Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: SPENCER [Denver Film Festival 2021]
The texture of a life comes into an element of perspective and what is expected of us. In the guise of one weekend in the life of Princess Diana which is shown in "Spencer", it is reflected in the pressure to be a part of a life that was chosen and yet not chosen, embraced but suffocating. Like "Jackie", it shows a woman in crisis but also in a prison of her mind at times. Kristen Stewart plays Diana as wounded flower in a way that is always trying to break out of her boundaries. The movie is bathed in metaphors and abstracts and puts the blame of course squarely on the royals and the aspect of tradition and a bit of fun. But that lifestyle is its own world and the irony plays through in more than one scene. One simple scene outside with a small and curt exchange between Diana and the Queen says everything that needs to be said. It has to do with personality and who is next in line but also who rules from the top. In this film, the narrative says Diana did not want to play by the rules for her own reasons. She wants to be normal but no matter what she does people want her a certain way and want more which is different from the royal expectation inward. A lot of the progression is disjointed but a parallel to Anne Boleyn is an interesting texture especially since Natalie Portman who played "Jackie" for "Spencer" director Pablo Larrain played Anne Boleyn 12 years ago in a Sony film. The irony would have been to have Portman show up here as Boleyn but this is purely Stewart's film.
Stewart is luminous here (even in certain 80s fashion). She disappears into the role. And it is actually more mainstream than certain projects she has chosen but it melds an Oscar bait element with some of the more precise acting she did in a film like "Personal Shopper". There is warmth but especially in certain montage sequences, director Larrain seems more enraptured with the image even if it in a reversal of what the film is trying to say. Thos scenes feels as if they were a music video. The best parts are the wanderings of Diana through the halls and kitchen like a mishapen Kubrickian exercise. Highlight scenes like late night raid in a kitchen or in her old abandoned estate bedroom have merit but they seemingly fall short. Many of the other characters are not completely form either. Timothy Spall fares best as a sort of head of household but his permanence is more reflective of the irony without much depth. The key for Diana and the scenes that resonate most are that with her sons because that is when Stewart's character is playful though it is hard to say that a few French fries can solve such heartache and misery. But it was a start. B-
By Tim Wassberg
