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No one could ever accuse me of being “soft” on Grace Kelly. I find her to be frequently stiff, affected, a hollow actress in dramatic moments but she was a luminous screen presence. Captivating in her beauty and the serenity that she projected, yet she was also hard to cast in roles for these very same positive attributes. She looks out of place in Green Fire, is too haughty and well-bred to play seriously dowdy and suffering in The Country Girl, and is too hysterical in The Bridges at Toko-Ri.
Alfred Hitchcock knew how to use her to grand effects. Her society girl in Rear Window is one of the greatest roles for a Hitchcock blonde, and her icy exterior dissolves into erotic heat in To Catch a Thief. But she was equally grand in the lightweight romantic-comedy/musical High Society, holding her own against Frank Sinatra and outshining Bing Crosby (for the second time). This is all to say that The Swan may be the perfect vehicle for Kelly, and outside of High Society and Dial M for Murder contains her greatest performance.
The Swan tells the story of a princess who loves a tutor, but must give him up for an arranged marriage having more to do with monetary concerns and transitions of power than anything resembling love. It’s a bittersweet tale, asking of its actors to be able to deliver elements of drama and comedy, and each of them delivers a delicate performance.
Alec Guinness could always be counted on to give a great performance, so that he both nails the laughs and finds the pathos and decency in his prince is no surprise. His wit is sparkling here, and he delivers some great zingers while not only keeping a straight face but maintaining his aristocratic airs. Louis Jourdan is pure charm as the tutor secretly pining away and dreaming of rising above his class to live happily ever after with Kelly. Jourdan and Kelly make for a supremely attractive couple; both blessed with an aristocratic beauty that makes the rest of us look like homeless slobs.
And yet Kelly stood out the most for me. Here that annoying put-upon British inflection fits the character like a glove. While she normally appears wooden in other dramatic films, she seems at ease and reserved because her princess would have been taught to be reserved. The snow covered volcano, as Hitchcock dubbed her, exterior masks a quick intelligence and yearning for true romance. The ending reveals why the title is of that particular avian creature, and the comparison of Kelly to a swan is a metaphor too perfect for words.
Charles Vidor keeps things taunt and appropriately delicate, and I found myself surprisingly wrapped up in the film, even if it is imperfect. It’s elegant and sophisticated, but still at times too stiff and withholding from the audience. And the romantic triangle never properly comes together or heats up between Kelly and Guinness, but I still found The Swan to be a great demonstration of why people love Grace Kelly in the first place. In this film, in this role, she seems to be born not just to play this on the screen, but in life. And seeing as how she became a real princess shortly after wrapping production on this film only serendipity can be the right explanation for the seamless merging of actress and role.
