CRITICAL / FILM REVIEW. Presented as a world premiere at the 78th edition of the Venice Film Festival, “Spencer” by Pablo Larrain offers an agonizing dive into the tortured soul of Lady Diana. Sublime and heartbreaking. The best role of Kristen Stewart.
A little bit of fun
Five years later Jackie, Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larraín is directing a new biopic with Spencer. After filming Natalie Portman as Jackie Kennedy, it’s Kristen Stewart’s turn to portray one of the most famous figures of the 20th century: Lady Diana.
As he had done for Jackie, Pablo Larraín moves away from the classic biopic by focusing on a few pivotal hours in the life of the Princess of Wales. The film takes place during Christmas 1991, in the beautiful Sandringham Estate in Norfolk. More particularly on December 24, 25 and 26.
The film opens with the sequence of the quasi-military arrival of provisions for the three days of royal family celebrations. Everything is precise, scrutinized, nothing sticks out. The chef (played by Sean Harris) warns his troops: they have no room for error. We don’t mess with royal traditions. Moments later, Diana appears alone, behind the wheel of her Porsche. She stops in a village to ask for directions. She’s late for the traditional Christmas Eve dinner. A deliberate act in an attempt to push back the deadline for a golden prison from which she will not be released for 72 hours.
Vertigo
The gigantic royal residence gradually turns into a hostile place for Diana. Pablo Larraín uses the codes of the psychological thriller (one thinks in particular of The Shining) to illustrate mental confinement in which the princess is located.
Still on the run, Diana is pursued by the threat of her royal duties from which she tries, in vain, to escape. Her only moments of respite, she finds them with her two sons, William and Harry, then aged about ten, and with her stylist and confidante (played by Sally Hawkins).
In Jackie, Pablo Larraín filmed Natalie Portman as a ghost, wandering the empty corridors of the White House. In Spencer, the director summons once again this phantasmagorical figure to evoke the loneliness of her heroine at this pivotal moment in her life. We meet in particular the ghost of Anne Boleyn, accursed wife of Henry VIII, for whom Diana will develop a real obsession, as she finds resonances with her own life.
A radical proposal
Using the codes of psychological thriller, Pablo Larraín dynamites the biopic genre, and offers a gripping look at Lady Diana’s tortured soul. A dizzying fable about the existence of this major figure of the 20th century, Spencer also feeds reflection on the superstar status from which Diana has always suffered, and which -indirectly- caused her downfall.
Kristen Stewart finds here the best role of her career, and delivers an inhabited performance, ultra mastered, without ever falling into mimicry. It wouldn’t be surprising to find her in the next Oscar race.
Last element essential to the success of the film: the absolutely stunning photography of Claire Mathon, who after having regaled us with her work for Portrait of the girl on fire, makes each plan of Spencer a real painting.
If we had the chance to find out Spencer on the big screen at the 78th Venice Film Festival, the film will not be released in theaters in France, but directly on Prime Video in the fall.
