Graceful Nicole Kidman shelters new movie from Monaco moans

Kidman: “I’ve always believed people fuse through pain. People don’t fall in love, or really find deep love when everything is good.”

You wouldn’t have thought there’d be many similarities between a housewife in Berwick-upon-Tweed and the Princess of Monaco. But they share one important trait for Nicole Kidman.

The actress was last seen playing Patti Lomax, wife of Japanese prisoner of war Eric Lomax, in The Railway Man. She now takes on the role of Oscar winner-turned-princess Grace Kelly in Grace of Monaco.

A theme running through both stories is that the woman is depicted as standing by her man in his desperate hour of need.

“I’d never had the chance to play a woman who gets to stand by her partner, her lover, her husband, through very difficult times and it’s something I feel very strongly about and have done in my own personal life,” said Nicole.

“I’ve always believed people fuse through pain. People don’t fall in love, or really find deep love when everything is good. When you really find it is when you have to go through pain together. And if you choose to stay together you really find something much deeper.”

Something of acting royalty herself, 46-year-old Nicole seems very much in love with the man she describes as her “prince”, country music singer Keith Urban, who she wed in 2006.

That followed her 2001 divorce from Tom Cruise, which coincided with her winning an Oscar for her performance in The Hours. She says that period in her life makes her appreciate finding personal contentment all the more, although she’d like another Oscar to go with it.

“I think love is a core emotion and without that it’s a very empty life,” she explained.

“When I won the Oscar, I went home and I didn’t have love and that was the most intensely lonely period of my life. Strangely for me, the greatest highs have coincided with the greatest lows.

“They’ve kind of collided, and it’s always aggravated me that it’s gone that way. I’m hoping one day I can have the professional high and be on a personal high at the same time. I don’t know whether that’s ever possible.”

It’s certainly not with Grace of Monaco, which has been under fire from all quarters since its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival last month, with even the film’s producer, Harvey Weinstein, coming close to disowning the film having had a very public falling out with its director, Olivier Dahan.

Grace Kelly quit acting in 1956, aged 26, to marry Prince Rainier (played by Tim Roth) and the film centres on the period six years later when she revealed her intention to take a break from royal life to return to Hollywood.

The move came at a time of diplomatic crisis between Monaco and France over the principality’s refusal to impose a tax on both its residents and international businesses. This led to many French businesses declaring their assets in Monaco to avoid paying tax in France.

With its anti-French stance, the booing of Cannes’ audience was, perhaps, predictable but the film was also panned by critics and received a royal admonishment in the shape of a statement released by the children of the royal couple (Prince Albert II, his sisters Princess Caroline and Princess Stephanie) which slapped the film down for recounting “one rewritten, needlessly glamorised page in the history of Monaco and its family with both major historical inaccuracies and a series of purely fictional scenes.”

Asked to respond, Kidman said, “Obviously, I feel sad because I think the film has no malice towards the family or particularly towards Grace or Rainier. It’s fictionalised. It is not a biopic.

“There is the essence of truth, but with a lot of these things you take dramatic license. But I understand, because they’re trying to protect the privacy of their mother and father.

“I feel awkward. I still have respect and the performance was done with love and, if they ever see it, they would see there is an enormous amount of affection for both their parents and their love story.”

Despite the furore over the film, it hasn’t put Nicole off every young girl’s dream. Asked if she would follow in Kelly’s footsteps and quit acting to become a princess for real she didn’t hesitate.

“I would absolutely I wouldn’t even think twice about it.”

Our verdict 1/5

As someone who gave Diana a fair viewing (and three stars) don’t let it be said that I’m automatically against history-distorting movies focusing on a princess who dies in a car crash played by a miscast Australian actress.

But whereas another viewing of Diana would be better than watching the rain fall out of window if shown on Channel 5 on a winter’s afternoon, I’d rather abdicate from my role as a film reviewer than sit through this rubbish about the House of Rainier again.

Director Oliver Dahan may not be allowed into Monaco any time soon but where he really needs to go is back to film school. There are so many “up close” facial shots I felt like Nicole Kidman’s optician by the end of the movie.

What was really needed was a closer look at the film’s script.

Grace of Monaco is at cinemas now.