I'm a little bit conflicted about this movie. The great locations, production design, costumes, overall setting and supporting characters make it a fantastic environment for "the" Diana of the movie to shine onto the silver screen. And yet it doesn't really happen, at least for me.
I expected great things for this. I loved the idea of Kristen Stewart as Diana, and the stills that were released of the movie before it came out seemed to support this image. It's when she starts trying to "play" Diana, moving and speaking like her, the authenticity seems to fade. It's just not wholly convincing to me, no matter how hard I try, no matter how hard I wanted to love it. It's not a bad performance at all, don't get me wrong, but as I said to my movie-theater companion, when you want to portray a character like this in a story like this, it has to be spot on, has to be almost perfect, for it to work. And it doesn't make it.
I LOVED the costumes. Perfectly set in time, beautiful dresses and suits, Stewart is gorgeous in almost everything she wears in the movie.
We all know the story of Diana, and I guess most people like me filled in the blanks with the idea of a womand who had to have been at her wits' end, lost and looking for anything to help her steady her right on the ground where she wanted to be. The first scene confronts you (and her) with that idea. At a petrol station looking for directions, you (and her as well I think) get confronted with the reality that she really, really does not fit in with the regular people. So even if she would be able to get out of the toxic Windsor family environment, she would never lead a normal life.
You get the idea that the movie is telling the story of how Diana came to be at her wits' end, but near the end of the movie you realize that she has been at the limit of her being for the whole of the film. That doesn't really come across from the screen any earlier to me. And although it has a happy ending, I'm having trouble being at peace with the film. It doesn't give me any answers, lack of a better description for my feeling of emptiness noted. I want to believe Diana could have gone/went through the KFC drivethrough with her boys, ate chicken with them near the Thames and was at peace, at least for a little, but I can't wholeheartedly say that I do.
Perhaps that would be denial of what we know to be reality, a woman who would be haunted by press at every step in her life after meeting, marrying and divorcing one of the Royal British family. How could she ever be at peace. Pablo Larraín does get that across, that eerie feeling of uneasiness, but not really knowing where it comes from.
For the TL;DR, I didn't love the film as much as I expected or wanted to, but I did love certain things about it. In some ways, Kristen Stewart is nothing short of amazing in this, and Pablo Larraín has created a brilliant film. My heart aches a bit after watching it, both because I really wanted to like it more than I do, and because we know the fate of Lady Di and this film depicts only a little bit of what we think she had to go through over those years.
"Will they kill me, do you think?"
Don't go into 'Spencer' expecting an ordinary little biopic about Princess Diana. Nope, this is a straight up psychological art house horror thriller. 'Spencer' brilliantly captures the feeling of dread in an isolated foreign space surround by strangers. The royal family themselves are freaking creepy, always watching, always judging.
I must be honest, I wasn't a big fan of Kristen Stewart's recent work, as it never wowed me, and I wasn't convinced that she's improved since Twilight. But man, she's fantastic in this movie and it's one of her best performances to date. Stewart manages to portray Princess Diana in a new light that we haven't really seen before. In my opinion, her other movies failed to show her versatility as an actor, where I fully believe this movie did her justice. I'm just glad this movie won me over.
On the other hand, Timothy Spall is excellent in this movie, and another stand out performance. If you are aware of Spall as an actor, then this isn't surprising news, but I feel it needs repeating. I found him very eerie and overbearing. He plays a man with an eagle eye; he watches everything and everyone in the royal family at Sandringham House.
The major thing that this movie made me realise is that in Diana's life it's the people that kept her mentally and emotionally grounded. Her two sons, her assistant (Sally Hawkins, who is very good in the small scenes she has), and the chef played by Sean Harris, who is someone you would not think of being important.
Sean Harris is a very underrated actor that I wished people talked about more. Harris is known for playing sinister roles, but here I thought he was really sweet and shows a softer side. He's got an interesting sounding voice as well. Jack Farthing as Prince Charles does a great job playing a slimy over-privileged **** Stella Gonet as the Queen who I found really unsettling, especially her dagger eyes.
There's one scene at the dinner table with the other royal family that is one of the most intense things ever. It was anxiety level stress that made my heart racing. All thanks to Pablo Larraín claustrophobic and unique directing. Complimented by Johnny Greenwood's atmospheric, free flowing and tense score.
While I know that certain elements of the movie are fiction, but then again, the movie begins with a title card "based on a tragic fable" and I feel like the movie is playing into the nightmarish fair tale of an iconic figure in history. Diana's life in royalty was no fairy tale, but a Brothers Grimm tale.
Overall rating: The movie has metaphors to ghost, ghost of the past, ghost of old tradition. People who follow tradition isn't too kind to rarity. Great movie.
Review by PolydorusBlockedParent2021-12-08T18:47:04Z— updated 2022-01-16T17:17:14Z
The most terrifying horror story of the year has a name: The British royal family
'Spencer' takes place in 1991, during the royal family Christmas celebration, close to Diana and Charles separation. From the very beginning the film is successful in exposing some of the utterly conservative, outdated and ridiculous traditions followed by British royalty such as an extremely specific dress code, obsession with punctuality, weighing themselves before and after all the Xmas activities (they were supposed to gain weight) and hunting pheasants. Diana is already in a very bad place due to Charles's affair with Camilla and having to deal with all of the royal family over Christmas sends her in a downward spiral. This depiction of Diana is given life through Kristen Stewart's outstanding performance with some really nail-biting scenes. Timothy Spall, who plays the role of an equerry, and Sally Hawkins, who is the princess' royal dresser, also deliver fantastic performances. The cinematography is great and the costume design is on point.
Bear in mind that this is a fictionalized story. If you are looking for a biographical film or a more traditional telling of the princess' life you will be disappointed. If you are just looking for a great movie, a great psychological drama or one of Stewart's best performances then you should definitely watch this.