Spencer

 Spencer
Starring Kristen Stewart, Timothy Spall, Sally Hawkins, Sean Harris
Directed by Pablo Larrain

We all make mistakes, and sometimes we own up to them: I'm owning up to one of my cinematic mistakes right now. When I saw "Twilight" and "The Twilight Saga: New Moon," I figured that Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner were some of the worst actors I've ever seen, and I couldn't stomach even finishing the rest of the series. I often made fun of them in my "younger" days and figured they'd never do anything of importance, and I can gladly admit that I was wrong (well, I was right with Lautner, who's pretty much disappeared from the cinematic landscape thankfully). Robert Pattinson has shed his "Twilight" days and has turned into a reputable, nuanced, spectacular actor with a slew of phenomenal performances under his belt in acclaimed films like "Good Time," "High Life," and "The Lighthouse," and will don the iconic Batman cape in the upcoming gritty dark film "The Batman" in 2022. Kristen Stewart took a little longer to bloom into a respectable actress with more questionable roles, but in the French film "Clouds of Sils Maria," which earned Stewart the Cesar Award (the French equivalent of an Oscar), and is currently the only American actress to have ever received that award. She continues this string of outstanding performances in "Spencer," where she literally steps into the shoes of The People's Princess and totally immerses herself into her performance, and it serves as no surprise that she's the current front-runner for an Oscar nomination.

While attending Christmas in 1991 with the Royal Family, Princess Diana (Kristen Stewart) is seen as an outcast to the rest of the family, often being secluded and isolated, confined to the grand palace under closed curtains and kept away from the paparazzi and hired hands who are more sympathetic to her, including her dresser Maggie (Sally Hawkins). She knows Prince Charles (Jack Farthing) is having an affair, and the knowledge of that continually eats at her psyche, as she starts imagining seeing Anne Boleyn, who was beheaded because her husband was having an affair. She struggles with wanting to maintain the status quo and be her own individual self, and she feels that she's trapped in a cage where she can't be herself, and must change in order to conform - but it's something she doesn't want to do.

Most films have a grand, sweeping scale that transcends time and takes place over years or centuries, centering on a group of people who showcase different personalities and idiosyncrasies that makes them stand out, while other films are grounded in a closer sense of reality, where the entirety of the film is focused solely on one individual, which is a huge gamble to take. If that person is terrible at their performance, it can tank the entire project, but if that actor excels, it becomes a masterpiece. Natalie Portman proved this in Pablo Larrain's other wonderful work, "Jackie," about Jackie Kennedy's life after the assassination of JFK, but Kristen Stewart totally obliterates any expectations as Diana Spencer, transcending the role and giving us the most realistic portrayal of the troubled Royal ever seen on any screen.

The film, as it starts, is labeled as "a fable from a true tragedy" (probably because it gave Larrain more imaginative freedom to explore Diana's wrecked psyche), and "Spencer" doesn't fail to deliver on that point. "Spencer" only takes place during a few days, but it feels like a lifetime of heartache, pain, and depression has led to this not-so-fateful holiday for Diana (I say that because literally nothing of important consequence happens, at least it seems that way on the outside, and it's not a knock on the film at all). We see the torture she endures as what could essentially be described as a hostage, a woman trapped in a cage (albeit a gilded one, but a cage nonetheless) where she's continually isolated from the only people she truly loves - her children - and has to endure the constant stage-show of stately dinners and events surrounded by a group of people who dislike her, and whom she vehemently dislikes herself. How would you feel sitting across from the man you swore to be loyal to, and knowing he's not just disloyal, but he even bought his mistress the same set of pearls that he got you? It leads to a epic family dinner that rivals any stressful situation you'll have with your families this Thanksgiving, even if it happens in her head.

There's a Japanese saying: You have three faces: the first face, you show the world. The second face, you show to your close friends, and your family. The third face, you never show anyone. It is the truest reflection of who you are. "Spencer" encapsulates this saying with Princess Diana, as she's forced to put on different faces around different people, but all pale in comparison to her real, struggled face. To the world, she was The People's Princess, a royal who buffed traditional norms and proved herself to be a royal for the people, participating in activities that the rest of the Royal Family would deem uncouth. To the public, she had it all - beauty, grace, sophistication, wealth, privilege. To her friends and family, she's a painful soul crying out for help, but hardly anyone hears her. Only her trusted servant Maggie is on her side, and the Royals do everything they can to isolate Diana from her. Her children are too young to really understand the gravity of the situation, and the remainder of the family members treat Diana like a pariah, a stain on the Royal bloodline. Then there's Diana's face when she's alone, and clearly it's her most real, as we witness Kristen Stewart encompassing all the pain, sadness, and doubt that Diana must've held deep inside her that no one ever saw, a pained beauty who just longed to return to her innocent childhood and forget the problems and pains of the world.

While there's supporting actors in this film, "Spencer" wholly rests on Kristen Stewart's shoulders, and she carries the film like one of the best quarterbacks in sports history leading his team to Super Bowl victory. Her performance was so spot on that Diana's former bodyguard Ken Wharfe said "out of all the people who have played Diana over the past ten years, she's the closest to her. She managed to perfect her mannerisms." Stewart graces the scene as a troubled, innocent, tortured Diana as she drifts from the horrors of her reality to the horrors of her mind, as she imagines seeing Anne Boleyn and fears that the Royals will have her killed like Boleyn was killed, in order to hide Charles's infidelity. She hates the dresses that made her a fashion icon, because it's all according to traditions that she doesn't want to adhere to. She's the most carefree when she's alone or with her children, playing childish games and dancing carefree down the grand hallways, or when she's admiring a former scarecrow that she dressed when she was a child. Then there's the tense moments with the rest of the Royals, leading to stressful dinners and gatherings, all the while proving the disdain they have for her (especially when she says that the palace is too cold). Stewart disappears into the role, and you're not sure if you're watching her play the role, or seeing Diana come to life on screen to tell her pained story.

Everything surrounding the project also adds to the strange sense of loneliness that Diana faces. Jonny Greenwood's musical compositions are downright unnerving at times, as high-pitched strings adds to the tenseness of family dinners and the over-saturated sounds of clinking glasses and general sounds only adds to Diana's formidable struggles. The entire film is bathed in a strange sense of nostalgia, making it feel almost like a fairy tale gone array, due to the extraordinary work of cinematographer Claire Mathon, who also turned "Portrait of a Lady on Fire" into a modern-day masterpiece. Then there's the elegant costume designs by future Oscar-nominee Jacqueline Durran, as we see Diana in all her iconic dresses and witness the sadness underneath the veils, along with the immaculate makeup design that helps hide Stewart inside the character of Diana perfectly. All of these add to the elegance and also the insanity of a woman who slowly loses her sense of self as she's confined in a world that she doesn't want to be a part of, but can't find a way out - and serves as Kristen Stewart's best performance of her career.

Showing the cracks of the Royal Family through the eyes of Princess Diana, "Spencer" is a deep, introspective look into the pained life of the People's Princess performed with pitch perfect brilliance by Kristen Stewart, leaving an indelible imprint on you long after the film ends.

The Score: A+