SPENCER : Monday 24th January 2022

I saw the M Rated 'SPENCER' at the Open Air Cinema at Mrs. Macquarie's Chair, in Sydney earlier this week. This work of historical fiction is a psychological drama film Directed and Co-Produced by Pablo Larrain, whose prior film making credits include his 2006 debut 'Fuga' and then 'No' in 2012, 'Neruda' in 2016 and the critically acclaimed 'Jackie' in 2016 also, with 'Ema' in 2019. The film saw its World Premier screening at the Venice International Film Festival in early September last year before its release in the US and UK in early November. Having generated largely positive Critical Reviews, 'Spencer' has so far recovered US$16M from its US$18M budget outlay, and has picked up thirty-four awards and a further 106 nominations (many of which are still pending an outcome) from around the awards and festival circuit. 

Set during the Christmas holiday 1991 with the royal family all gathering at the Queen's Sandringham estate in Norfolk, England. Among the invited guests are Diana, Princess of Wales (Kristen Stewart), whose ten year old marriage to Prince Charles (Jack Farthing) has reached the point of no return because of his affair with Camilla Parker Bowles (Emma Darwall-Smith). As the staff of the Sandringham Estate prepare for the imminent arrival of the royal family and their entourage, led by the very capable Major Alistair Gregory (Timothy Spall), Diana drives around the Norfolk countryside in a haze. Being on the verge of a nervous breakdown, she avoids driving into the grounds of the Estate until she meets Royal Head Chef Darren McGrady (Sean Harris) claiming that she got lost en route. 

Diana duly arrives to a less than warm greeting on Christmas Eve. Her sons William (Jack Nielen) and Harry (Freddie Spry) are excited to see her, but she does not attempt to mix with the royal family, who for the most part ignore her. Diana's only friend at the Estate is Royal Dresser Maggie (Sally Hawkins), who encourages her to combat the royal family and fulfil the obligations expected of her. Diana finds a book on Anne Boleyn in her designated bedroom. She begins to have dreams about Boleyn, eventually coming to believe that Boleyn's ghost (Amy Manson) is haunting her in her capacity as a fellow betrayed and abandoned royal wife. Diana tries to visit her now abandoned and boarded up childhood home of Park House, which neighbours the Sandringham Estate, but is stopped by the royal security, who initially mistake her for an intruder.

On Christmas morning, Diana joins the service at St Mary Magdalene Church, Sandringham, where she observes Camilla among the attendees and is photographed by hundreds of gathered paparazzi. She later has a stilted conversation with Charles, who rejects her concern over William and Harry's joining in a pheasant shoot the next day. Charles secretly arranges for Maggie to be sent back to London and spreads rumours that she had planted the Boleyn book in Diana's room and made critical comments about her mental health, to which McGrady denies that she had done so when questioned by Diana. 

Major Gregory attempts to encourage Diana to observe the pressures of royal life by reminding her that the soldiers of the British Army die attempting to protect the interests of the Crown, and therefore her also. Diana responds by stating that she never asked anyone to die for her. After imagining wounding herself with a pair of wire cutters given to her by McGrady, Diana avoids the formal Christmas Day dinner, instead running to her childhood home and gaining access to it with the wire cutters. Memories of her happier childhood overtake her, and she dances from room to room while imagining her younger selves. She considers committing suicide by throwing herself down a flight of stairs, but the hallucination of Boleyn prevents her from doing so. 

On Boxing Day morning, Diana awakens in her room to find that Maggie had been called back from London. The pair drive on to a nearby deserted beach and walk along the sand where Diana talks about her mental and marital challenges. Maggie responds by confessing that she is in love with Diana. After leaving the beach, Diana rushes to the pheasant shoot and walks out in front of the crowd of royal shooters, imitating the movements of the birds. She tells Charles that she is leaving the royal entourage and taking William and Harry to London, an arrangement to which Charles reluctantly agrees. 

Diana bids farewell to Maggie and McGrady and Major Gregory returns the Boleyn book to the library. As they drive away, in the distance, a scarecrow that Diana had created when she was younger is seen, now dressed in clothes from her early adulthood. After stopping en route for some fast food, Diana drives to London, where she begins the process of raising her children independently. She looks out over the River Thames in the shadow of Tower Bridge as the boys chow down on a bucket of KFC, uncertain of her future but no longer burdened by memory or the responsibilities of being a royal.

I have to say that I came away from 'Spencer' feeling a little nonplussed. I neither loved it, nor did I hate it. There is no doubt that Kristen Stewart nails her depiction of Princess Diana to a tee from her vocal inflections, her ticks and foibles, her mannerisms and the way in which she would tilt her head - an Oscar contender here for sure for Best Actress I would think. And Timothy Spall also gives a strong, stoic, stiff upper lip performance as the Queen's Equerry, as does Sally Hawkins as Diana's dresser in the all too brief screen time she enjoys. But for me the film is all too repetitive with Head Chef Darren telling us what every meal over the three days comprises of, from sandwiches on arrival on Christmas Eve to the lavish picnic in the grounds of Sandringham during the pheasant shoot on Boxing Day and every mealtime in between; to Diana chundering into the toilet bowl after every meal she consumes; to what Diana had to wear to every meal and to every occasion throughout her three day stay; and that she is being portrayed as some spoiled brat of a woman who only want's her way in life and bursts into tears when she doesn't get it, which I'm not entirely sure rang true of the Princess. And as for the soundtrack, the first half is so off kilter with all its clanking cello's, violins and oboe's that it really grated on me, before the second half which moves into more classical territory which I guess is fine, but I would have thought that a more modern soundtrack would be in keeping with the depiction of a more modern Princess, despite her anxiety over her circumstances. Diana Spencer was a Princess who just wanted the fairy tale, and instead she got the nightmare!

'Spencer' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five claps. 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-