Grace of Monaco (film)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Grace of Monaco |
| Country of production | France |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 2014 |
| length | 103 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 0 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Olivier Dahan |
| script | Arash Amel |
| production | Arash Amel Uday Chopra Pierre-Ange Le Pogam |
| music | Christopher Gunning |
| camera | Eric Gautier |
| cut | Olivier Gajan |
| occupation | |
| |
Grace of Monaco is a French film biography of Olivier Dahan from the year 2014 . Based on a script by Arash Amel, the film depicts the life of Princess Gracia Patricia of Monaco - played by Nicole Kidman - during the national crisis in the early 1960s. The film's world premiere took place on May 14, 2014 at the opening of the 67th Cannes International Film Festival, out of competition. The cinema release in Germany followed a day later.
The Monegasque dynasty distanced itself from the project in the run-up to publication . There were also discussions between the director and the US distribution company The Weinstein Company about the final cut, which led to an indefinite postponement of the theatrical release in the United States. The film was then broadcast on American television on May 25, 2015.
action
In 1962 the Principality of Monaco found itself in a state crisis. Prince Rainier III. has a complicated tax dispute with neighboring France because he fears a loss of autonomy. President Charles de Gaulle is ultimately calling for the introduction of income and corporation taxes for French companies operating in Monaco and is threatening a military blockade.
At the same time, Princess Gracia Patricia , with whom Rainier has been married for six years, receives an offer from director Alfred Hitchcock for his film Marnie . The former American film actress is not averse to returning to the film business after leaving Hollywood . In Hitchcock's psychological thriller she is supposed to embody the title role of a frigid kleptomaniac , whose pathological behavior is accompanied by a fear of intimacy , which goes back to formative experiences in her childhood. When it was officially announced, the demanding script met with fundamental concerns about the Princess’s duties and resistance from the people of Monaco and the local media.
Gracia Patricia initially finds it difficult to finally say goodbye to the film and to force through to settle completely in her new life. At a party she has organized for the benefit of the Red Cross, they impressed with a speech about what is really important, namely the love for one another and respect the values of others, which alone a lasting peace would ensure that international guests (including de Gaulle and McNamara ). The princess also announces that she has canceled the role offer from Hollywood because she sees her task in being wife and mother and sovereign of Monaco. France ends the existing blockade against the small state.
background
Pre-production
The script by Arash Amel was included in the 2011 Annual Black List of the best not-yet-produced scripts and sold in an auction to producer Pierre-Ange Le Pogam in October of the same year . At the time, the estimated budget was $ 15 million. In January 2012 it was announced that the French director Olivier Dahan was taking over the production.
Casting
At the beginning of April 2012, specific negotiations with Nicole Kidman in the title role were reported for the first time . Other applicants included Jessica Chastain , Charlize Theron , Reese Witherspoon and Gwyneth Paltrow .
In mid-July 2012, a casting company invited young actors to Paris and Brussels to play the roles of the children Prince Albert , Princess Caroline and Christian de Massy - son of Princess Antoinette, the older sister of Prince Rainier III. - to occupy.
In August 2012, Paz Vega , who embodies the opera singer Maria Callas , Tim Roth for the role of Prince Rainier and Frank Langella in the role of confessor Francis Tucker. At the same time the extras were selected in Nice . Around 1000 extras were needed for the filming on the Côte d'Azur alone . The remaining supporting roles were filled in the course of the following weeks up to the start of shooting in September 2012.
Filming
Filming began on September 21, 2012 in Paris and Menton . In October 2012 the crew moved to the Italian community of Ventimiglia, first to Grimaldi di Ventimiglia and then to Villa Hanbury on Cape Montrola. On October 29th and 30th, 2012, the Monegasque authorities granted permission to film at the Place du Casino in front of the Monte Carlo casino . In November 2012 and January 2013 the recordings were continued in Genoa . The Palazzo Reale in Via Balbi served as the backdrop for the Hall of Mirrors in the Prince's Palace in Monaco . In the meantime, the film was shot in Brussels in December 2012, with the Belgian parliament acting as the princely office.
