Director: Stephen Frears
Cast: Helen Mirren, Michael Sheen, James Cromwell, Helen McCrory
Have I Seen it Before: Oh, yes. And yet, why revisit it now? I’ve slipped hard into a period of Anglophilia recently, and as long as Netflix stays stingy with seasons of The Crown, I have to find my fix elsewhere. Thankfully, there are any number of movies that can fill the gaps between seasons. Spencer (2021) filled in nicely between seasons 4 and 5. This one—also written by Crown primary writer Peter Morgan, picks up almost perfectly from the end of the recently released season 5. I suppose it’s only a matter of time before I feel the need to take in The King’s Speech (2010) again as some kind of prequel to the whole affair.
Did I Like It: There’s a delightful, understated quality to this, especially when compared with its episodic spiritual successor. TV imbues the House of Windsor with a bombast that necessitates a Hans Zimmer score, here moments—even, oddly, the moments leading up to Diana’s death—are given a quaint, pointedly British, almost comedic, feel of an independent movie. Mirren and the rest of the cast never so much as flirt with a natural inclination toward impersonation or self-parody. The juxtaposition of real footage with the fictionalized narrative also more easily leads me to suspend my disbelief. Everything about the film which could be controlled is executed at the highest level.
But, as with any historical drama, there’s a few limitations that lead the film not to age as well as one might hope. Moments of the infamous Panorama interview don’t ring true, because I have a devil of a time believing that the Queen (Mirren) ever watched the interview, and the fact that the interview was used at all (given what we know now about how the interview was originally obtained) feels a little gross. Additionally, the ominous dwelling on the fact that Blair’s (Sheen) popularity may not last forever seems a little beside the point, especially in an era where the idea that Blair was ever popular seems a little ridiculous, and the shelf life of a current Prime Ministers are negatively compared to produce.