Wiz RECOMMENDS "Spencer"
To be honest, I was conflicted after watching Spencer.
On the one hand, the biopic is chock full of formulaic crap that highlights performances that are little more than good mimicry than anything that lets you see the heart and soul of the person it's about.
For every brilliant movie like I'm Not There, Mishima: A Life In Four Chapters and Malcolm X, there's a crap ton of mid to low tier films like Get On Up, Bohemian Rhapsody, I Wanna Dance With Somebody and Back in Black.
But Spencer gets my recommendation like Elvis did: it's a flawed film in some major ways, but the performance by the main actor is so nuanced and well performed that see it is worth the 2 hour investment.
The typical way critics say a person is good as another person is to say "it's like I'm watching the real person on screen...but it's not!"
Well, for the majority of the film, that's exactly what it felt like. Kristen Stewart gets the voice, mannerisms and feel of Diana Spencer so accurately that only when there are incredibly tight close-ups of Stewart's face does the illusion break.
The wispy voice and the awkward, stilted way she speaks and moves is incredibly articulated. She also fits incredibly well with the costumes in the movie, fitting the frame and aura that Diana had.
She also does an excellent job with the scenes involving mental health. Diana goes through a ringer in this film: she's not only dealing with bulimia, but there's also the suffocating nature of the Royal Family. And on top of that, she's processing the fact that her husband, Prince Charles (Jack Farthing), is having an affair behind her back.
When she's dealing with these issues, the film takes an uncomfortably tense mood that represents the inner strife of her emotions and her duties as Princess of Wales.
But the issues counteract a lot of these pluses:
First off, the film is beautiful in some spots, but it feels entirely too indulgent with itself. The setting and area where the film is set is gorgeous in itself, so it feels kind of overboard when the film goes for sweeping wide shots and other shots that seem to not fit with the personal story.
Finally, the film tries something different that most bio-pics don't really try.
In Spencer, to illustrate the severity of Diana's mental turmoil, they show these scenes that are more metaphorical and symbolic. This includes scenes where Diana sees the ghost of Anne Boleyn.
Though I appreciate a film that tries to do something different, these flourishes don't work at all for the film.
First off, it doesn't really add much to the film other than saying "ohh that's fucked up!" when she's going through her issues. It just feels kind of cheap.
What I don't understand is that you have an excellent performance by Stewart who can literally show all of the pain and suffering on her face. Why not just do that instead of this subplot that isn't really all that effective?
As a story, Spencer feels like a miss: it's too indulgent with it's visuals and it tries to make depth in flashy metaphors that doesn't work the way it should.
However, this is a recommend solely because of the performance by Kristen Stewart, which is amazing to see her morph into Diana so seamlessly.
But I will be honest: if you aren't a fan of Stewart, it's best to avoid.