By: Andrew Wing

Spencer is a 2021 biographical psychological drama film directed by Pablo Larraín (director of the Academy Award-nominated films No and Jackie) and written by Steven Knight (directed and wrote the films Locke and Hummingbird). The film stars Kristen Stewart (The Twilight Saga film series, Happiest Season) as Diana, Princess of Wales (née Spencer), and is a fictionalised account of Diana’s decision to end her marriage to Prince Charles and leave the British royal family. Jack Farthing (Poldark, Love Wedding Repeat) plays Prince Charles, while Timothy Spall (Harry Potter film series, The King’s Speech), Sean Harris (Mission: Impossible - Fallout, The Green Knight - see my full review here), and Sally Hawkins (Blue Jasmine, The Shape of Water) also star.

Spencer had its world premiere in-competition at the 78th Venice International Film Festival on September 3, 2021. It was theatrically released in the United Kingdom and the United States on November 5, 2021.

THE GOOD

First things first, Spencer has easily been one of the movies I’ve been most excited for. This past year, I wanted to become more knowledgeable of the British royal family, so like most young adults my age looking to know more about that, I watched The Crown on Netflix. Watching that amazing show, I instantly became fascinated with Diana and just her presence and who she was beneath the surface. As soon as I saw the trailer for this, I was immediately blown away and I just couldn’t wait to watch and see if it would live up to the hype surrounding both Pablo Larraín’s direction and obviously Kristen Stewart’s performance as Princess Diana.

Well it lived up to the hype for both, but first with Larraín’s direction. Pablo Larraín just killed it with this film. He is definitely looking to get his first Best Director nomination as he brings us such a well-crafted film that takes a lot of risks with its story. With that being said, I loved the story. Larraín and writer Steven Knight definitely take a lot of creative liberties to dive into Diana’s psyche in ways that are probably not the most accurate. Yet still, they had a magnificent original screenplay that is worthy of an Oscar nomination. The story and the entire movie itself is just different from other biopics we’ve seen in the past. One thing it did differently that I liked was how the film just picked up right where they wanted to rather than wasting time going through different decades of her life and watching her take her first steps for example. It just cut right to the chase and showed the viewer what it was going for.

As for it’s chances at Best Picture, it might unfortunately be on the outside looking in just due to how strong a year it is for movies. Also, as I have said, it is by no means your conventional Oscar-bait biopic like we have seen in the past with Bohemian Rhapsody and The Post for example. There will be 10 nominees for Best Picture at the 94th Academy Awards and I strongly think Spencer is more than worthy of being one of those ten. It is around a subject that is of great interest to many people and it is very clear what it’s going for. The core of the film and where its heart is is very clear and the ending honestly made me choked up. The Academy definitely has a soft spot for moving films like this that make you feel good so I think that makes me really confident that it can get nominated. If you can’t tell yet, I really want it to get nominated but if it doesn’t, it will still go down as being one of the most intimate biopics I’ve ever seen. This movie really puts you right in the shoes of Diana, and we are meant to feel the same anxieties and pressures that she feels. Anxieties and pressures such as what she’s going to eat, going to wear, and where she is going to be at any point of the day, and the reason we feel that is simply because of Kristen Stewart’s performance.

Kristen Stewart was absolutely perfect and it was obvious from the first scene featuring her as Diana that she had immersed herself in this role unlike anything I’ve seen before. From the way that she carried herself to the way she moved and spoke, you could just feel every emotion she was feeling with everything that she did. She just did a perfect job at conveying Diana’s reservations and the feeling of just crawling in her skin and ultimately wanting to escape. You can go ahead and lock Stewart in for a Best Actress nomination, and I will certainly be pulling for her to win. There are still other contenders out there such as Jessica Chastain in The Eyes of Tammy Faye and also Lady Gaga in House of Gucci that I’m sure will both be great, but there is no denying that Kristen Stewart will be a very deserving winner if she does end up taking the cake.

