Ladies and Gentlemen: welcome another runner in the race for decoration at the Oscars, Nicole Kidman in Grace of Monaco. The Australian actress leads the cast in this biopic surrounding the extravagance, revelry and mystery that was Grace Kelly’s life.

Nicole KidmanGrace Kelly's extraordinary life is explored in Grace of Monaco

With a supporting cast consisting of Frank Langella, Parker Posey, Derek Jacobi, Paz Vega, Roger Ashton-Griffiths, Milo Ventimiglia and Tim Roth, and an emotive story, director Olivier Dahan may have an Oscar contender on his hands, if he’s managed to pull it all together.

The film is already shrouded in controversy, though. In a statement, the royal House of Grimaldi described a "series of scenes" as "purely fictional". "Therefore, the royal family wishes to stress that this film in no way constitutes a biopic," said the palace's statement. "It recounts one rewritten and needlessly glamorised page in the history of Monaco and its family with both major historical inaccuracies and a series of purely fictional scenes."

Watch the teaser trailer for Grace of Monaco

Kidman denies this, calling her new film a creative work that charted Kelly's "path from cinema to royalty". She adds: "This is not a biopic or a fictionalised documentary of Grace Kelly but only a small part of her life where she reveals her great humanity as well as her fears and weaknesses."

Nicole Kidman Grace KellyIs Kidman's performance Oscar-worthy?

The race for Academy recognition gathers speed each day. With 12 Years a Slave’s recent win at the Toronto Film Festival, a favorite for best picture has been carved out, but given the sheer amount of quality on show this season – Gravity and The Monuments Men still loom large – this could be the hardest awards show to call yet.

Grace KellyKidman looks pensive as Kelly in Grace of Monaco