‘Spencer’ review: Kristen Stewart stars in Pablo Larrain’s ‘fable’ about Diana’s break from the Royals

“Spencer” (Diana’s surname, for any who’ve forgotten) takes off in speculative methods primarily based on an actual second, when Diana spent Christmas weekend with the Royals on the Queen’s Sandringham Property as her marriage to Prince Charles (Jack Farthing) was crumbling. Arriving late, she’s alternately depressed and defiant, properly conscious that each one eyes are on her even earlier than being warned that the press is “circling us.”

The dissonant music thus turns into a proxy for what is going on on inside Diana’s head (a few of her lengthy walks down the corridor recall to mind “The Shining”), as she reads a ebook concerning the ill-fated Anne Boleyn and wonders whether or not she may wind up on the chopping block. She is also coping with bulimia, to the purpose the place the chef worries about her meals and Charles asks her to not purge them.

Diana’s rebelliousness catches the attention of a starched bureaucrat (Timothy Spall) who’s there to keep watch over her and mitigate potential hurt to the household. Probably the most sympathetic presence, in the meantime, is Diana’s dresser (Sally Hawkins), who would not bat an eye fixed when Diana tells her an outfit “would not match my temper,” and assesses her place vis-à-vis the Royal Household by saying, “They cannot change. You must change.”