No fairy tale: Larraín’s take on Diana falls flat
Given the excess of coverage and plethora of media portrayals of Diana, the late Princess of Wales, that Chilean director Pablo Larraín would choose her as the subject of his new film feels somewhat odd. Do we really need another look at Diana and the royal family and all their dysfunction? If you’re a fan of The Crown, you may already have had your fill, but if you’re still curious for even more on the inner workings of the Windsors and Diana’s psyche, then Larraín’s Spencer may be for you.
An exploration of psyche is an apt description for Larraín’s film. The picture even opens with an on screen statement that we are about to watch “a fable from a tragedy.” Hence we know from the outset that some artistic liberty is about to be taken. Indeed, the film’s heightened, surrealistic tone often borders on the ridiculous, but somewhere beneath that poetic license lie some grains of truth. As he did in 2016’s Jackie, Larraín, here working from a script by British screenwriter Steven Knight, uses a very specific moment in time to create a psychological sketch of a famous woman struggling with grief and despair.
While Jackie focuses on Jackie Kennedy’s reaction to her husband’s death, Spencer dramatizes the three days during Christmas in 1991 that Diana (Kristen Stewart) spends with her icy in-laws at Sandringham Castle (the film is divided into three chapters: Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day). During that period, the film posits, Princess Diana’s misery came to a head, and she knew she’d finally leave her unhappy marriage and reclaim herself as Diana Spencer (hence the hit-you-over-the-head title).
What this “fable” means for the viewer, though, is a whole lot of watching a vibrant, intelligent and loving woman crack up under the pressure and strain of royal demands and protocol. Your tolerance for this sort of thing may vary; most of the time, I found myself sighing and checking my watch. Given Diana’s excessive wealth and privilege, feeling empathy for her becomes difficult at times. Yes, the royals treated her poorly, but Diana’s plight isn’t that different from other women who also have had cold, unloving, cheating husbands. The notable exception, of course, is that most women in similar situations don’t have access to the multitude of resources and options that Diana had.
Larraín tries to build our sympathy, though, with a series of fantastical, dreamlike scenes in which Diana imagines acting out or saying what she really feels. Visions of Anne Boleyn (Amy Manson), another royal treated badly (to put it mildly) also appear, offering advice to Diana, and adding to the film’s ethereal feel. These moments are interspersed with the reality of the chilly and judgmental interactions Diana has with the royals and their staff. Timothy Spall is particularly effective as the by-the-book, intimidating (and fictional) Major Alistair Gregory, the Queen Mother’s equerry who is tasked with keeping Diana on schedule and in line. And Sally Hawkins brings some much needed liveliness to the proceedings as Maggie, the dresser with whom Diana forms a bond and a friendship.
But Kristen Stewart is the one tasked with carrying the film, and she certainly gives it her all, turning in a performance as Diana that many have lauded for its emotional authenticity, but which I found a bit over the top. Stewart seems to have seized on Diana’s mannerism of lowering her head slightly while raising her eyes up and speaking demurely as her primary method of channeling Diana. Unfortunately, Stewart employs this technique over and over again, to the point where the rest of her performance often is overshadowed by this precise imitation. I will say that Stewart fares better than Naomi Watts, who played Diana like a lovestruck teenager back in 2013’s Diana, but that’s not a high bar. Stewart expresses Diana’s complexity and anxiety more persuasively, but both Stewart and Diana are such well known figures that losing yourself fully in both the character and the film becomes difficult when all you can think is, “There’s Kristen Stewart, playing Diana.”
Perhaps the best thing in the picture is the music, a blend of appropriately placed pop songs (the catchy “All I Need is a Miracle” anchors a key scene) and a swelling crescendo of a score by Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood that underlines key, high emotion scenes with exclamation point-worthy vigor. But music alone isn’t enough to recommend a two-hour reimagining of a story familiar to many of us. If you’re a Radiohead fan, you’re better off downloading the soundtrack and skipping the film.
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Spencer opens today at Bay Area theaters.
