Spencer Review by Stella S

Part 1 – A brief summary of the film 

Pablo Larraín’s 2021 film, Spencer, depicts a fictionalised account on Princess Diana’s inner turmoil during the Christmas of 1991, as she struggles between self-identity and conforming to the royal family’s standards. Starring Kristen Stewart as Diana, the historical psychological drama film follows Diana's three-day Christmas stay at the Sandringham estate, in Norfolk, with the royal family. Although the film does not portray a specific historical event, it fictionally explores and dramatises her strained relationship with Prince Charles and her conflicting sides between her self-identity and fitting into the royal family. The film also depicts her struggles with her mental health, specifically bulimia. The film is set during Christmas of 1991, a year before Princess Diana and Prince Charles’ divorce was publicly announced. The film recognises the fictitious portrayal of Diana’s story, in the opening credits, the film is described as “a fable from a true tragedy”. 

Part 2 - Your opinion of the film

I enjoyed Kirsten Stewart’s accurate portrayal of Diana’s mannerisms and the aesthetics of the film. However, the film doesn’t portray a specific historical event, which made the movie seem disorganised. The film also heavily relies on its realistic and visually appealing aesthetics, rather than focusing on an actual plot. Therefore, I give the film 2.5/5 stars.

⭐️⭐️.5

Part 3 - Directors Interpretation

Pablo Larraín has depicted the character of Princess Diana as a struggling, rebellious outsider, who is the protagonist towards the royal family. Her struggle is constantly represented through non-diegetic sound. Whenever Diana is confronted with her mental struggles, like her bulimia or the royal family, a harsh violin plays. The recurring motif of the violin in the film assists in accentuating her struggles. By utilising the same sound for both occurrences, Larraín explicitly connects her declining mental health with the royal family,  portraying her as a struggling outsider. This outsider image is further built through the manipulation of lighting. The royal family is constantly depicted with low-key lighting, conversely Diana is depicted with a brighter aura around her. This contrast in lighting symbolises her self-identity and resilience towards the royal family - emphasising her outsider image once again. Additionally, her bright lighting also shows how emotionally vulnerable she is being compared to the closed off family, revealing her struggles. Her declining mental health is depicted through close-up shots of her face - which display her worried and emotional state. Furthermore, the use of a wide shot when Diana arrives at Sandringham house, emphasises how small she is compared to the estate. Which symbolises Diana’s constant power-struggle with the royal family, showing her rebellious nature. The use of tracking shots when Diana rushes through Sandringham, paints her to be a more ‘relatable’ character, giving into the protagonist persona. She does not uphold the royal image, as she rushes and becomes late to the royal’s gatherings, symbolising her roots and rebellion.

Pablo Larraín has depicted the royal family as cold, powerful, reserved and the antagonist towards Princess Diana. By antagonising the royal family, it creates the cliché good versus bad plot - which attracts Hollywood’s standards. This antagonistic approach of portraying the family is seen through the contrast of them and Diana. Lighting plays a major part in the aloof portrayal of the royal family. Diana is consistently depicted with bright lighting, conversely the royal family is depicted with low-key lighting and more shadows. This contrast in lighting expresses the cold and reserved personality of the royal family. By all of them but Diana sharing the same low-key lighting, their ulterior cold behaviour is unveiled. This behaviour is further explored through their body language. As they have Christmas Eve dinner, multiple family members stare judgingly at Diana in a superior manner - emphasising the antagonistic cold personas. In one scene, Diana is talking to Queen Elizabeth on the stairs; although Elizabeth was lower, a low-angle was used. This illustrates the power that the family, especially Elizabeth, has on Diana. In another scene, Diana and Charles are across each other with a pool table separating them. Although both of them have a low angle, Charles’ slowly zooms closer, depicting him to be ‘bigger’ which accentuates his power. Charles was also turned to his side, symbolising his reserved, distant personality - while Diana was facing front, symbolising her emotional vulnerability to him. Throughout their argument Charles stays calm and underreacts while Diana does the opposite, which clearly demonstrates who holds more power.

