THE SWAN

US, 1956, 110 minutes, Colour.
Grace Kelly, Alec Guinness, Louis Jourdan, Agnes Moorehead, Jessie Royce Landis, Brian Aherne, Estelle Winwood.
Directed by Charles Vidor.

The Swan is based on a play by Ferenc Molnar about a middle European nobility in the early part of this century. It focuses on the daughter of the house, Alexandra, whose ambitious mother hopes to marry her to a prince. Alexandra is the swan who must glide in her lake of nobility; she would be awkward outside it.

The film is a light comedy relying on wit and regal settings for its effect. Of historical interest, M.G.M. released The Swan throughout the world on the day its star, Grace Kelly, became the wife of Prince Rainier of Monaco in April, 1956.

1. Although the film is light comedy, what issues does it raise about society, levels of society and about love?

2. Even though the mother is satirised, how realistic is the snobbery, speech and the manoeuvring of lives that she goes on with?

3. What is the significance of the symbol of the swan for Alexandra? Does Grace Kelly's appearance and her acting convey this swanlike quality? The swan is meant to be beautiful, regal, serene, that is her life; she must never go out of water, otherwise she will be as ugly and as awkward as a goose. While this serene beauty is a value, what of the dangers of caste, class, snobbery, and the suppression of emotion and feeling?

4. How attractive is Prince Albert meant to be, how princely, or is he also arrogant and a snob?

5. How attractive is the tutor, Nicholas? What good qualities of is are shown in the film?

6. How badly was he hurt by Alexandra? What was the nature of this hurt? Should he have been hurt so much?

7. How genuine was Alexandra's repentance and realisation that she had hurt Nicholas? (Her mother has no conception of this.) Was it just first love and the first experience of real feeling?

8. Was Fr. Carl right in trying to get the two to separate?

9. Was the solution of the film the best one?