Spencer (2021) Neon/Drama RT: 117 minutes Rated R (some language) Director: Pablo Larrain Screenplay: Steven Knight Music: Johnny Greenwood Cinematography: Claire Mathon Release date: November 5, 2021 (US & UK) Cast: Kristen Stewart, Timothy Spall, Jack Farthing, Sean Harris, Sally Hawkins, Jack Nielen, Freddie Spry, Stella Gonet, Richard Sammel, Elizabeth Berrington, Lore Stefanek, Amy Manson, John Keogh, James Harkness, Laura Benson, Wendy Patterson, Libby Rodliffe. Box Office: $7M (US)/$25.2M (World)
Rating: ***
Anybody looking for a traditional biopic about the late Princess of Wales is advised to look elsewhere. The drama Spencer is anything but traditional. I’m not even sure it qualifies as a biopic. Sure, it gives us glimpses of Princess Diana’s life, but it’s not about that. It’s more about her state of mind as she spends Christmas with the royal family one last time before she separates from Prince Charles. It’s a very stressful time as you can imagine. She struggles to keep it together, but everyone can see she’s going off the rails. It’s fine with them as long as it’s not in public.
There’s been a lot of buzz surrounding Kristen Stewart’s performance as Diana Spencer, most of it quite good. There’s even talk of an Oscar nomination. I was dubious about this curious bit of casting when I saw the trailer a few months back. I wasn’t sure Stewart could pull it off. I couldn’t picture her in the role. There’s no resemblance between the two women. I also wondered why they didn’t go with an actress who’s actually British. Can Stewart do a believable accent? I had strong doubts. I predicted failure for Spencer. Thankfully, I was wrong. The Twilight actress delivers a fine performance even if her accent is shaky.
What makes Spencer different from the usual biopic? By way of an answer, allow me to direct you to another film by director Pablo Larrain, the 2016 drama Jackie. That’s the one starring Natalie Portman as widowed First Lady Jackie Kennedy. It takes place in the days immediately following the assassination of her husband on November 22, 1963. Its primary focus is her state of mind as she navigates personal tragedy in the public eye. Spencer is similar. It takes us inside Diana’s mind as she tries not to crack up for the sake of her in-laws’ public image. It wouldn’t look good. Bad optics, as they say today. She puts on a happy face, mostly for her two young sons William (Nielen) and Harry (Spry), but it does nothing for her deteriorating mental state. She starts having visions of the ghost of Anne Boleyn (Manson, The Nevers), the wife Henry VIII had beheaded because the Church didn’t allow divorce. Diana, whose own marriage is collapsing, sees it as an omen.
Set at Christmas 1991, the first sign of Diana’s troubled state of mind is her getting lost while driving herself to the royal family’s estate in Norfolk. That’s her story anyway. The truth is she’s not looking forward to spending time with the family, especially Charles (Farthing, Poldark) who she knows is having an affair with Camilla Parker Bowles, a married woman. When she finally arrives, she’s greeted by stern-faced Major Alistair Gregory (Spall, The King’s Speech), the former military officer in charge of everything at the estate. He sees all, hears all and knows everything that goes on there. Nothing gets by him. Her children are happy to see her; the rest of the family treats Di with indifference. Her only ally is her dresser Maggie (Hawkins, The Shape of Water) who mysterious gets sent back to London effectively leaving Di on her own.
Perhaps the most telling scene in Spencer is Christmas Eve supper where Diana imagines ripping off the pearl necklace given to her by Charles, the same kind he also gave to his mistress, and eating them with her pea soup. It’s obviously symbolic of the pain and suffering she’s experiencing spending the holidays with a cheating spouse and cold in-laws. Time and time again, she’s reminded she’s an outsider and doesn’t belong. Her every move is scrutinized and criticized. She’s not even permitted to visit her childhood home which is just next door.
Although the symbolism tends to be heavy-handed, there’s no question Spencer makes for compelling viewing. The production design by Guy Hendrix Dyas does more than suggest the royal home is a gilded cage; it comes right out and says it. The cinematography by Claire Mathon gives the movie the look of faded photographs from the past. The score by Jonny Greenwood is both haunting and unsettling, getting more so as Diana’s mental state crumbles. It culminates in a late-night visit to her old, now-abandoned home where she remembers happier times as a girl and laments about not being able to go back.
The acting is good all around, but I’m inclined to agree Stewart deserves recognition for her interpretation of Princess Diana, a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Her sense of feeling trapped is palpable which will only heighten her sense of freedom when she ultimately breaks away from the marriage and everything that comes with it. Hers is an internalized performance. She brilliantly captures Di’s sadness, despair and feelings of hopelessness and helplessness.
Opening titles inform us Spencer is “a fable from a true tragedy”. It sets just the right tone. What’s fact and what’s fantasy? What’s imagined and what’s real? It doesn’t matter because it comes down to the same thing. Diana’s storybook romance didn’t come with a happily ever after. It’s a story made sadder by her untimely death a few years later. It’s not a perfect telling, but it’s a fascinating one.
