Many Americans, and, indeed, people of all parts of the world, are fascinated by the British royal monarchy. I am not one of them. I have, in fact, never understood the public fuss about a family that ostensibly leads a nation but which, my wife assures me, has no real power. I had no interest when Diana Spencer married Prince Charles and was not surprised when her death occurred far too early. Naturally it is no surprise that her story has been told many times, although I don’t really know why so many of them have appeared so recently. This latest movie examines three days over a Christmas holiday that seem particularly nerve-wracking for the Princess of Wales.
Pablo Larrain’s film concerns itself with Diana’s Christmas holiday visit to Sandringham in Norfolk some ten years after her wedding to Charles. The entire royal family is there and Diana (Kristen Stewart) keeps them waiting several times as she fusses about her clothes, her children and her mental state. The royals barely acknowledge her presence and never raise a fuss themselves but Diana is trembling with anxiety. She faces some of her demons that week, learns a few things and finally escapes with her kids before she completely loses control of herself.
The film describes itself at the beginning as “a fable based on a true tragedy,” so I assume that some liberties are being taken. Rather, this seems to be a scathing indictment of the monarchy’s tendency to squash flat anyone’s desire for individuality — especially Diana’s, since she is the only one who ever rebels against the overwhelming pressures of an unending timetable for everything and public pressure to be perfect. Diana is desperately unhappy from the get-go, yet the film never specifically defines exactly what is bothering her so. I take it that the public record is so well known that inferences (of Charles’ affair with Camilla, of the evil paparazzi, of Diana’s bulimia) are all that is needed to explain her antisocial behavior. That seems lazy to me, and I wanted something more concrete. Instead, we get visions of behavior that cannot possibly occur, of people who are not really there, and of nostalgia for the past that is impossible to recapture. Yes, this story is tragic, but it demands more from the script than this script delivers.
Kristen Stewart is tremendous as Diana; she has the look, the accent, and the essence down pat. I felt badly for Diana, which is the intent, of course, but I also wanted her to take some responsibility for her position. She married the guy knowing that the public focus on her would never cease. Ultimately, other than to create sympathy for a woman whose life was essentially ruined by becoming a British royal, I’m not sure what the point of this exercise is, exactly. I came away from the film glad to my bone marrow that I am not involved in that gilded prison, that I have the freedom to express myself such as this, which Diana evidently did not enjoy. ☆ ☆ 1/2. 25 November 2021.