The end of the 2024 festival season saw the conclusion of an unofficial trilogy from director Pablo Larrain. It started back in 2016 with Jackie, his look at the life of John F Kennedy's widow following the assassination and finished last year with Maria, which documented the final years of world-famous soprano, Maria Callas. In between, came Spencer (2021), a fictional version of one Christmas weekend when the life of Princess Diana reached crisis point. And the much-publicized movie, which has an 83% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, arrived with a regal flourish on Netflix in the US on Saturday, February 8 (it is available on Prime Video to rent in the UK).
All three women were the most famous faces of their day. Jacqueline Kennedy, played in the film by Natalie Portman, was a style icon of the 1960s, while the term "diva" could have been invented for Callas, famed in the 1950s not just for her astonishing voice but her explosive temperament and glamorous lifestyle. Maria marked a return to dramatic roles for Angelina Jolie and the film is also currently on Netflix in the US. Princess Diana was the most photographed woman in the world throughout the 1980s, the Shy Di who, after the fairytale wedding that made her a princess, went on to set fashion trends overnight and changed attitudes with a single handshake. And, for Kristen Stewart who played the title role, it marked the completion of her transition from the teen favorite of Twilight to a serious actor with the weight and talent to immerse herself in any role that came her way.
In his first collaboration with writer Steven Knight — he of Peaky Blinders and Locke, as well as Maria — Larrain imagines Diana at Sandringham for Christmas with the Royal Family. Her marriage to Prince Charles is in tatters, although she still enjoys a close relationship with her two sons, and she is desperately trying to hold on to her sanity, as well as work out what the future could hold. The family, however, is less than happy about her behavior and, while they are often no more than blurred figures in the background, they’re omnipresent, creating a strong sense of Diana being constantly watched, either by them or their staff.
Visually sumptuous, with its palatial locations and beautiful clothes, there's a dreamlike quality to the film, especially when Diana thinks back to happier times. Much of the action takes place behind closed doors and drawn curtains which keep the outside world at bay and allows both Larrain’s and the audience’s imagination to take flight. They also keep the prying eyes and lenses of the media at a distance. They have, inevitably, sniffed a story. Despite a strong supporting cast that includes Timothy Spall, Sally Hawkins and Stella Gonet, this is very much Stewart’s film, earning her a first Academy Award nomination. Not the most obvious actor for the role, she's an inspired choice in a performance full of details and subtlety. Her immersion in the role is so complete that it’s easy to forget she’s acting.
Spencer isn't a traditional biopic by any standards – this is Pablo Larrain, after all — nor does it tell its story with high drama or theatrics. But it delivers so much more: a finely tuned central performance that challenges our perceptions of a public figure in a setting that’s at times both surreal and sinister. And it’s Stewart’s most impressively mature performance to date.
Spencer arrived on Netflix in the US on Saturday, February 8 2025. It is available on Prime Video to rent in the UK.
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