Spencer: How Moral Should We Be?
Content Warning: Disordered Eating
Princess Diana (Kristen Stewart) Sitting in her Childhood Home After a Breakdown
(Minor Spoilers Ahead)
Royal family drama has always been intriguing to the public. Being privy to the details of a family so heavily guarded sparks curiosity in people around the world. With the success of The King’s Speech (2010), The Crown (2016), and The Favourite (2018) this interest has only grown. So it was no surprise when audiences around the world flocked to see Pablo Larraín’s new film, Spencer (2021). Whether it be the tragedy of her death, her philanthropic lifestyle, or her tumultuous romance with Prince Charles, Princess Diana has always been a popular subject for discussion. This is no different in Larraín’s film.
Spencer reenacts the events of the 1991 Christmas celebrations at the Sandringham estate – an estate where Princess Diana (Kristen Stewart) spent most of her childhood playing at. The events that follow are Larraín’s interpretation of Diana’s final Christmas married to Prince Charles (Jack Farthing). One would think Spencer spends most of the time focused on Diana and Charles’ relationship, but we focus more on Diana’s inner turmoil surrounding the events. Because this film is shot mostly from Diana’s point of view, it makes the story feel intimate yet detached. The intimacy comes mostly from interactions with Prince William (Jack Nielen) and Prince Harry (Freddie Spry). We get a glimpse into Diana’s relationship with her children and how much happiness they bring into her life. Every other scene feels like the audience is being held at arm's length. The message this creates is: while it’s alright to see Diana interact and be vulnerable with her children, it’s not alright to see that with the rest of the royal family.
Diana Struggling at Dinner with the Other Royals
This choice made by Larraín narrows audiences' focus on Princess Diana’s personal story rather than her story concerning the royal family. Although whether or not this was the goal, presenting the family like this paints them as aloof to Diana’s obvious mental and physical health issues. And her mental health is a huge factor in this film.
The version of Princess Diana that is depicted in Spencer comes off as unstable, unreliable, and self-destructive. Larraín’s Diana spends most of her time in a dissociative state or draped over a toilet. This is not to make light of Princess Diana’s real-life eating disorder, yet Larraín frames it as one of the only things she does throughout the film – other than disobeying the Queen (Stella Gonet). We don’t get to see who this Diana is, rather we only see the flaws that Larraín has decided to focus on. For example, there is a storyline throughout the entire film about how Diana thinks she sees and has a personal connection to Anne Boleyn (Amy Manson). There’s never an explanation for this either, other than that a book about Boleyn shows up in her room. It’s implied that this Boleyn apparition is all in Diana’s mind, but never fully explained how or why this connects to her story. The constant shift from reality to the imagined world is jarring. The aim was for an experimental look into Diana’s psyche, yet there is no motivation to justify these jumps in reality.
From Top to Bottom: Prince Harry (Freddie Spry) and Prince William (Jack Nielen) Sit with Their Mother
These unmotivated scenes leave Diana’s character feeling disjointed and have the audience wondering if she is stable enough to tell this story. We’re left speculating about her true mental state and if she was this volatile was it the right choice for her to leave with her children. It comes to a point in the film that Diana’s character strays so far from reality that she feels made up. The unanswered questions about her mental state call the audience’s attention to whether or not she was a suitable mother at all. This isn’t the goal of Larraín’s film at all, but just by implications alone, this paints a picture of insensitivity towards Princess Diana’s mental health issues along with her vehemence against the media.
It is no secret that she had issues with the media infiltrating her space and exploiting her for their gain. Unfortunately, this film feels no different. Princess Diana’s real life is pushed to the back for Larraín to tell the story he wants. Now, this film isn’t marketed as a biopic, rather Larraín has described it as a “fable from a true story” and ultimately his goal was to show Diana’s freedom from her husband and the suffocating grip the crown had on her. So to hold it to that level of accuracy isn’t fair, although should we hold Larraín and filmmakers alike to that level? Is it the duty of the filmmaker to be as precise as possible, especially while dealing with a public figure as large and exploited as Princess Diana? While these are all incredibly important questions to ponder, the bottom line for Spencer is that Larraín chose to make his film in a way that isn’t sensitive towards Princess Diana’s family and memory.
Maggie (Sally Hawkins) and Princess Diana Walking Along the Beach
Larraín’s other downfall in terms of sensitivity comes in the form of Princess Diana’s relationship with her royal dresser and only friend Maggie (Sally Hawkins). At the end of the film – after being off-screen for more than half the runtime – Hawkins makes her comeback just in the nick of time to confess her love to Diana. Now, there is always room for more LGBTQ+ characters and people within the royal entourage, but this was just dropped in. No build-up or hint at a relationship was suggested through the greater part of the film. Maggie is even sent away for most of the events happening and only shows up in the beginning and end. Then after she’s confessed and Diana tells her she only thinks of her as a friend, her story is done. On top of that, Maggie declares her love after Diana talks about her marital and mental health problems. And because a declaration of love fixes everything Diana leaves their conversation with a revived purpose.
Spencer has potential, but it’s not the story to be told with Princess Diana. Larraín tried to fit too much into his film and it just didn’t work. If only it’d been more experimental or not focused on the royal family this film would’ve packed a larger punch. This is not to say there’s nothing enjoyable about the film. On the contrary, the story is captivating in some aspects – just not the ones audiences would expect. Stunning cinematography, costuming, and acting – especially from the children – give this film its major selling points. And these are only a few of the elements that are intriguing about Spencer. Ultimately making a film about a public figure that is extremely popular has its pros and cons. On one hand, there is the popularity of the star that already makes your film intriguing, but if you fail to paint the star in an accurate light it can be your downfall.