Spencer

Director: Pablo Larraín
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Timothy Spall, Jack Farthing, Sean Harris, Sally Hawkins, Jack Nielen, Freddie Spry, Stella Gonet, Richard Sammel, Elizabeth Berrington, Amy Manson, Emma Darwall-Smith
Running Time: 117 min.
Rating: R 

★★★ (out of ★★★★) 

Spencer isn't the kind of biopic you can warmly embrace, fittingly keeping itself at an arm's length. In fact, it isn't even really a biopic at all, with director Pablo Larraín hardly interested in what did or didn't happen during the dissolution of Diana's marriage to Prince Charles, key events in her life, or reconstructing a timeline. It's a psychological horror film, plain and simple. And one that gets so far into the head of its subject that some viewers are bound to be turned off, criticizing it for being an artsy, depressing slog. While they wouldn't be entirely wrong on those counts, what's more questionable is whether it's fair to consider those flaws, especially considering how rare it is that a historical figure gets such a fearless, no holds barred treatment. Say what you will, but Larraín's approach is uncompromising, not budging an inch as far as what mainstream viewers would want or expect out of a movie about Princess Diana.

Almost completely inaccessible and wacky beyond belief, Larraín's film honorably refuses to meet us even halfway, mirroring the defiance of its subject herself. Full of eccentricities, narrative detours, dream sequences and melodramatic excursions, it falls so squarely in the wheelhouse of Kristen Stewart's indie work from the past decade you'll be wondering how Diana transformed into the actress rather than the other way around. And yet it still somehow fits, visually leaning into areas of her psyche that no news report or comprehensive novel on her life could possibly replicate. All of it anchored by a tremendous performance from Stewart that really digs deep, ranking in the upper echelon of nominated biographical portrayals, not to mention her biggest risk in a career full of them.

It's December 1991 and the Royal Family is spending Christmas at the Queen's Sandringham estate in Norfolk, right next to Diana's (Stewart) long-abandoned childhood home, Park House. With the Princess of Wales' already strained marriage to Prince Charles (Jack Farthing) on its last legs due to his  affair with Camilla Parker Bowles (Emma Darwall-Smith), she has second thoughts about attending. Lost, frustrated and on the verge of emotional collapse, Diana encounters Royal Head Chef Darren McGrady (Sean Harris), who convinces her to go, only to find she's ignored by the entire family immediately upon arrival. 

With the exception of young sons William and Harry (Jack Nielen and Freddie Spry), Diana receives a chilly reception, finding comfort in her friendship with Royal dresser Maggie (Sally Hawkins), who offers invaluable advice and guidance. Despite being under constant surveillance by the family's eyes and ears, Major Gregory (Timothy Spall), Diana refuses to conform, yearning for a normal life free of the burden and responsibility this position entails. She's become a prisoner in her own mind, dreaming of escaping to a simpler, happier time.

A key scene that encapsulates everything Diana's going through is her only seen conversation with Charles, which only further confirms that they're orbiting different planets, with no hope for reconciliation or compromise. At the crux of the argument is his belief that she needs to just give in for appearance sake and maintain a certain public facade like everyone else. Of course, none of this applies to him since his position within the family has already long been secured. She's just not built for this, and much of the film's running time is spent showing us in painstaking, sometimes torturous detail, exactly how. 

In a constant state of depression and misery, a fragile Diana's wings have been clipped, making you wonder how the marriage even lasted this long, regardless of Charles' affair. She regurgitates dinner, gets repulsed by the clothing selection, raids the dessert fridge after hours and even imagines mutilating herself with wirecutters. But her most telling form of rebellion comes in the middle of the night with an escape to her abandoned childhood home. All of these happenings are juxtaposed against the stately, regal backdrop of Guy Hendrix Dyas' production design and Jacqueline Durran's costumes, the latter of which serves the dual function of replicating Diana's iconic style, even as she's emotionally suffocated by it. And sharply contrasting with the pageantry surrounding her, Jonny Greenwood's jazzy, propulsive score races with a tense uneasiness that matches Diana's anxiousness.

If the worry going in was Stewart's ability to look or feel comfortable in this woman's skin, that's precisely the point since there's hardly a moment where Diana does, as she's constantly isolated and overwhelmed by her surroundings. The actress also nails her speech, mannerisms and strikingly resembles the Princess of Wales enough that that the real person pushes her way to the surface as Stewart becomes more unrecognizable, completely inhabiting the role. And while doing it, she finds a new way in, conveying a sadder, but strangely softer side to her that actually hasn't been beaten into the ground by previous cinematic and TV treatments. 

Steven Knight's script flies off the rails in inspired, unexpected ways, like when Diana's overcome with memories and hallucinations while dancing through the halls of her old home, briefly reconnecting with a life that never seemed further out of reach. This and Maggie's support push her forward, if only for William and Harry's sake. Neither receive much screen time, but hardly need it, as current events lend their scenes even more poignancy than they already would knowing Diana's eventual fate. Through them, she momentarily finds something that resembles joy and an actual identity outside the family's shackles. Viewed in this light, the film's title seems even more relevant, as a reclamation of her own life and name, if only briefly.       

In exploring how a down-to-earth, free spirited personality could survive when everything she is slowly gets stripped away, Spencer establishes itself as an ambitious piece of speculative historical fiction. It also asks a lot from its audience, who might sometimes feel just as equally trapped. But the experience stays with you largely due to methods used to convey that Diana's situation was far worse than reported or imagined. This entire arrangement was never going to work for either side, but this is the most brutally honest film about it, holding little back in telling a familiar story through fresh eyes.