Spencer

Kristen Stewart as Princess Diana in Spencer

Pablo Larrain's Spencer pictures Princess Diana struggling with mental health issues as she attempts to get through the Christmas holidays with her in-laws at their Sandringham estate around 1993 or so. Sandringham, or rather the magnificent German castle that stands in for it, represents, in this film, the prison of the British monarchy that Diana yearns to break free of. Larrain and his screenwriter, the gifted Steven Knight, follow Diana through the labyrinthine corridors of the castle which assumes a sinister air, like the Overlook Hotel. Indeed, Spencer visually quotes the bathroom scene between Jack Torrance and Grady from The Shining in a scene in a walk-in cooler between Diana and a menacing manservant played by Timothy Spall.

The casting of Spall, who can exude malevolence simply by showing up in a frame (he was a superb rat in Harry Potter), is an example of the manifold flaws of Spencer. Not that  he delivers a poor performance, quite the contrary, but he is introduced as a forbidding spy and enforcer for the Crown and that is what he remains throughout. The royals themselves are also presented one dimensionally, almost as if they were waxworks. This would not be bad in itself if Larrain's direction gave some additional slant to the proceedings, not necessarily the icy black comedy of a Kubrick, but something. Larrain's direction is so muted as to be indiscernible. His handsome, yet feathery style marks him as the Bryan Forbes of our century. 

Kristen Stewart labors heroically in the title role. she inhabits the Princess convincingly, both vocally and physically. However, Larrain's mise en scene detracts from her efforts. The script bravely addresses Diana's bulimia, but the results are some of the most elegant vomiting sequences in cinema and that is not meant as a compliment. A director who cannot accomplish a believable puke scene cannot be expected to pull off the more hallucinatory moments in Spencer. I was especially nonplussed by the cautionary apparitions of  Anne Boleyn. Except for some warm notes by Sally Hawkins as Diana's dresser, I was bored by most of the film.