Spencer: Kristen Stewart evokes Diana and her own Hollywood ghosts

Cinematographer Claire Mathon’s camera fixes on Stewart’s face in moments like this, while members of the royal family are just blurry backgrounds unless the princess is forced to focus on their way. This is a portrait of a lady who is stuck and it almost feels like Larraín is trying to force us to look inside her; it is an extremely uncomfortable place to be.

Jonny Greenwood’s haunting score is a big part of that inconvenience. From syncopated jazz indicating Diana’s confused state of mind to a loud string quartet during a fantasy scene in which Diana imagines eating the pearls from the necklace Charles gave her, music is used as an effective attack – another means of showing how trapped and she is locked in her own head.

Spencer is also repetitive, intentionally so. The film follows three days of carefully orchestrated activity. At first glance they are dresses, photos, ceremony, ritual, a united family, but behind the scenes Diana’s life is not hers. She is constantly watched, has no friends to talk about except certain staff members, and copes with this by eating and purging, self-harm, mania and depression. The only moments of reprieve are snatched times with her children who clearly love their mother but are torn apart by the responsibilities of the life they were born into.

Larraín’s film – as mentioned at the beginning – is a fable and not a straight biopic, and therefore certain moments have a sense of fantasy: Diana sneaks out and dresses a scarecrow in one of her royal outfits at her childhood home , for example , or a fairytale ending accompanied by the weight of the knowledge of what will happen to Diana.

The film also doesn’t deal too much with some of the specific surrounding details of Diana’s life. Camilla Parker Bowles is a peripheral presence, and Diana is devastated to learn that Charles has given her the same gift of pearls that he has Diana. But her interactions with the family are minimal. They treat her as a liability, a volatile livewire that must be managed for the sake of the status quo’s reputation.

Diana feels most herself with the staff. Sean Harris as Chef Darren is a sympathetic ally who can’t change anything for Diana, but at least offer her honesty. Diana’s dresser Maggie seems to be the closest thing to a true friend, while Timothy Spall’s Major Alistar Gregory, tasked with keeping an eye on the princess, is a constant kidnapper and a threat in the background.