No one enters into marriage, or any partnership, wanting it to be unhappy. Many a storyteller has made a living on the fairy tale happy ending. On the princess getting her prince charming. We know fiction is not reality. It’s public record that for Diana, Princess of Wales, the fairy tale, was not a happy one. In Spencer, screenwriter Steven Knight and director Pablo Larraín craft a horror film around the Christmas holiday shortly before the Andrew Morton book’s publication, and the separation of Diana (played by Kristen Stewart) and Charles (played by Jack Farthing) began in earnest.
Spencer plays the horror card well. It uses pacing and score as well as reality-bending visuals. The utilization of Anne Boylan as a narrative and visual device, her very own ghost guiding her around at times, as her hold on reality crumbles. However, the aspect that was likely the most grounded in reality but helped feed into the horror aspect was all the wardrobe changes. They made what was supposed to be a 3-day holiday seem to drag on for much longer. Not only the wardrobe changes themselves, but the weight everyone seemed to give, the import of wearing the right wardrobe to the right event.
The film also played a lot on control, how people talk, and how narratives spread. It doesn’t matter if the conversation starts as well-meaning, it can be twisted. Maggie (played by Sally Hawkins) and Darren (played by Sean Harris) seem to genuinely care for Diana’s wellbeing in the film. However, that doesn’t change that Maggie spoke of things Diana told her in perceived confidence that reached back to Charles, and he used that information against her.
As award season approaches, much of the conversation will be about Kristen Stewart’s performance. Deservedly so. She took on a role ripe for judgment because people have lots of strong feelings about Princess Diana and as an American, she was not the conventional choice. But from what I can gather not only has she captured the voice, she’s captured mannerisms in her portrayal. Not once after the movie started was I ever taken out of it due to her performance. I think part of her strength comes because she can relate to aspects of Diana that bring authenticity to the role. It’s no secret that Twilight was a big film that thrust its leads into the spotlight. Most actors are afforded anonymity when they aren’t on set or promoting their films. Some, much like Princess Diana, are expected to always be “on.” I don’t know if this is still the case for Kristen, but while the Twilight series was at its heyday, she was not one of the anonymous.
In 2012 I was living in Los Angeles, and one of my jobs was at concerts venues. I had seen and taken tickets of many celebrity guests, even major award winners, but I’d never been as terrified as when I was working a show at the Hollywood Bowl the night I took her ticket. I was blinded when previously unseen photographers popped up from everywhere when she arrived. That stays with you, it stayed with me, and I was just an unfortunate bystander. That was her life. If she can get some prestigious career accolades drawing on that awful time, more power to her. But that shouldn’t happen, and there needs to be a culture change on what we expect from entertainers (see: Britney Spears).
Now some specific references in Spencer that might be of interest to Torontonians. At one point in the film, Diana exalts how she enjoys middle-class things, one of them being theatre shows like Les Misérables. This film takes place over the Christmas of 1991, shortly after the family’s trip to Toronto at the end of October, where Diana saw Les Misérables at the Royal Alexandra Theatre. Spencer also ends with Diana wearing an O.P.P. hat, presumably another reference to this recent trip.