Review of Spencer (2021) by Moviemitch96 — 06 Nov 2021

In this reimagining of the life of Princess Diana of Wales, Kristen Stewart stars as the emotionally tormented princess who finds herself disillusioned and wanting out of her marriage to Prince Charles.

Written by Steven Knight, best known for scribing the Netflix series 'Peaky Blinders', and directed by Pablo Larrain, who also directed the Natalie Portman starrer 'Jackie' back in 2016, the film has a keen eye for the inner and emotional turmoil that Diana often suffered, even if the film does still feel like a run-of-the-mill biopic at times, despite taking some creative liberties throughout.

Furthermore, the film has a rather grainy texture and feel to it, particularly the cinematography that sets the mood and time period rather well, and the score even does a rather fine job of establishing the anguish of Diana throughout.

However, it should go without saying that Stewart's performance here is without a doubt the biggest draw/highlight. She's truly never been better, and this is coming from someone who was rather skeptical upon first learning of her casting in this role, but she far exceeded my expectations! She will win an Oscar for this film, mark my words! But overall, despite some of the standard biopic beats that are found here, the set pieces, overall tone, and especially Stewart's performance are all more than enough to warrant a view here.