It’s a golden age of television. At least, so says every other actor making the move to the small screen and every critic complaining about a middling superhero sequel while logically comparing it to an episode of Breaking Bad.
It’s where the real writing is. It’s where the really juicy roles are. It’s where women get the chance to play roles of real substance. Except, that is, if you’re Nicole Kidman, whose once Oscar-tipped biopic Grace of Monaco was understandably dumped on housewives’ TV network Lifetime after it was laughed out of Cannes and ridiculed by critics. The legendary actor Grace Kelly was reduced to a living mannequin, breathily muttering something about taxes.
In the UK it made it to the big screen. Peter Bradshaw called it “awe-inspiringly wooden”, and it scraped together a pitiful nine% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Yet on 16 June, this year’s Emmy nominations showed that, miraculously, someone actually liked the film. Weirder still, probably more than one person as it picked up a nomination for outstanding television movie. Outstanding. Outstanding.
It’s a strangely star-led Golden Globes-esque choice, reminiscent of when astonishingly incompetent comedy The Tourist picked up three nominations despite being utterly hideous. But in a year when we’re still being endlessly told just how much better television is than film (that writing! those roles!), it’s a curious misstep. Grace of Monaco was murdered by the film industry, adopted by television and then resurrected as an awards contender.
While film has been somewhat unfairly maligned as a shallow garbage truck for dross about mall cops and talking chipmunks, it’s worth taking a slightly revisionist view of television.
The small screen has always been a magnet for trash and, in recent years, arguably more than ever. I’m not denying the intellect and depth of shows such as The Wire and Breaking Bad but television has also seen a rise in soapy nonsense, interestingly treated as if it’s not soapy nonsense at all.
Take a look at the rest of this year’s Emmy nominations: Empire, How to Get Away With Murder, American Horror Story and The Good Wife are all recognised in major categories. Now that’s not discounting the tawdry pleasure of these shows, but would the cinematic equivalent ever get a look-in by the Academy? Last year, Lupita Nyong’o won an Oscar for playing a sexually abused slave and Jessica Lange won an Emmy for playing a witch locked in a battle with an immortal voodoo priestess.
Both industries will always boast a variety of content, from cerebral drama to brainless action, so endlessly praising one over the other is a fruitless pursuit. Grace’s curious journey to Emmy recognition is an embarrassment for television but also for film, the medium it was originally created for. Monaco might now be safe for tax-avoiding tycoons, but none of us are safe from stilted drama and hammy acting, no matter what screen you’re watching it on.
