SPENCER (2021) ¢ ¢ ¢
D: Pablo Larraín
Kristen Stewart, Timothy Spall, Sally Hawkins,
Sean Harris, Jack Nielen, Freddie Spry,
Jack Farthing, Laura Benson, Stella Gonet
Lady Diana Spencer, aka Princess Diana, spends the Christmas holidays at Sandringham, in the company of (and at odds with) Britain's compulsively straight-laced royal family. She's got her boys with her, and a couple of loyal retainers, and she's surrounded by people, but she's miserable, isolated, and a prisoner of stifling protocol. She's cracking up. There's not really much of a story in this, which leaves the movie squarely in the hands of Kristen Stewart as Diana. Her staccato line readings are hard to understand sometimes, which in an odd way fits a character who's alternately ignored or disdained by most of those around her. There are a few closeups toward the end where you recognize Kristen Stewart in there, but mostly what you're seeing is Diana. Sally Hawkins, Timothy Spall and Sean Harris all get a nice moment or two as members of the household staff, but the stodgy, inflexible Windsors might as well be made out of cardboard. It's a somewhat different look at the royals than the one you get with "The Crown".
