You know what dragged me out to finally come back and write a new movie discussion post? Spencer, the 2021 biopic about Princess Diana of Wales. In all fairness, it’s not the worst thing I’ve ever seen, however, it was tragic enough to drag my fingers out of my hair so I could come update the archive.
I’ve been on a recent Princess Diana kick. I’m not quite sure how it started. First it was Amy Winehouse, and with the recent release of her own terribly disrespectful biopic Back to Black, I went down the rabbit hole into video essays discussing celebrity biopics of varying quality. I’d always known about the Spencer biopic- I was cleaning theaters when this came out and oftentimes saw the credits- and figured that this would be fitting to finally sit down and watch.
For starters, everything was on point. The performances, the directing, the cinematography, the score. Everything except for the script.
My goodness, what a disappointing film. The more I think about it, the worse it becomes. I touched on this a bit in my Letterboxd review, but to reiterate: it didn’t feel like a film about Princess Diana. It felt like a film about a chaotic indie film mother being superimposed onto Diana. I’m never going to imply I knew the woman personally, but it should say something if both of her children downright loathed the film.
The movie was a very shallow venture into the turbulent life of a very real person, and it was clumsily handled at best, and poorly done at worst. The constant usage of “fuck” and no other curses also felt like we were taking a leap into the “improper” just for the sake of it, not in order to capture a side of Diana unseen to the public. I’m sure she’s probably let a few curses slip in her day, but the “unhinged” light they decided to paint her in felt more like the film was a propaganda piece against her rather than trying to depict her as human.
Another thing: the Anne Boleyn plot thread. It’s a good idea on paper- I’m sure the parallels and comparisons were too tantalizing to resist- but in practice it was very on-the-nose. A clever writer wouldn’t have the apparition of Boleyn literally address the woman; there are much better ways to go about it, and this is yet again why the movie fails to come across as anything other than vapid.
It doesn’t contribute anything new. Doesn’t offer up a new perspective for Diana’s life, how she may have felt. Didn’t dive into it in any meaningful way. Just like her sons said: it felt very exploitative. I’ve also seen others offer up the word “histrionic,” and that just as much fits, as well.
I’m sure no one wants to be portrayed in an unflattering light, but rather than feel like we were peering into the life of a broken woman who was understandably responding to various stressors and pressures in unhealthy, human ways, it felt like it was more focused on making her come across as unstable as possible. As if she were sick in the head. As if the British Royal Family were in the right to dispose of her. Yet another person who has used her as a stepping stone to further themselves at her own expense.
Very sad.