Spencer – Film Review

The marriage between Princess Diana (Kristen Stewart) and Prince Charles (Jack Farthing) has long since grown cold. Though rumors of affairs and a divorce abound, peace is ordained for the Christmas festivities at the queen’s estate. There’s eating and drinking, shooting and hunting. Diana knows the game, but this year, things will be profoundly different.

I’m ashamed to say that I don’t know nearly as much about the Royal family history as much as I would like. There’s so much backstory to it all and I’m sure it would take me ages to catch up on all I’ve missed (and yes, I’ve also never seen The Crown) but I do find the Royal family to be incredibly interesting. Not only are the people themselves fascinating, but so is learning about the royal lifestyle and what it’s like to be a part of something so prestigious.

But I am happy to say that I do know a lot about Princess Diana. Diana didn’t really enjoy being a part of the Royal family as much as others did and that’s essentially the main focus of Pablo Larraín‘s newest feature Spencer. It shows just how insanely beautiful it can all be but also extremely detrimental for somebody like Diana who kind of just wanted to live a normal life like everybody else.

She couldn’t simply go and take her kids out to a fast-food restaurant if she wanted to. She couldn’t waltz inside of a Walmart and do some grocery shopping or head out to see a movie with her kids. When it comes to dressing herself, she has to make sure that every curtain is drawn just in case a photographer outside is lurking around, trying to snap a nude photograph of her that he can then spread around like wildfire.

And she also has somebody that gives her different articles of clothing to wear for each meal of the day. It’s a lot, and Diana grows increasingly more frustrated by it as the movie progresses. Spencer is a deeply intriguing, moving, emotional, and incredibly poignant look at what one goes through by living this kind of lifestyle. Yes, it’s absolutely amazing that if you’re royalty, you won’t ever have to worry about money ever again. Seriously. You can live with no worries essentially, but at the same time, this kind of freedom is a bit much, no?

To be able to live and simply, just… live, is a bit boring after a while for Diana. She wants to get out there and see the world for what it really is and not just what’s been told to her. Steven Knight‘s script for this film is absolutely marvellous and does a terrific job at exploring Diana’s mindset during her life. There are so many sequences in this movie that are flawlessly crafted and it’s without a doubt one of the most impressive movies of the whole year. If this doesn’t get nominated for Best Picture at the upcoming Academy Awards ceremony, it would be ludicrous.

Speaking of Academy Awards… Kristen Stewart. This actress has always been talented. Yeah, I don’t mind her in Twilight even. Seriously. But people seem to think that her role as Bella Swan is the only thing she’s ever done which is just ridiculous. She’s done plenty of tremendous things as an actress ever since then and yet her role as Princess Diana in Spencer is the best of her whole career thus far.

She delivers every single line of dialogue in this film effortlessly. She feels so raw and vulnerable and human which is exactly what this movie was going for. It would’ve been such a shame if Stewart’s performance came off as royalty because while she is playing royalty, the film’s aim is to make Princess Diana feel like us, and Stewart most definitely understood the assignment, delivering quite possibly the best performance of the year in general as well.

And the cinematography here by Claire Mathon is a thing of absolute beauty. This was shot on film and it shows – it looks like an older film and it’s all the better for it. In fact, a lot of the shots in this movie reminded me of a horror film akin to something like The Shining. That may sound a bit bizarre but it actually makes the film ten times better. It has its own distinct look and feel to it that I just couldn’t resist digging my teeth into.

It’s all further propelled by the wonderful score by Jonny Greenwood which is full of a wide variety of musical instruments and really helps bring out a ton of the movie’s more emotional moments. The costume, hair, and makeup departments all should get a load of praise here as well – they did an absolutely stellar job bringing these people to life in staggering fashion.

Spencer is a marvelously gripping film directed beautifully by Pablo Larraín and featuring a masterful performance from Kristen Stewart. It’s such a simplistic film but that’s kind of what I love about it so much. This is exactly the type of movie that reminds me of why I love movies.