Spencer

Spencer (2021) is not a biopic and says so in its opening card: a fable from a true tragedy. It covers three days. Diana spends Christmas with the royal family at Sandringham knowing her marriage is over. That is the entire plot. Everything else is pressure. Pablo Larraín builds it like a horror film. Long corridors, meals that are weighed, protocol timed to the minute, the permanent sense of being watched. Jonny Greenwood's score moves between disordered jazz and hard strings and carries most of the unease. Casting Kristen Stewart caused an argument at the time and ended in an Oscar nomination. She is not doing an impression. The voice and posture are there but the character is built from the inside. The film plays loose with fact and several scenes are pure invention. Anyone expecting documentary will be annoyed. Good for: character driven psychological drama, Larraín's work, and films that put atmosphere ahead of incident. Less good for: disordered eating and self harm are shown directly. If you want information about the royal family you will not get it. This is a study of a state of mind.