Read my #review of Spencer - directed by Pablo Larraín, written by Steven Knight and starring Kristen Stewart

 

Image taken from Wikipedia: The poster art copyright is believed to belong to the distributor of the film, NEON and Topic Studios, the publisher of the film or the graphic artist.

 

 

 

⭐⭐⭐⭐

I have not written a movie review in ages, but here I am, thinking about the movie I have just watched and it left me wondering what our beautiful Princess Diana would have made of it. Of course, I am talking about Spencer written by Steven Knight and starring Kristen Stewart. The trailer of this novel is outlandishly compelling, and I could not wait to see it.

The story is about a fantasy snap-shot of three days of Diana's life. This is not an actual retelling but an extremely dramatised portrayal of a woman whose beauty disguised the emotional torment, the gaslighting, and the moments of psychosis where Diana is left wondering who she is and what is the point of going on. It seems somehow ironic, that for a woman whose narrative was often sensationalised, and who, despite it all, found the will to carry on, to stand firm in her beliefs, that once again a story has been plucked out of the air and Diana the woman has been lost to Diana the woman in the middle of a mental health crisis, who is haunted by the ghost of Ann Boleyn - I think the writer really had to dig deep for the comparison between the two. Yes, both Ann and Diana's husbands were in love with someone else (or perhaps merely infatuated in Henry VIII case and he wanted that elusive male heir), but I really think that is where the similarities end (unless you believe in all the conspiracies, which I do not). So, once you get over the fact that this is not about the real Diana then you can sit back and enjoy, if such a word can be used for such a darkly tragic tale, this movie.

Kristen Stewart's depiction of this imagined, Diana was superb. Yes, she looked the part. But what really blew me away was the intensity of the emotions, the way Kristen conveyed the torment of a mind that was trying to kill itself. This is a very emotional film and playing such a character who spends most of her time in tears and yet to do so with elegance and grace was wonderful and I really think Kristen Stewart was the only actress that could have pulled this off. I would be surprised if Kristen did not walk away with an Academy Award.  She certainly deserves one.

The writers have been very careful in their depiction of the rest of the royal family. The Queen, played by Stella Gonet, has very few lines, but her presence is evident everywhere. Charles, played by Jack Farthing, is as seemingly trapped as Diana, and yet he has been conditioned to accept the way things are - and even though he is the cause of great torment for Diana, he is not portrayed as being inherently cruel, and there are moments when he defuses the tension and lets Diana have her own way. This is not a finger-pointing movie that is meant to destroy the already somewhat tarnished reputation of the royal family, but instead, it has placed The Firm, into a story that is sensationalised and rather good in the telling.

This movie does come with some trigger warnings, and I think it is important that you pay heed to them. I have never watched a movie that has portrayed, in the truest form, what it is like to live with a serious mental health condition. Mental health is one of those subjects that no one ever speaks about. I once heard someone say that having such an invisible illness can be more devastating and dangerous than cancer because instead of sympathy and understanding you are told to pull yourself together, it can't be that bad, and ironically, at least you don't have cancer what do you have to be so miserable about? When, as this movie clearly shows, mental health can be as deadly as terminal cancer, the only difference is that it is one mind that is trying to kill you and not something that has gone wrong with your cells. Stop making yourself sick - is something that is repeated in this movie, as if Diana could stop herself. As if she really had a choice. So yes, this movie can be hard to watch but I think that is the point. If you are going through your own mental health difficulties then I would advise that you watch with caution for there are many hard-hitting and emotive scenes in this film.

This film deserves the recognition that it has received. It is an unforgettable movie.