and Princess Grace Kelly. The film is a boringly pompous endeavor in that it dares to take itself so seriously.

The film opened to a booing crowd at the Cannes Film Festival this year. The Cannes premiere was not a surprise in the least since Grace Kelly was -- and Nicole Kidman is -- a regular of the festival. But what was frankly a surprise, at least in my opinion, is how this film was still slotted as the opening film of the official lineup.

This biopic starts at the point where Kelly shoots her last movie in Hollywood, since she will soon be marrying the billionaire heir to Monaco, Prince Rainier. After a glamorous wedding presented through archive footage, we jump to several years later, where Grace is gliding through the corridors of the tiny country's colossal palace. As always, she is dressed in beautiful attire that deserves to be on the cover of Vogue magazine, which is befitting for a princess. The only problem is that even though Kidman tries to embody Kelly through every movement and gesture, and although she is one of the most talented actresses on this planet, she looks like a robotic and acquiescing Barbie doll without the projection of any relatable emotion.

Grace loves her hubbie, Rainier (Tim Roth, in one of his most dismissible roles), but her uptight and controlled life in the court is really getting to her. She is utterly unhappy and she misses her days as an actress -- and so the violins start playing, pleading for our tears. Why don't we feel sorry for her depression and dilemma? Is it perhaps because there are other real problems in the world, and there's nothing to be that unhappy about in her life of wealth and plenty?

In the film's superficial crisis point, she must choose between being a rich princess or a rich Hollywood icon. This crisis is intertwined with the real events of 1962, in which France wanted to impose tax on Monaco, which did not apply any tax to billionaires who relocated their business in the sovereignty.

Grace, after her “significant existential dilemma,” chooses to completely devote herself to her husband and act like a proper princess. She learns French, she learns etiquette and she starts helping Rainier in evading the clutches of France. What a martyr she is portrayed to be, helping the rich become richer!

Even worse, her new transformation is presented to us in the light of humanitarian causes -- in her busy agenda, she even squeezes in the reopening of a hospital with help from the Red Cross.

At the height of the film, thriller-like events occur in which Grace and her husband concoct a ploy to overtake the French government and to get rid of the traitor collaborators inside their court. This is an incredibly overblown and superficial sequence in which we are led to believe that pure justice is found and the “underdogs” win. The underdogs here are supposedly the rebellious people of Monaco. Honestly, in this day and age, who would believe this? Relaying history is one thing, but advocating the politics of rich countries as if they are the equivalent of developing countries is nothing other than unacceptable.

There is no oomph, grace or genuineness in “Grace of Monaco.” Its blandness, self-absorption and outlandishness will not even seduce audiences who are in love with the culture and fashion of the era. Trite is what this film is. So sad; Grace Kelly deserves better.

Emine Yıldırım (Cihan/Today's Zaman)