Spencer

It's December 1991. The British royal family is gathering to spend Christmas at a royal estate. The abandoned Spencer estate is nearby. Diana (Kristen Stewart) is driving herself and arrives late. She finds herself more and more isolated. Major Alistar Gregory (Timothy Spall) leads the staff to impose order upon her.

There seems to be a lot of praise for Kristen Stewart's work in this. I can certainly see what she's doing and she's doing a lot of it. Sometimes, people say that an actor disappears into the role. In this one, I never lose sight that this is Kristen Stewart. She is doing her standard jittery demure acting. It always looks like her and her movements. A lot of this rides on her performance and I like it less than most. Timothy Spall is performing through his deliberate gritting teeth. Again, I get the work but I would like less singular mannerisms. As for the story, it hits the broad elements of the situation. I do like the mental health aspect although there is no way to know the truth. This is sensationalized. It would help if the performances are more toned down and normalized especially Kristen. She needs to do less of her jittery demure.

6/10 - I really wanted to fall in love with this film, but found it lacking in a lot of the heart it needed to convey this story with the sympathy and genuineness necessary in the story of such a layered and pained woman.

I had a mixed reaction to "Spencer," Pablo Larrain's film about three days in the life of Princess Diana as she's trapped in Windsor over the Christmas holiday with a family who doesn't want her and who she hates. On the one hand, I liked Larrain's decision to give the film a horror movie vibe, as if the demons plaguing Diana are literally real. There have been so many versions of this story, on screen and in print, that what's the point of doing yet another if you're not going to do something daring with it?

But the movie is a bit much to take. It's oppressive, which fits the subject matter, so I get that. But it's also very one note, and worst, it doesn't make Diana come alive as a person or character. You have to bring a lot of knowledge of Diana's story to this movie for it to completely make it worthwhile. Otherwise, you're just stuck with a very bizarre woman wandering around a big house in nice clothes for two hours. You can empathize with her, because she's clearly a very troubled woman going through a crisis, but that doesn't mean you necessarily want to spend time with her.

Kristen Stewart was just nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award at the time I'm writing this comment, and her performance is good I guess. I think she gives the performance Larrain wants her to give. But it's a very weird performance, and extremely hard to warm to.

Sally Hawkins has a smallish role as the only member of the household staff who Diana can deal with, and as always, she carries the movie off with her and made me want it to just be about her instead.

Grade: B.

"Spencer" is a Biography - Drama movie in which we follow lady Diana on her Christmas holidays at the Sandringham estate in Norfolk, England. She deals with health problems and a lot of pressure and decides to end her marriage to Prince Charles.

I have to admit that I had high expectations from this movie since it is based on a very important person, Lady Diana. Unfortunately, I was not satisfied by the result because there were not many scenes that could explain us a bit more her final choice. This could be done with some flashbacks in order to make it clear and better establish her character. Despite that the interpretation of Kristen Stewart who played as Diana Spencer was very good, she did not save this movie. Another interpretation that has to be mentioned was Timothy Spall's who played as Major Alistar Gregory and he was simply amazing. To sum up, I have to say that "Spencer" had the potential of being an amazing movie about Lady Diana but failed.

When I first heard that Kristen Stewart was cast as Princess Diana, I was sceptical I must admit.. The American does a great job though in picturing one of the most loved British people of all time.

I dont want to spoil anything, I just say that sure...we all knew the gossip, the conspiracies, the theories about Diana and her death, but still, almost 25 years later, this movie still brings aspects to the story, that are fresh, new and provocative. It was a bit more psychedelic than expected and I enjoyed that movie much more than I thought I would and it surely will not be liked by the royals, especially Prince Charles, he wont be amused with his depiction!