"Grace of Monaco" is mainly bland, polished nonsense, mixed with product placement and name dropping. It wastes your time with random drivel and wanders from one meaningless incident to another. The few ideas it does succeed in having or expressing are unkind, entitled or retrograde. For instance, the viewer is supposed to admire, nay venerate Grace for her brave determination to learn something about the language and culture of Monaco. Can you believe it : she even - gasp ! - talks with some locals !
God ! If you're going to make a new and permanent home in another country, the very least you can do is learn the language. This becomes a positive duty if you're married to a member of the royal family. How are you going to represent or defend your new country, if you're unable to walk into a coffee shop and ask for one coffee, black, two lumps of sugar please ? By the same token, all members of a royal family should be familiar with social habits and traditions - it's one of the most basic requirements for the job.
But no, the viewer is supposed to adore the Grace character for her pluck, bravery and self-sacrifice. Half-hidden beneath this exhortation there are some pretty nasty assumptions and prejudices. Try : "No American should have to learn a foreign language, it's up to foreigners to learn English". Or : "Rich people don't have to worry about the needs and feelings of proles". Or : "If taxpayers throw you large chunks of money, you should not feel obliged to do something in return".
Another idea the movie is trying to sell to you : there is no need to worry about the existence of Panama-like tax havens, provided these havens yield a crop of good-looking celebrities. Still, I for one could live with the thought of the various creators of "Grace" living in undeserved luxury, if that meant that they would never make another movie again.
God ! If you're going to make a new and permanent home in another country, the very least you can do is learn the language. This becomes a positive duty if you're married to a member of the royal family. How are you going to represent or defend your new country, if you're unable to walk into a coffee shop and ask for one coffee, black, two lumps of sugar please ? By the same token, all members of a royal family should be familiar with social habits and traditions - it's one of the most basic requirements for the job.
But no, the viewer is supposed to adore the Grace character for her pluck, bravery and self-sacrifice. Half-hidden beneath this exhortation there are some pretty nasty assumptions and prejudices. Try : "No American should have to learn a foreign language, it's up to foreigners to learn English". Or : "Rich people don't have to worry about the needs and feelings of proles". Or : "If taxpayers throw you large chunks of money, you should not feel obliged to do something in return".
Another idea the movie is trying to sell to you : there is no need to worry about the existence of Panama-like tax havens, provided these havens yield a crop of good-looking celebrities. Still, I for one could live with the thought of the various creators of "Grace" living in undeserved luxury, if that meant that they would never make another movie again.