Starring Nicole Kidman, Tim Roth, Frank Langella, Parker Posey, Paz Vega, Derek Jacobi, Geraldine Somerville
(5-Okay Film)
Silly. Superficial. Entertaining.
Big, dumb “biopic” about a rough period in the life of former movie star turned princess of Monaco, Grace Kelly (Kidman). Charles De Gaulle is overtaxing her country. The people haven’t embraced her. Her husband is belittling. There’s a spy in her midst. All the stuff of a Lifetime movie, and, alas, the film ended up premiering on Lifetime. Despite a cast of Oscar winners and Oscar nominees, this film is pretty silly. Outside of Moulin Rouge, which I don’t even like, Nicole Kidman has always struggled to combine her glamour roles with substantial film acting; it’s either one or the other. Princess Grace’s descendants have publicly disowned the film, and each scene feels like a fairy tale. That being said, entertaining is a virtue, and it is entertaining. Not a bad or difficult watch despite its 11% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
-Walter Tyrone Howard-
(143)
I hate Moulin Rouge. Am I the only person annoyed that it’s basically a modern version of Guiseppe Verdi’s La Traviata? It’s the exact same story and nobody ever acknowledges this.
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Just looked up La Traviata. You’re right.
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Yeah! And nobody catches that! You’d think somebody would have pointed it out since Guiseppe Verdi is a pretty legendary opera composer. But nobody who ever talks about Moulin Rouge every points this out. I probably only caught because I had to watch La Traviata in college.
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