Review of Diana (2013) by Carl D — 01 Apr 2014

I came into this thinking it would be boring and I'm going to tear this film apart when I write my review. By the end of Diana, it surprised me, It wasn't half-bad as most people say it was. I think people just expected something different. I came into this film knowing what I'm getting into, that it's going to be a romance story between Diana and her secret lover Hasnat Khan. So I didn't really expect any exploration of her marriage with Prince Charles and the life she lived within it. It's not by any stretch, an excellent film, but I did come out of it satisfied with what I went through.

Diana's screenplay was written by Stephen Jeffreys and it was based on a book with the same name by Kate Snell. I cannot call myself an expert of the British Royal family as I have very little care for it. There is only very small details about Princess Diana that I am aware which were all covered in this film; her death and that she was in a relationship with a man named Dodi Fayed. Like I said, I came into this knowing what would be presented to me, and for the most part I was happy with what the writers have done with it. The film essentially explores the relationship between Diana and Hasnat, which takes place after the separation of Diana and Charles. The film did seem a bit dull during the first few minutes of the film, as it never really spoke anything about the titular character but when she first meets Hasnat, then the film kicks into gear. I bought the relationship between the two characters and the problems that they had in maintaining it was also interesting to watch. It may not cover new territory as it has been done many times before in romantic drama films but since I was willing to know more about the character Diana, it became important to me as it's my only basis of understanding the character. If this film explores Diana and her life during her marriage, then it would have shown a side of her that have been explored and discussed by many before, and not really bringing anything new. The film was able to show a different side to Diana, not just the one we read or hear from the tabloids. All in all, it was just fun to watch the two leads be together and develop their relationship. I think Diana's story would have worked a lot better generally, if it contained fictionalised characters, so we don't come in with certain expectations. If people just let go their internal feelings for the Princess and just take the story as it is and judge the film as a form of fiction rather than a piece of fact, then one should come out of it quite satisfied. I think what made this film also disappointing to others is that they wanted this film to praise her for what she was, that she was a great figure beyond me and you, and I think that would have been too easy. Though I enjoyed the bulk of the film's story, it does have it's shortcomings. As I have already stated, I wasn't overly fond of the first few minutes of the film. I also wasn't enjoying myself during the bulk of the film's third act, which explores Diana's life with Dodi as the film treated it as a objective point of view, we are given something that we already know, unlike the second act where it feels more subjective. We feel very distant to Diana during the third act, up until the end of the film where we seem to be with her just before she passes. I thought the film's dialogue was decent but there were a couple of moments that felt forced in trying to create an emotional response from us. Dialogue, especially for a film like this, should be natural and fitting for the characters. At times the dialogue is a bit too preachy for it's themes, like maybe the audience wouldn't understand it or be aware of it unless it's said over and over again.

The film was directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel, who also directed notable films like Downfall and Five Minutes of Heaven. I haven't seen any other film from the director aside from this one, so I cannot compare Diana to his other works. I believe that Hirschbiegel did a good job with this film, but sadly nowhere near perfect. Hirschbiegel was able to explore a couple of themes in the film. The film explores the idea of love and how it important it was for Diana to have it, as she never seemed to have earned it from the men in her life. The film also touches on the humanitarian ideas that comes and go throughout the film. I think Hirschbiegel was more preoccupied with trying to establish the romance and drama with Diana and Hasnat that he put Diana's work as a humanitarian on the back burner. There a couple of moments where both lead characters discuss their passion for helping others but it never seem to define them, as they are mostly focused on being with each other and developing their romantic relationship. The film debates the idea of fame and privacy being things that are too far apart and it is difficult, to almost impossible, to balance both. Their relationship seems to have placed an expiry date once both characters have established their values. All of these themes that Hirschbiegel have presented for the film are great but my issue is the way he handles it. Some of them seem forced and never let it come to us in a naturalistic way. It then becomes pointless to go back because we pretty much already understood the entire film through it's first sitting. Other themes, like the "helping of others", are not emphasised enough that we end up forgetting that Diana was a person who has good intentions for the people. It's just sad to see that the film had the opportunity to be great. I was pretty pleased with the film's pacing as it moved along quick enough that we weren't stuck at a point of character development or a scene for an awfully long time, and it moved slow enough that it was able to explore the relationship between the lead characters for the audience to actually buy it. It was just the third act, that took a bit of time to get to something interesting.

Diana's director of photography was Rainer Klausmann who is a common collaborator with Hirschbiegel. Like the director, I cannot note or compare Klausmann's other films as this is the only film I have seen from his work. The bulk of Diana was shot beautifully, as we are treated to some gorgeous establishing shots of cities and certain locations in, which I presume, is London. The intimate moments may not be at the same level of beauty as it's large wide shots of locations, but it still does it's job well in conveying the tension and intimacy between the lead characters. Though when the film does focus on Diana alone, the photography comes off as a bit shallow, not really giving us anything other than the external beauty of Diana. The film also moves quite frequently, even in scenes where there is barely anything happening aside from a conversation between two actors. It just quietly track, pan or tilt as the film goes on. The film for the most part uses a steady style of filming, and both Klausmann and Hirschbiegel know the shots they want for a particular scene. Like for the example the shot where Diana arrives in Sydney and the camera first focuses on the red carpet and slowly and beautifully moves and focuses on Diana as she walks. There are a couple of moments that uses a hand held style of filming and I felt these scenes really brought the film down as it just felt out of place, stylistically, and it never seem to do anything for us in regards to conveying emotion or creating character development.

The film's score was composed by both Keefus Ciancia and David Holmes. Ciancia hasn't really composed any other notable film aside from Diana but Holmes on the other hand had worked on a couple of films with Steven Soderbergh and Steve McQueen's Hunger. Their score for this film was decent but nothing that made me really take notice. At times the score felt too safe, with tunes that have been done in films that cover royalty. A couple of instances throughout the film, I did think their score was sweet and tender. I may have more to say about it if I give this a second viewing.

The film generally focuses on the two actors, Naomi Watts and Naveen Andrews. They were both pretty good in their roles, though I never really felt their characters are complex enough to show the full range of their acting talent. The story knows what it wants to tell, and so these actors are restricted to what the script and the director demands from them. Naomi Watts, as expected, was fantastic in the role as it really did feel like she was Diana. Andrews was also good in the role as he came off at that start as charming and also romantic. Both Watts and Andrews show the best of their acting when they are in a scene together as they had the ability to create a sense of heightened drama during complicated parts of the story and both were able to demonstrate subtle things about their characters that made it seem like they were really immersed in their characters.

Diana was a surprisingly enjoyable film and features a wonderful performance from both Naomi Watts and Naveen Andrews, and stunning cinematography from Rainer Klausmann. If one comes into this film with the right mindset, then one should be satisfied with the end result.