Controversy
Criticism of the Princely Family
Shortly after filming was finished, the Prince's Palace of Monaco issued an official press release in January 2013 and distanced itself from Dahan's work:
«[…] Le palais princier avait en son temps fait part à la production du film de nombreuses demandes de changements, toutes n'ayant pas été prices en considération. De ce fait, la famille princière tient à souligner que ce film ne constitue en aucun cas un biopic. Il relate une page, réécrite et inutilement 'glamourisée', de l'Histoire de la Principauté de Monaco et de leur Famille comportant à la fois d'importantes inexactitudes historiques et une série de scènes purement fictionnelles. [...] »
“[...] In the past, the Prince's Palace accompanied the production of the film with numerous amendments, not all of which were taken into account. For this reason, the royal family attaches great importance to emphasizing that this film is in no way a film biography. It tells a rewritten and unnecessarily glamorous page of the history of the Principality of Monaco and its family, which contains both considerable historical inaccuracies and a number of completely made-up scenes. [...] "
Shortly afterwards, the director justified himself in an interview by claiming the right to fiction.
«Je ne suis ni journalist ni historien. Je suis un artiste. Je n'ai pas realisé un biopic. Je déteste les biopics en général. J'ai fait, en toute subjectivité, le portrait humain d'une femme modern qui veut concilier sa famille, son mari, sa carrière. […] Mais je comprends leur point de vue. Après tout, c'est leur mère. Je ne veux provoquer personne. Seulement dire que c'est du cinéma. »
“I'm not a journalist or a historian. I am an artist. I didn't realize a biopic. I despise biopics in general. In a purely subjective way, I drew the human portrait of a modern woman who wants to harmonize her family, her husband and her career. [...] But I understand their point of view. After all, it's her mother. I don't want to provoke anyone. Just say that it's about cinema. "
Another communiqué from the palace followed on May 2, 2014 with a similar wording. Historical inaccuracies and questionable research were criticized again. Those responsible refused to include the family's numerous comments. You don't want to be associated with the film project. At the same time, the royal family announced a boycott of the opening of the Cannes Film Festival.
Princess Stéphanie later added that the film should never have been made and that she definitely did not want to see it.
“Si on tient à faire un film basé sur des faits historiques, il faut s'en tenir aux faits. Ce film ne fait pas l'éloge de Monaco, ni du grand homme qu'était mon père, le prince Rainier. »
“If a film is to be made on the basis of historical facts, then it has to stick to the facts. This film is not an eulogy for Monaco or the great man, Prince Rainier, who was my father. "
Discussion about the cut version
At the end of March 2013, the film studio The Weinstein Company acquired the distribution rights for the important US market. The company around producer Harvey Weinstein announced that it would release the film at the end of the same year and thus bring it into the competition for the 2014 Academy Awards in good time . Six months later, however, Weinstein decided to postpone the theatrical release to spring 2014 because post-production supposedly took more time and the film had to be removed from the Oscar race for the coming year. Director Olivier Dahan disagreed with this claim, countering that the changes Weinstein proposed were purely commercial and that many other factors would be left by the wayside.
“The film that I am in the process of finishing is complicated to finalize, although actually, for me, it is finished. […] There are two versions of the film for now: mine and his… which I find catastrophic. […] It's got hardly anything to do with the film. It's only about the money, the release strategy, millions of dollars and stuff like that. It's got nothing to do with cinema. I mean, of course it's about cinema, but the business side. They want a commercial film smelling of daisies, taking out anything that exceeds that which is too abrupt, everything that makes it cinematic and breathe with life. A lot of things are missing. "
“The film I'm finishing is difficult to complete, even though it's actually done for me. […] There are now two versions of the film: mine and his… which I find disastrous. [...] It has hardly anything to do with the film. It's all about the money, the release strategy, millions of dollars and stuff like that. It has nothing to do with cinema. I mean, of course it's about cinema, but the business side. They want a commercial film that smells like daisies and take out everything that is exaggerated and unexpected, everything that makes it cinematic and brings it to life. A lot of things are missing. "
After the theatrical release in the United States was scheduled for March 14, 2014, Weinstein no longer gave a binding date in January 2014. Due to the dispute with Dahan, no final version has yet been handed over. Therefore it is impossible to get the necessary marketing activities off the ground. A few days before the start of the Cannes Film Festival, a rapprochement between the parties became apparent. Negotiations have also been made to reduce the rental fee from originally five million US dollars.
criticism
"[...] The Frenchman (director Olivier Dahan) boldly disregards facts, fictionalising reality in the early 1960s as a" romantic story with historical references ". […] In contrast to the triumphant Kidman, Tim Roth as Rainier seems a bit unsavory, a simple bad cast that Frank Langella as court chaplain and confidante, Paz Vega as Maria Callas or Robert Lindsay as macho Aristotle Onassis easily make up for. [...] "
"The film is disappointingly mediocre, and Nicole Kidman plays Grace Kelly with the facial expressions of an Arctic penguin."