Part 4 – Essay 

The film Spencer (2021), is partially historically accurate, as it ultimately tells a fictionalised account of Princess Diana’s life, focusing mainly on her mental health and her relationship with Prince Charles. However, there are historically accurate aspects, including the costuming and visuals of the film.

Princess Diana’s mental health is the central plot to Spencer, however depicting the mental health of a historical figure can never be fully historically accurate, as this private information is rarely disclosed in historical sources, especially for members of the royal family. This is seen through the depiction of Diana’s mental health in Spencer. “Diana: Her True Story" by Andrew Morton, was published in 1992. In this book, Morton was sent cassette tapes from Diana about answering his questions, including details about her struggles with bulimia and depression. In confessional tapes she stated that "The bulimia started the week after we got engaged and would take nearly a decade to overcome. My husband put his hand on my waistline and said: "Oh, a bit chubby here, aren't we?"”. It was recorded in the biography that her bulimia was a result from her marriage - which is portrayed in the movie. However, that marks the limit of historical accuracy. Pablo Larraín, the director, has said himself that the movie is “a fable from a true tragedy”. Which is true, nobody can authentically capture Diana's raw emotions or fully comprehend her personal struggles - as those were only intimate to her. Anything beyond her own interviews and direct words - are biased interpretations. Larraín’s directorial perspective of Diana is a subjective viewpoint, as he extrapolates fabricated information to fill the gaps on what happened in her private life. Larraín also depicts Diana to have hallucinations about Anne Boleyn. Yet there is no evidence that suggests Diana ever talked about Boleyn, nor had hallucinations about her. Larraín did this to draw comparisons between the two, allowing his interpretation to override historical accuracy.

Princess Diana’s relationship with Prince Charles is another major plotline in Spencer. However, portraying the relationship of the two could have never been entirely true, historically speaking, as the filmmaker has to fictionalise the conversations that occurred in private, relying only on comments later made by Diana. Princess Diana’s 1995 BBC Panorama interview with Martin Bashier was infamous for Diana’s open acceptance of her failed marriage. When Bashier asked “Do you think Mrs Parker Bowles was a factor in the breakdown of your marriage?” Diana replied “there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded” referring to Camilla Parker Bowles, who Prince Charles had a documented affair with. Although Camilla is never referenced by name, the film alludes to her - even including a visual image of her wearing a pearl necklace. Throughout the film Diana references a pearl necklace that Charles gave to both her and Camilla - alluding to their documented affair. However there is no evidence of any pearl necklace being gifted to either, but it does act as a symbol or allusion to the affair which occurred. The film portrays the breakdown of their marriage happening during the Christmas of 1991, however there is no documented evidence of this happening during the royals’ Christmas in 1991. Once again, Larraín’s directorial perspective of Diana is a biased perspective, as he fabricates dialogue, arguments, and other information to fill the gaps on what happened behind closed doors. This fabricated information contributes to the film’s lack of historical accuracy.

Conversely, Princess Diana’s costuming is very historically accurate. While Spencer does fictionalise and dramatise Diana’s story, it perfectly captures her outfits. The film's costume designer, Jacqueline Durran stated that the costumes were as accurate as possible to Diana’s actual wardrobe. They meticulously recreated some of Princess Diana's iconic outfits, drawing inspiration from photographs, videos, and archival material. The amount of content about Diana and her outfits, allowed the costume designer to exactly replicate her looks. Spencer, takes pride in perfectly recreating her outfits and although the film takes place over one Christmas weekend, the film incorporates her most iconic looks over the years. Specifically in one scene she is running and changes through outfits, her most notable one being her 1981 wedding gown. This allows the audience to be fully immersed in the fashion of the 1980’s to early 1990’s. The integration of historically accurate costumes into the story enhances the film's visual appeal and also contributes to the overall illusion of historical accuracy, deceiving the audience into believing the other fabricated information in the film. 

In conclusion, Spencer is a partially historically accurate film as it perfectly recreates Princess Diana’s iconic looks. However the visual accuracy deceives the audience into possibly believing the fabricated information about her life, especially her mental health and relationship with Prince Charles.