I’m gonna say it because it needs to be said: Timothy Spall should be the next James Bond.
Okay, now that I’ve gotten that exceptional proposition out into the world, let’s talk about this movie…
Spencer reminds me of Robert Altman’s Secret Honor. They both follow lone, larger-than-life, almost mythical figures (Diana and Nixon)—and they attempt to give them real corporeal weight by detailing their spirals into madness. For the most part, both films are stripped of any historical context. People who know this story already, I would presume, would find this film a bit lightweight. It doesn’t come close to rivaling The Crown’s portrayal.
Yes, Spencer succeeds in communicating the ever-abiding cold stare of the royal family, but it doesn’t nearly have the impact I think it intends. Charles and Elizabeth are complete non-characters here, and it’s obviously by design. This is the Diana hour. But that just doesn’t do her justice. The key to her story, in my opinion, involves not only her internal struggles but also the deterioration of the family’s conviviality and seeming hospitality toward her.
Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip are pretty great people for the first twenty episodes of The Crown—then seasons three and four gradually tear that charade apart. Likewise, Prince Charles for all of season three is quite sympathetic before, like the rest of them, falling victim to the machine. Diana enters the picture just before Charles begins his moral decay, and in season four, we witness her dismantling (by the family) piece by piece.
In Spencer, that’s already done with. Charles is a jackass from the get-go. So what are we to think of Diana? Why’d you marry this guy? Even if you came into the theater already knowing that information intellectually, there seems to be an emotional disconnect within the film itself. Or, more generously, a very tenuous link. It leaves the feeling that Spencer’s Diana is just acting out—compared to The Crown’s Diana who’s simply responding to the duplicitous shifting sands around her. In short, Spencer would need a central performance just short of a miracle to encapsulate all that needs to be said that isn’t in the script itself, and unfortunately, Stewart doesn’t quite reach that level.
Lots of points for Claire Mathon, though. And my man Jonny of course. Oh and Jacqueline Duran is a master—she’s most famous for costuming Little Women, Price & Prejudice, Anna Karenina, etc, but more importantly to me, she’s been Mike Leigh’s designer for the third act of his career. Her first feature was All or Nothing, and she continued on with Vera Drake, Happy-Go-Lucky, Another Year, Mr. Turner, and Peterloo.
Note (spoilers): This might not be my place to say, but it seems like there are very few platonic relationships between women in movies these days. For every film with a platonic couple, there are five films about women who are friends at first but are secretly in love with each other. Both types of relationships should be able to co-exist in media, but the frequency of each type seems a bit wonky to me. Maybe it is just because the romantic variety lends itself to conflict/narrative tension more easily, but there seems to be plenty of platonic male friendships in movies (both comedies and dramas), so maybe it’s a bit of a double standard? Anyways, it struck me as odd when Maggie confessed her love for Diana (especially since she wasn’t based on any specific real person). Didn’t really have any consequences to the narrative or performances either (except maybe that little lingering shot of Hawkins in the car). It seems counterintuitive to muck up their special protective bond—a lifeboat on a sea of royal piranhas—with sexual motivations.
Rating: 3/5
Edit: I see a lot of people approaching this as kind of an over-the-top, campy and arty flick which is certainly something I can get behind. Jackie led me to expect something in the opposite direction, but I might appreciate this more on its own terms with some time and another watch. Though there are a lot of other films this year already competing for that section of my brain (Annette, The Lost Daughter, The Last Duel, Titane).