In 1991, while spending the Christmas holiday with the royal family at Sandringham House, Princess Diana decides to leave Prince Charles.
Director: Pablo Larraín
Cast: Kristen Stewart, Jack Farthing, Timothy Spall, Sean Harris, Sally Hawkins, Stella Gonet, Richard Sammel
Release Date:
Genre: Biography, Drama, Romance
Rated R for some language
Runtime: 1h 51min
Review:
Pablo Larraín's poetic nightmare opens with the preamble "A fable from a true tragedy." Those expecting a more tactile grounded approach to Princess Diana will likely be frustrated by Spencer since it plays more like a fever dream. Larraín's film delivers a disquieting disorienting experience from the onset and it rarely lets up. Long tracking shots mixed with an unnervingly but effective soundtrack echo sequences from Kubrick's The Shining or even Polanski's Rosemary's Baby. He builds Diana's mental claustrophobia and paranoia with expert precision but the film hinges on Kristen Stewart's turn as Diana. Stewart's performance bleeds through the screen as she makes you feel every moment of Diana's mental tightrope walk on the edge of madness through whispered words and outburst of rebellion. She shares believable chemistry with Jack Nielen and Freddie Spry who play Diana's children with those moments working as anchors for the character's state. Sean Harris and Sally Hawkins deliver strong supporting turns as supportive confidants while Timothy Spall is ever present and menacing throughout. The film's script is dense with thematic undercurrents and meaning which it subtly weaves into the story early on however it decides to hammer home the point by spelling out metaphors in the final act. It's a minor complaint to an otherwise mesmerizing film which takes you on an unexpected journey into Diana's psyche.
A-
