Even though Diana has been gone for more than twenty years, people never seem to have forgotten her.
Not only was she a member of the British royal family, but she was also the most talked about woman in the world in the 80s and 90s, with the title of "the woman who left the most photos in history". I often think that this title is not a good name at all, and even a little scary to think of. In an era when paparazzi culture was not yet rampant, Diana had survived the camera shutter, escaping between people's tea and dinner.
As the most discussed figure in modern times, in addition to the charm of Princess Dai, her confrontation with the British royal family after the marriage and change with Prince Charles is itself very dramatic, and the image of leaping film and television is countless, so this time by Christine. Stewart's interpretation of the new version of Spencer is also particularly eye-catching.
How do you bring this already well-known story to life? Especially Emma, who also played Diana in the recent Netflix British drama "The Crown". Whether Colin Zhuyu can surpass the previous work may be the first question mark that the audience has put on this movie. But I believe people want to know more about how Christine is doing.
The film is from Chilean director Pablo. Larion, fans are no stranger to him, his more famous previous work is 2016's "The Secret of the First Lady", which depicts the mood of JCqueline, the wife of Kennedy in the United States, facing the bereaved husband. This time also challenges the well-known women in history, but the screen image of DaiFei is deeper rooted in people's hearts, and the challenge is really arduous.
Perhaps aware of these innate limitations, the film uses a different perspective, abandoning the traditional form of flow account portrayal or too greedy long span, focusing instead on the Christmas holidays of the year before Diana and Charles divorced (about ten years after the two married in 1981, when they seemed to be separated), and so on to develop a new narrative approach. Although it is difficult to have both in terms of historical research, the time condensed in a short period of a few days helps to create dramatic tension and inject freshness into this tragic story that no one knows.
Through a family reunion, the film shows Diana's plight and obsession, the invisible pressure exerted on Diana by the British royal family, and her appearance that has obviously been out of breath. The characters are narrowed down to almost only Diana herself, and other characters such as the Queen of England and Prince Charles are all supporting characters like background beings, with few lines, but every sentence makes people feel heavy as shackles.
The dialogue of this film is poetic and has a distinct sound, and the screenwriter is good at using dialogue metaphors to make the audience feel the "sleepiness" and "fan" of this woman, trapped in marriage, and obsessed with the system.
The film begins with a "lost" and also runs through "lost", the knock on the door outside the film is often heard, as if it is a huge urge, and Diana is always delaying in her own space, or running back and forth in vain, or hiding in the bathroom away from the outside world; young William and Harry look at their mother so tired and confused, although the image of the British royal family is deliberately blurred, but it clearly forms a kind of dark cloud, layer by layer enveloping this "fairy tale castle" that outsiders envy.
There's an interesting connection in the film that pulls Diana and Anne Boleyn together.
Anne Boleyn was the second wife of King Henry VIII of England, and eventually Henry was divorced and pleaded guilty in order to marry a new lover, and Anne was beheaded in the Tower of London. It is obviously not entirely correct to discuss these two women together, because Anne Boleyn herself is actually a third party, but Diana and Anne Boleyn's resonance may be facing the torment of her husband not loving herself.
In the film, Diana stumbles upon Anne Boleyn's autobiographical books, and then repeatedly talks to this tragic figure from hundreds of years ago across time and space, sympathizing with the same disease, and even finally becoming Anne Boleyn, thinking that she has seen Jane Seymour (henry VIII's third wife). The film's magical narrative is a rather bold attempt, with string-based background music, and the eerie darkness also exudes momentum, as if it were a psychological thriller.
I'm curious about the heroine Christine. Does Stewart think he has any connection to Diana? Through her interviews, I learned:
"We're living very different lives, after all, I'm not a princess, and although I get a lot of attention to being an actor, it's still very different after all, I don't want to be or expect what it's like, I can be myself, maybe people take a lot of pictures of me, but it's definitely not comparable to Diana." 」
That said, I think Christine. Stewart and Diana are both brave souls of the contemporary pursuit of freedom, but Diana was born in that era, in that environment, she did not have many choices, which also led to later tragedies.
The film itself has a strong tragic overtones, Sally. Hawkins plays Maggie, as Diana's confidant, has a complicated relationship with Diana, and also contributes a rare point of ease to this film. In the film, Diana has such a moving line, she asks her best friend Maggie:
"I've been imagining how people will write me in a thousand years. People call me William the Conqueror, Elizabeth the Virgin Queen, what will they call me?"
In the face of the oppression of the huge system and the strict expectations of society, Diana seems to be sitting in a troubled city, and behind it are actually those two words - lack of love, she can only struggle alone.
Christine's version of The Concubine does not look similar at first glance, but some of the actions and charms are exquisite. She is sometimes cowardly, sometimes collapsed, sometimes brave, sometimes dancing wildly, showing the insecurity of the characters almost overflowing the frame, the whole movie almost relies on her performance, the expression can withstand the test of large close-ups, and the accent can be heard to deliberately practice British pronunciation.
Spencer's English title is Spencer, which is Diana's real name, highlighting the meaning of her return to herself, this return from "Diana" to "Spencer" also appears at the end, the film ends in a more hopeful way, but we all know the subsequent development of the reality story, perhaps like the song "All I need is a miracle" broadcast on her car, after just five minutes of freedom, leaving people with a faint sadness.
Diana was too heavy a name, and the girl named Spencer was already too far away.