Spencer

I love the movie Jackie so I have been looking forward to Spencer, Pablo Larrain's latest portrait of an enigmatic woman, for a really long time and I was excited to finally have the chance to see it last night.  Even though the reviews from the Venice Film Festival, where it had its premiere, were outstanding, I was not expecting such a brilliant performance from Kristen Stewart!  The movie takes place over three days during the Christmas holiday at the Queen's Sandringham Estate in 1991.  Princess Diana (Stewart) decides to forego her chauffeur and security detail to drive herself but gets lost along the way.  She laments the fact that she can no longer find her way in the part of England where she was raised and this is symbolic of how she has lost herself as a member of the Royal Family.  When she arrives, she immediately feels claustrophobic and constrained by royal protocol, tradition, and lack of privacy.  She find several allies in the Royal Head Chef (Sean Harris) and a Royal Dresser (Sally Hawkins) but is constantly held in check by the Equerry, Major Alistair Gregory (Timothy Spall).  She receives a pearl necklace as a Christmas present from Prince Charles (Jack Farthing) but is dismayed when she realizes that it is the same as one worn by his mistress and it becomes a metaphor for how trapped she feels.  She is also upset about Prince Charles' insistence on taking Prince William (Jack Nielsen) shooting on Boxing Day and identifies with the pheasants because they are pretty but not very bright. In her despair, she begins seeing visions of Anne Boleyn (Amy Manson) and fears a similar fate.  Just when she is about to come undone she sneaks away to Park House, her childhood home near Sandringham, and finds herself again.  I am a huge fan of Stewart (I think she is vastly underrated as an actress) but even I was a bit skeptical when I heard that she had been cast as Princess Diana.  Many of my fears were allayed when the first images of her in character were released and then the first trailer, where I heard her accent for the first time, convinced me.  Stewart gives a highly nuanced performance that completely embodies Diana's fragile state of mind during this period in her life.  It is so transformative that I sometimes forgot that I was watching Stewart.  I also really appreciate that Larrain chose to focus on one pivotal moment, rather than depict her whole life (much as he did with Jackie which focuses on the immediate aftermath of JFK's assassination), because it allows the audience to go beyond what we think we know about Diana.  The costumes, production design, and art direction are absolutely gorgeous and I loved the score by Jonny Greenwood because the almost discordant themes intermingled between the piano and strings emphasize Diana's status as an outsider.  I loved this movie and I highly recommend it.

Note:  In the final scenes Diana is wearing an O.P.P. (Ontario Provincial Police) hat.  I loved seeing this because I am originally from Ontario.