sddavis63

I confess that even though I hadn't read the reviews I decided to watch this expecting that I would discover it to be nothing more than a piece of fluff of no great interest. I found myself pleasantly surprised. This turned out to be unexpectedly dramatic and, at times, even tense, and the performances in it from a high profile cast were exceptional. I suppose in an age that's been inundated with the scandals of the British royal family, we know that royal life isn't a fairy tale, and marrying into it is no easy thing and certainly doesn't promise "happily ever after." But even if we're a bit cynical about the whole idea of royalty, a movie like this is appealing.

This is, of course, the story of American actress Grace Kelly - who left Hollywood, married Prince Rainier of Monaco and became "Her Serene Highness Princess Grace of Monaco." Although it's certainly not the whole story. It really only deals with a few months in her life (and the life of Monaco) in 1962. I admit that, not being entirely familiar with the story of how Grace Kelly ended up as Princess Grace, I was hoping for a little bit more of a backstory to the relationship between Rainier and Grace. But the movie assumes their marriage and the story picks up with them married for several years. There are, essentially, three different stories being told here. First is the story of Grace's struggles with royal life and with the protocols required of European royalty and the expectations the people of Monaco and others had of her. Second is the story of the faltering marriage between Rainier and Grace as he becomes increasingly aware that she's unhappy with this life that she chose and as she struggles with an offer from Alfred Hitchcock to return to acting in movie "Marnie." Finally, all this takes place in the midst of a tense diplomatic showdown between Monaco and France, with President de Gaulle threatening to blockade the principality over a tax dispute and possibly take away her sovereignty. In the midst of it all there's political intrigue and family intrigue. All of it together makes this a very interesting film.

Is it historically accurate? Not particularly. The Grimaldi family (Monaco's royal family) apparently detested the film and called it totally inaccurate. Nicole Kidman (who played Grace and did so very well indeed) said that this was a character study of Grace and not a biopic and director Olivier Dahan said more or less the same thing. That doesn't make it any less enjoyable - but it does mean that one shouldn't look at this as history, but rather as simple entertainment.

Beyond Kidman, the cast, including Tim Roth as Rainier and Frank Langella as the American priest Father Tucker - an American priest who became the spiritual advisor/confessor to both Rainier and Grace - was excellent, and the movie really does manage to build up suspense as the dispute between Monaco and France threatens to get out of head - although, admittedly, the account of its resolution and Grace's supposed role in the resolution is a bit far-fetched. I even appreciated a few scenes of Kidman driving, with the movie featuring a very 1950's style of depicting the scenery around Grace's car when she's driving - a nod to her Hollywood background.

Granted, this isn't a particularly important movie - any more than Monaco (with apologies to the Monegasque) is an important country, and I know it's been panned by critic after critic, but I found it to be an enjoyable movie, especially appealing for those interested in the "fairy tale" of royal life. (8/10)

In November of 2019 Prince Andrew gave an interview to the BBC news program "Newsnight" about his friendship with the pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein. Andrew must have thought that it would help him rehabilitate his reputation, which was already in the dumps. Instead, it disgraced him, and led to his withdrawal from public life as a member of the Royal Family - a withdrawal that continues to this day. "Scoop" gives the backstory of how the BBC and the team at "Newsnight" managed to arrange the interview, shows a little bit of the preparation that went into the interview by both the BBC team and the Palace, and gives a dramatized depiction of a few scenes from the interview. Andrew's halting and uncertain answers, his overall demeanour and his refusal to express sympathy or remorse for the women who had been abused or regret about his friendship with Epstein turned into a PR nightmare. Andrew came across as completely out of touch with how the public was reacting to the Epstein scandal and what they wanted to hear from him about his role in it.

The movie is set amidst the backdrop of looming cuts to the BBC, making it important for programs like "Newsnight" to put out high quality programming that would make a public impact. Specifically, it's told largely through the eyes of Sam McAlister (played by Billie Piper) - who had left a job with the tabloids to work for the BBC and, struggling to truly be accepted in this more prim and proper environment, came up with the idea of interviewing Andrew, and proceeded to make most of the arrangements through relationships she carefully cultivated at the Palace. Piper was effective in the role. I thought it was unnecessary to include just a couple of scenes of her with her teenage son. I didn't understand what that was trying to accomplish. Perhaps the point was that she was so committed to this job that she would willingly cut him off in the middle of a conversation to leave him with her mother so she could get back to work? But that relationship really wasn't explored and struck me as extraneous material that could easily have been cut.

There are a couple of well known faces in this. Gillian Anderson played Emily Maltais - the "Newsnight" interviewer who proceeds with the interview in a very deliberate way that engaged Andrew and put him at east to the point at which he apparently truly believed that the interview had been a great success. Her performance was good, but in all honesty I've never seen the interview in full and I'm not all that familiar with Maltais, so, for me, the highlight was Rufus Sewell as Andrew. It's not easy playing someone who is so well known and so familiar to people, but Sewell managed to make himself believable in the role and did an excellent job with his portrayal.

Overall, "Scoop" is an interesting behind the scenes look at how this interview came together. It doesn't really explore the Epstein scandal or Andrew's part in it in any great depth. It's about the show itself and the interview and, finally, the repercussions of the interview. It isn't a perfect movie - but I found it compelling. It held my attention throughout. It gets 8/10)