Director: Pablo Larrain
Cast: Kristen Stewart, Timothy Spall, Jack Farthing, Sean Harris
Have I Seen it Before: Never. Ultimately I’m starting to feel a little bit embarrassed about the sudden uptick in my interest in the royal family, but as this movie essentially takes place immediately after the fourth season of The Crown ends—and it was exceedingly well-reviewed—I just couldn’t resist.
Did I Like It: Two things raise this above other docudramas covering the House of Windsor, especially during its darkest days in the 1990s.
First, surprisingly, is the lead performance from Stewart. Harangued by a perception that she is merely a block of wood with star billing (when in truth, the material she had when obtaining that star billing really doesn’t hold up under even the slightest scrutiny) she uses this alleged weakness as a strength. The practiced stoicism of the Princess of Wales is harnessed precisely, but that only makes those moments where she begins to crack around the edges all the more impactful. That she is able to at all sell extended sequences where she hallucinates both the ghost of Anne Boleyn (Amy Manson) and that she is Boleyn herself. Also, she has chemistry to spare with the two young actors playing her sons (Jack Nielen and Freddie Spry), which is never an easy task. It’s truly a remarkable performance that plays with expectations perfectly.
And that zeal for her role as a mother which brings to mind the other singular, wrenching quality of the film. Everything ends with a rather rousing victory for the Princess, where she interupts a pheasant shoot which William is to take part in, and whisks her boys way from Sandringham holiday, for a remaining Christmas filled with pop music and fast food. Things are happy, and in the language of a movie, we’re meant to think this will be the dawn of a new day for Diana. Except, the audience knows that won’t be the case. Tragedy by implication is far more powerful than forcing us to reckon with the sadness at hand.