Spencer

"Every Fairy Tale Ends" It is not the first time that the Chilean Pablo Larraín has made a biographical film, and it is not the first time that one of his biographical films has failed. The problem with Spencer is that, despite brilliantly casting an ever-troubled Kristen Stewart to portray the grieving Diana in one of the most difficult weeks, Steven Knight's script never quite manages to establish the plot. We have the setting, we have the characters, we have the moment, but there is no story that draws us into the movie and keeps us enthralled as the minutes go by. The most disappointing thing is that all the other elements are fine. The performances are good, the costume design by seven-time Oscar nominee Jacqueline Durran is terrific, the production design is adequate, and the soundtrack by Jonny Greenwood is terrific with its overtones of maddened jazz at the most emotionally charged moments. It is a pity that all of the above has not been taken advantage of to deliver a captivating film.

For the first hour of this film I was so excited about it possibly being my first 10/10 rating of this award season but then they had Diana say, with her full chest, that she likes middle class things like les mis, phantom of the opera and fast food, and it just lost some credibility. Why have all the films I’ve been watching lately had such poor third acts? It’s like filmmakers run out of ideas, but have to make feature length runtime so they just repeat the same themes over and over. Luckily, the themes in this movie were strong enough to hold it together for that shaky finish line, much like Stewart’s performance and the breathtaking photography, score and costume design. Screenplay was lacking at times and Directing was just good enough to make up for it. So a 9 it is!