Spencer
Director: Pablo Larrain
Writer: Steven Knight (writer of the most bizarre twist of all-time in the movie Serenity)
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Sally Hawkins, Timothy Spall, Sean Harris, Jack Farthing, Jack Nielen, Freddie Spry
Reason for watching: new release and awards contender
Number of times I’ve watched it: first-time viewing
***
If you get to a certain point in your movie’s production and your movie is more of a painting or a weird dream than an actually cohesive movie, you may have done something wrong. I am not against classy things in general, but this movie just is trying so hard for you to think it is an artistic story that it might as well have just been a painting. If I wanted to stare at a nice painting for several hours I would have gone to the Louvre. Now I know that awards movies are not always going to be my cup of tea, but I can hope for the best. Sadly, Spencer is not the best.
Attempting to explain the plot of this movie would be a fruitless activity. Before the movie begins, there is a title card that literally reads “a fable based on a true tragedy.” It revolves around a Christmas weekend when the late Princess Diana (Kristen Stewart) decided to divorce Prince Charles (Jack Farthing). Diana spends a lot of time with her boys William (Jack Nielen) and Harry (Freddie Spry) and wants them to have as close to normal childhood without all of the tradition that comes with being royalty. Throughout the movie, she has this fascination with Anne Boleyn and has several visions of her around the royal home.
The big push behind this movie is Kristen Stewart as Princess Diana. For someone who was a little bit reviled after all her years in The Twilight saga, she has done a lot to turn herself around without really becoming a better actress. I never thought she really changed her style, and this movie is more proof. Diana is a nervous wreck in this movie and is constantly on edge with the tradition. If you have seen Stewart’s acting before, you know that is right up her alley. The mouth breathing. The stuttering. The twitching. It all works perfectly for this role. She finally found the puzzle piece of the movie that fits her. Truly that achievement is the best part of this movie.
But overall, I was not impressed with this movie. The slow pacing of the story and the pretentiousness of it does not work well together. Perhaps if we had a better theme to latch onto it would work better. But the sadness and depressingness of having to drudge through being a member of the royal family does not do it for me. I understand it was upsetting for Diana and the stress levels were not good for her mental health, but all of the problems in the world make this feel a lot smaller. The cinematography is still nice too look at, and the costuming seems to be period-accurate and creative. Plus we get some decent supporting performances from Sean Harris and Sally Hawkins as some of Diana’s only friends.
6/10
Until I see another one