DHAKA: Early reviews of ‘Grace of Monaco’, the Grace Kelly biopic chosen to open this year’s Cannes Film Festival, have slammed the film, with one describing it as ‘a timeless camp classic’.

‘It’s an easy watch, lush, stylish... and is often side-splittingly funny,’ Empire’s Damon Wise said, reports the BBC.

‘The trouble is, it's not actually meant to be a comedy.’

Laughter was heard during a press screening on Wednesday morning. A gala premiere took place in the evening.

Set in the 1960s, Olivier Dahan’s film focuses on Grace Kelly’s early years as a princess when she was tempted to return to Hollywood by an offer from Alfred Hitchcock.

Tim Roth plays her husband, Prince Rainier III, with Robert Lindsay, Spain’s Paz Vega and Sir Derek Jacobi filling other roles.

In her review, Screen Daily’s Fionnuala Halligan described the film as ‘puzzlingly misjudged... a minor royal Euro-pudding which lands awkwardly in sub-Roman Holiday territory’.

‘As Grace Kelly, the retired Hollywood movie star struggling to find meaning in her life as Monaco’s monarch, Kidman valiantly strains for the right notes.’

‘But the project... seems a poor judgment call, despite the presence of La Vie en Rose’s Dahan at the helm.’

BDST: 1424 HRS, MAY 14, 2014