Diana-Film “Spencer”
Kristen Stewart’s gritty one woman show
– “Spencer”: Diana (Kristen Stewart) at the pool table at Sandringham Castle. © © Pablo Larrain, DCM
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Kristen Stewart shines as Diana in “Spencer”. The film illuminates the royal Christmas of 1991, Pablo Larrain stages it as a nightmare.
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Princess Diana (Kristen Stewart, 31) feels lost not only at the beginning of “Spencer”. In the film, which hits theaters on January 13, Diana gets lost on her way to Sandringham. The royal family traditionally spends Christmas there. Also in 1991 – it will be the last time Diana celebrates with the family of her husband Prince Charles (Jack Farthing, 36)…
That’s what “Spencer” is about
“Spencer” sheds light on the final end of Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s marriage for three days. The Chilean director Pablo Larrain (45) makes Sandringham a nightmare for Diana, accompanied by melancholic music and supernatural elements.
It’s not just outside that the world is frosty, dark and bare in wintry. In the film, the royal estate consists of endless corridors and gloomy rooms. Stewart plays a Diana who is isolated from the royal family and corseted into strict procedures – down to the pre-prepared outfits that are changed under supervision several times a day.
Diana suffers from bulimia and delusions. And it’s no coincidence that someone put a book about Anne Boleyn on her pillow. Henry VIII had the second of his six wives executed in 1536 after she had fallen out of favor at court and rumors of treason and adultery had been spread about her. Is the book a warning to Diana? In any case, Anne Boleyn’s ghost haunts the film.
Diana has confidants among the staff at Sandringham, but they too are part of a system that has long since become a torment for her. The wife of the heir to the throne must be persuaded to run by any means necessary. While the royal family is only a marginal phenomenon throughout the film, Major Gregory (Timothy Spall, 64) watches over it above all. It is he who keeps catching Diana when she tries to break out of the constraints and the house. But while Diana initially flees to her sons William and Harry, she finally makes a decision that will change her life forever.
Conclusion
Anyone who goes to the cinema to escape the dreary Corona winter for a while will probably not be happy with “Spencer”. The atmosphere of the film is too dark and marked by misfortune. In return, viewers can look forward to an outstanding leading actress. Kristen Stewart shines as Diana, who feels oppressed and imprisoned – and despite many doubts and suffering, tries to break free. “We didn’t want to make a docudrama, but to use elements of reality and our own imagination to tell the life of a woman using the means of cinema,” explains Pablo Larraín about his work. Not only fans of Princess Diana will suffer in this story of a failed marriage compressed into a few days.
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