After the critical drubbing doled out to the Diana movie you might have thought that Royal biopics couldn't be much worse received.
Well, Grace of Monaco - starring Nicole Kidman - appears to have done just that. The movie will have its world premiere at the opening night of the 67th Cannes Festival this evening, but earlier it played to an audience of international critics.
The reviews are in and they ain't pretty.
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The Telegraph reports that "by the end of the first scene the audience had started curling up, like startled armadillos," for this "fantastically silly melodrama".
The Times says that, "The film received an equally dismissive response from critics, who jeered and whistled as the closing credits rolled."
Even the kindest review, in The Independent, is forced to concede that "Grace Of Monaco has its share of toe-curling, Diana-style moments. In particular, the scenes in which Grace makes small talk with opera star Maria Callas (Paz Vega) are excruciating."
Princess Stephanie - Grace's daughter - who has not seen the film but has read the script and watched the trailer, said that the film “should never have existed” because it presented a distorted view of history.
“If you make a film based on historical fact, you should stick to those facts,” the princess said. “This film does not praise Monaco, nor the great man who was my father, Prince Rainier.”
Kidman herself commented: “Obviously I feel sad because I think that the film has no malice towards the family, particularly towards Grace or Rainier,” the actress said. “It’s fictionalised. It’s not a biopic. There’s the essence of truth [but] you take dramatic licence.”
