A spiritual companion to his earlier Jackie, Pablo Larraín’s drama stars Kristen Stewart as Princess Diana, dramatizing three decisive days in her life.
It’s Christmas Eve. Princess Diana has decided to drive herself to Sandringham. She’s late. And she’s lost. So begins this singular portrait of the beloved Royal, an imaginative first-person psycho-drama that unfolds across the weekend that she decides, once and for all, to leave the marriage that has made her so miserable. Employing an intensely subjective point-of-view, conjuring up the ghost of Anne Boleyn as a cautionary figure and driven by Jonny Greenwood’s extraordinary, genre-bending score, Larraín’s film is one of the year’s most original. Taking a break from Peaky Blinders, Steven Knight’s screenplay combines high drama with an air of the absurd. He wisely keeps significant Royals mostly out of the picture – save for lively performances by Jack Nielen and Freddie Spry as Princes William and Harry – focussing instead on Diana’s interaction with the staff, most notably a dresser, head chef and an ex-officer, played by Sally Hawkins, Sean Harris and Timothy Spall. But dominating every scene is Stewart, in yet another stunning performance.
