Their relationship overcomes class differences to become a true friendship. The scenes of just the two women-one an aristocrat searching for herself the other a servant filled with quiet confidence and joie de vivre-are the highlights of the film. In the film, Diana’s adult confidants are a male chef and her dresser, Maggie, played by Sally Hawkins. His real duty appears to be evaluating and “handling” Diana, which, it must be pointed out, he doesn’t seem to do successfully. He’s supposedly the new equerry for the Queen Mother, then 91, yet is omnipresent at the Queen’s own home, including supervising dinners and security on the estate (umm, that’s not a job for the Queen Mother’s military aide). RELATED The Crown is fiction coated by veneer of truth-and Season 4 is the best one yetĪside from her own mental struggles, the only major foil for Diana is Major Alistair Gregory, played by the wonderful Timothy Spall. In reality, pearls are individually knotted onto a string for even cheap, mass-produced necklaces. And even Lar r aín couldn’t avoid adopting a classic trope: breaking a necklace so that the individual pearls drop and clang with cinematic drama. There is little tension or sense of expectation the film’s denouement is markedly underwhelming. I kept waiting for something deeper than repeated close-ups of her distressed face and clenched fists amid bouts of bulimia and the appearances of a ghostly Anne Boleyn, played by Amy Manson, who is an unsubtle warning of what could await Diana. But her acting feels overwrought and unconvincing. She’s got the eyes and the voice perfect, as well as the way Diana walked. RELATED: Meghan and Harry’s interview: A royals expert on what we did and didn’t learnĪctress Kristen Stewart is a doe-eyed yet troubled Diana. But somehow the result is weirdly boring and unsatisfying. The bones for a great film are there: Its cinematography is spectacular, while the direction and production design are clever. The film’s focus is Diana’s world view, dropping the viewer into her hallucinations and sudden mood swings, with a soundtrack of discordant music emphasizing the unsettled atmosphere at Sandringham. Director Pablo Larraín ( Jackie ) distills the concept of a biopic down to its essence: the main character. And the impact of those strains is the focus of this feature film. Diana’s marriage to Prince Charles is cracking under the pressure of time-which exposed how ill-suited they were for each other-as well as adultery (committed by both Charles and Diana) and the constant grinding attention of the media and populus. Nothing of note happens during those three days, but trouble is certainly brewing. That holiday is one of Elizabeth II’s favourites, as it’s one of the few times in the year when much of her extended family is together. The film Spencer labels itself, “A fable from a true tragedy.” It focuses on Diana, Princess of Wales, during three days when the royal family gathers for the Christmas holidays in 1991 at the Queen’s private estate of Sandringham. Luckily, the crew managed to record Diaz’s voice before production shut down. “Liam’s voice changed a lot,” says Nakhai of actor Liam Diaz, who plays Bing. “For a while we were just at peace with the fact that we might never finish, because this is a talent show with lots of people in it.” Even more crucially, the young stars of the film were growing so fast that it put continuity at risk. “Two days before the shoot, we had to cancel everything because of the lockdown,” Nakhai says. RELATED: In a comedy about queer South Asian identity, a yogurt pot can be more than a pot of yogurt The pandemicĬOVID-19 shut down production on the film in March 2020, just as they were filming this scene. “It’s what she wishes she had, coming out.” “It’s kind of like a dream of Catherine’s,” says Nakhai.
Nakhai says it was shot to feel dreamlike, reflecting what this moment meant for Hernandez. In this pivotal scene, he finally gains the confidence to perform in front of his entire school. The sceneīing is a talented young singer who is struggling with his sexuality and nervous about opening up to his conservative Filipino family. Amil Niazi spoke with co-director Shasha Nakhai about filming during the pandemic, working with child actors and bringing Hernandez’s vision to the screen. It follows three children whose lives intersect in a low-income neighbourhood.
The film adaptation of Catherine Hernandez’s 2017 novel, Scarborough, premiered at TIFF and was a runner-up for the People’s Choice Award.