Web links
- Official website
- Grace of Monaco in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Grace of Monaco at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Release certificate for Grace of Monaco . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , April 2014 (PDF; test number: 144 569 K).
- ↑ Patrick Hipes: 'Grace Of Monaco' On Lifetime: Nicole Kidman's Grace Kelly Movies Airs May 25 - Deadline . In: Deadline . Retrieved May 26, 2015.
- ↑ Spec Script Sale: “Grace of Monaco” . The Black List, November 5, 2011, accessed February 5, 2014 .
- ↑ Mike Fleming Jr.: 'La Vie En Rose' Helmer Olivier Dahan To Direct Grace Kelly Film 'Grace Of Monaco' . PMC, January 9, 2012, accessed February 5, 2014 .
- ↑ Bory's Kit: Nicole Kidman in Talks to Play Grace Kelly in 'Grace of Monaco' . The Hollywood Reporter, April 5, 2012, accessed May 14, 2014 .
- ↑ Cassie Carpenter: 'He didn't love me at first sight': Nicole Kidman reveals it took aloof Keith Urban four months to ask her out on a date. . In: Daily Mail , January 11, 2013.
- ↑ Casting for Grace Kelly film ( Memento of the original from July 23, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . In: Riviera-Côte d'Azur-Zeitung , July 20, 2012.
- ↑ To be (almost) a movie star once… ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . In: Riviera-Côte d'Azur-Zeitung , August 31, 2012.
- ^ Fabien Lemercier: Cameras to roll on Grace of Monaco. Cineuropa, September 20, 2012, accessed May 16, 2014 .
- ↑ DIAPO. Le tournage de “Grace Of Monaco” démarre place du Casino ( Memento of the original from May 17, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . In: Nice-Matin , October 30, 2012.
- ↑ Cedric Verany: La famille princière désavoue le film Grace of Monaco ( Memento of the original from May 17, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . In: Monaco-Matin , January 16, 2013.
- ↑ Danielle Attali: Olivier Dahan: “Je revendique le droit à la fiction” ( Memento of the original from October 27, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . In: Le Journal du Dimanche , January 19, 2013.
- ^ Communiqué de presse: Film “Grace de Monaco” .
- ^ Monacos Princely House boycott Cannes opening . In: Die Welt , May 3, 2014.
- ↑ La princesse Stéphanie “n'ira pas voir” Grace de Monaco ( Memento of the original from May 14, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . In: Nice-Matin , May 11, 2014.
- ↑ Tatiana Siegel: Nicole Kidman's 'Grace of Monaco' Acquired by Weinstein Co. The Hollywood Reporter, March 25, 2013, accessed on May 14, 2014 .
- ^ Scott Roxborough: Zurich Fest: Harvey Weinstein Hints at Oscars Gameplan. The Hollywood Reporter, September 29, 2013, accessed May 14, 2014 .
- ↑ Hilary Lewis: 'Grace of Monaco' Director Bashes Harvey Weinstein's 'Pile of Shit' Edit Plans. The Hollywood Reporter, October 18, 2013, accessed May 14, 2014 .
- ↑ Pamela McClintock: The Weinstein Company Pulls Nicole Kidman's 'Grace of Monaco' from Release Calendar. The Hollywood Reporter, January 23, 2014, accessed May 14, 2014 .
- ^ Tatiana Siegel, Pamela McClintock: The Weinstein Co. Nearing Deal to Keep 'Grace of Monaco'. The Hollywood Reporter, May 6, 2014, accessed May 14, 2014 .
- ^ Film review of Grace of Monaco. In: Kino.de . Retrieved August 29, 2014 .
- ↑ Film review: At the cat table. In: Spiegel Online . Retrieved February 14, 2016 .
