The Princess

The Princess

19/1/2022 1h 44m 6.4/10

Overview

Decades after her untimely death, Princess Diana continues to evoke mystery, glamour, and the quintessential modern fairy tale gone wrong. As a symbol of both the widening fissures weakening the British monarchy and the destructive machinery of the press, the Princess of Wales navigated an unparalleled rise to fame and the corrosive challenges that came alongside it. Crafted entirely from immersive archival footage and free from the distraction of retrospective voices, this hypnotic and audaciously revealing documentary takes a distinctive formal approach, allowing the story of the People’s Princess to unfold before us like never before.

Director

Ed Perkins

Top Billed Cast

Reviews

CinemaSerf

CinemaSerf

7/8/2022

6/10

This is a very well researched chronology of the life of a woman who took the world's media by the scruff of the neck in a way that had never happened before, nor is likely to again. Using actuality from her engagement to the Prince of Wales through to her eventual death, Ed Perkins delivers a largely recycled and one-sided depiction of this flawed human being that pays scant regard to her numerous critics and is somewhat annoyingly peppered with the out of vision views of anonymous, uncredited, talking heads - some of whom are more recognisable (e.g. Dr. David Starkey) and others less so as it progresses. There is no doubt it is a well crafted film and is a testament to archivists the world over who have carefully preserved such historical footage for us to remember now, 25 years after her fatal car crash. I have to say that I found most of the adulatory vox pops cringe-makingly embarrassing - most of the contributors here knew no more about the intimacies of the royal marriage than anyone in the cinema watching. The lack of any semblance of a neutral narrative thread, I felt, leads to an interesting retrospective that tells us little fact, but fuels the divisive epitaph of a woman, and a relationship, about which it impossible to generalise. Given the scenes seen recently in London as Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her platinum jubilee, it also seems to completely misunderstand the dynamic between the monarchy and the citizens of Britain with assertions that somehow the idolisation of this Princess would remain far longer in the minds of the populace than they certainly do amongst the bottom-feeding media. Nothing at all new to see here.

Similar Movies

The Young Victoria

7.2

The Young Victoria

2009

A Man for All Seasons

7.3

A Man for All Seasons

1966

Whatever Love Means

2.7

Whatever Love Means

2005

The Madness of King George

6.8

The Madness of King George

1994

Princess Diana: Tragedy or Treason?

8.0

Princess Diana: Tragedy or Treason?

2017

Anne of the Thousand Days

7.1

Anne of the Thousand Days

1969

Diana: In Her Own Words

7.7

Diana: In Her Own Words

2017

The Lion in Winter

5.9

The Lion in Winter

2003

Diana: The Day Britain Cried

7.0

Diana: The Day Britain Cried

2017

The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex

6.3

The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex

1939

Carry On Henry

6.1

Carry On Henry

1971

Diana, Our Mother: Her Life and Legacy

7.2

Diana, Our Mother: Her Life and Legacy

2017

Diana: The Woman Inside

8.0

Diana: The Woman Inside

2017

Diana: 7 Days That Shook the Windsors

7.6

Diana: 7 Days That Shook the Windsors

2017