The best scenes of the film were hands down the ones where Diana was spending time with her two boys, William (played by Jack Nielen) and Harry (played by Freddie Spry). These scenes were just so effective, moving, and magnificent, and I love how they made it a priority to keep this at the core of the film. It adds on to why I loved the screenplay so much, but to my surprise, this film does paint a picture of a happier Diana and those were the best parts of the film for me just seeing her happy with her kids. The dialogue was also really great in this movie which I didn’t see coming. There were a lot of fascinating exchanges between Diana and the other servants around the house. Every conversation was so deep and a lot of credit goes to the supporting actors for that. I thought Sally Hawkins and Timothy Spall were great in their respective supporting roles and both are worthy of consideration when it comes to Oscar nominations in those respective categories. Also, Sean Harris really impressed me as he played more of a dramatic character than we have seen from him in the past and it just shows how talented of an actor he is.

Now, when it comes to the other elements of this film, I’ve got to mention the score that was done by Jonny Greenwood (also scored PTA films There Will Be Blood and Phantom Thread). Greenwood’s score was fantastic and right now I have it right up there with Hans Zimmer’s score for Dune (see my full review here) as being the best of the year. It was so good that I have already gone ahead and added the soundtrack to my playlist on Apple Music. There is a theme in his score we get over and over again on the piano that is marvelous, and also the jazz compositions have their own quality to them that adds to the overall versatility of the score. He is easily getting nominated for Best Original Score and like I said, it’s between him and Zimmer for who will win. Greenwood also has another score likely to get nominated for the upcoming Netflix western drama film The Power of the Dog, so I’d say he is having himself quite a year.

Lastly, the look of this film was phenomenal. The cinematography from Claire Mathon was absolutely beautiful and I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a period film that looks and feels as good as this did. I loved the hazy and foggy look you got and I found it to be a genius look for the film as it has a very dreamy quality to it. She should definitely be getting an Oscar nomination for cinematography this year and it would be a travesty if she were to get snubbed. Continuing on with other visuals, the costume design is superb and will obviously get nominated because the dresses Kristen Stewart wears throughout the film are very expressive and they symbolically play a role in her internal state of mind. Also, the dresses are just accurate to the ones that Diana wore in real life as she was very well known for her wardrobe. Production design is also a lock for a nomination as is makeup & hairstyling as they were both done extremely well. Let’s just say, this film will be collecting a lot of nominations come award season.

THE BAD

To be quite honest, I didn’t find anything bad about Spencer. The only thing I guess you could say is that it was a little bit obvious when it came to where this movie was going to end up, but hey I loved where it ended up and I’m not going to critique that. Also, and this isn’t a bad thing, but the screenplay completely cuts around all the important details that we know about Diana’s life, and it almost expects you to understand a little bit of context around them and takes no time to explain her life to you. So with that said, it would definitely help going in to know just a little bit about her life.

I also wanted to discuss the differences between how Spencer is done compared to other movies/shows dealing with Diana and the British royal family. Spencer is very different from other adaptations such as the 2006 film The Queen and the Netflix series The Crown. The reason being because Spencer is really not interested in the Royal family as it is much more interested in the impact it has on Diana as an individual inside that system. It just doesn’t feel obligated to tell the story that people are familiar with, so if that’s what you’re going for, you might have to realign your expectations.

THE VERDICT

Without a doubt in my mind, Spencer is one of the best films of the year and I was totally blown away by it. It features a stunning, transformative lead performance from Kristen Stewart as Princess Diana. More than that though, we also get Greenwood's score and Mathon's cinematography which were both equally beautiful. The direction from Pablo Larraín combined with the story from Steven Knight gave us what I felt to be an amazing tribute to Diana. A tribute that will move you in more ways than one as it is a focused, distressing portrayal of someone who was not just a member of the royal family, but rather somebody who stood on her own who gets the ending in this film that we all feel she deserved.