But Gregory warns, “No one is above tradition.” He insists on a traditional “bit of fun,” where each member of the royal family must be weighed before and after the holiday-to measure the excesses. Gregory, hawkish and always watching, has been enlisted by “the family” to keep Diana in line and out of trouble. When Diana finally arrives late to the party-and worse, in her Porsche and unaccompanied by her security detail-she’s greeted by Major Alistair Gregory, played by Timothy Spall, an otherwise warm actor taken to cold-hearted roles in recent years (see Denial ). “Once more unto the breach,” declares Harris, who, quoting Henry V, treats meal preparation like a battle to the death. Then the house chef (Sean Harris) and staff emerge to open the containers, filled with an array of chilled produce and proteins, selected according to the royal family’s particular and extravagant taste. In one of the first scenes, we see a cavalcade of military vehicles deliver rectangular crates that look like they should contain missiles and machine guns. Spencer isn’t a true Dickensian tale, of course, but it weighs similar themes of class and privilege against a Christmas backdrop. Perhaps Knight had the Dickens story in mind after penning a television miniseries adaptation of A Christmas Carol in 2019. And given Diana’s fate, Spencer could hardly have the miraculous turn that Scrooge did, but the film offers something that could be called miracle-adjacent. ![]() Like Scrooge in the Dickens story, Stewart’s Diana spends the film ruminating on her past, hindered by her present, and dreading the future. Kristen Stewart stars as the late Princess of Wales, whose maiden name lends the film its title, giving a performance that isn’t so much an embodiment as a spirited interpretation. The chilly old residence also contains ghosts-Diana’s taxed mind overflows with memories of a freer childhood and the looming presence of Anne Boleyn. Inside, a whole contingent of veritable Scrooges demands adherence to tradition and balk at turning up the heat. The screen story unfolds around Sandringham House, a modest 600-acre estate in Norfolk (called a “country house” by the royal family). Rather, the film captures the initial grim mood of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. The screenplay by Steven Knight begins on Christmas Eve and ends on Boxing Day, though the drama is neither festive nor jolly. Titles explain the story as “a fable from a true tragedy,” which gives the proceedings a fatalistic quality not limited by documented history. ![]() ![]() Spencer, Chilean director Pablo Larraín’s film about Princess Diana, avoids the traditional biopic structure and looks at a few days in the subject’s life.
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