I watched Spencer, directed by Pablo Larrain (Jackie), as it just hit Hulu, and really liked it a lot. I normally am not interested in anything about the British royal family, but I liked how this felt more like a psychological horror film. They could have dialed it back on the screeching string music, but I liked how it depicted Princess Diana feeling like she was going to hyperventilate from being stuck with the stifling royal family that are all about appearances, and how she and Prince Charles seem to be married in name only, as they are often distant from each other and Charles speaks to her in obvious contempt, viewing her as “hysterical.”
Kristen Stewart really was great in this, I had my doubts. But she embodied this role, with this pained smile, tight body language, posh accent trying hard to sound polite but cracking underneath, and seemingly only being her fun, genuine self with her sons and friend Maggie (Sally Hawkins, playing a warm and funny confidante as a connection to the “real world”). I’m hit or miss on Stewart, mostly liking her in Still, Alice, Personal Shopper, Clouds of Sils Maria, and older films like Speak and The Runaways, but she was really good in this.
I liked the slightly grainy film quality, and how it felt like a haunted house movie, with Diana having visions of Anne Boleyn as a grim foreboding future as a prisoner in this elite family. While I generally don’t care about the royal family drama, and never watched any of the Princess Diana TV/film depictions prior to this, I did like the claustrophobic feeling of this film, and how isolating it looked for her to hardly have any friends while being stuck out in a country estate with her family. I’m glad it got some Oscar recognition, it deserved it.
No comments:
Post a Comment