Spencer (2021) Review

Title: Spencer
Year: 2021
Director: Pablo Larrain
Country: UK
Language: English

While Spencer (2021) isn't a true Dickensian tale, its story shares many similar elements of class, privilege and ghosts of the past. The film also shares many themes of George Orwell, such as paranoia and surveillance. The metaphor heavy dialogue can get quite eerie at some points in the film. There is much to admire about this unconventional biopic. 

During her Christmas holidays with the royal family at the Sandringham estate in Norfolk, England, Diana Spencer (Kristen Stewart), struggling with mental health problems, decides to end her decade-long marriage to Prince Charles.

Written by Stephen Knight, Spencer highlights the inner turmoil Diana is feeling as she is smothered by long held traditions in a royal "family" that treats her as an outsider. It's an artful anti-biopic that takes place entirely within a few days (the writer trusting its audience to already understand the situation) which is filled with saturated cinematography filled with pastel colours that give each scene a dream-like quality and a versatike score that perfectly captures the heartbreaking headspace of Diana. 

Spencer feels like a sharper takedown of the upper class than other visual media like The Crown (sorry Olivia Colman!) which tends to glorify the monarchy. Many actresses have played royalty, most recently Noami Watts took a crack at being Princess Diana, but Kristen Stewart makes the role feel far more authentic. Perhaps the authenticity comes from Stewart having very similar struggles, albeit in the Hollywood system. 

I was incredibly impressed by the slow burn, arthouse feel of Spencer. It is a gloomy, moody film that will ruin any good day you're having, but it is an important, poetic watch.