Pop culture may have finally hit its peak with the release of The Crown (a Broadway musical) and the Princess Diana indie movie.
Last night at Sundance Film Festival critics and industry professionals sat down for the premier of a new film about Princess Diana.
Ed Perkins directed The Princess. He used archival footage and retold Diana’s story, from Prince Charles’ 1981 engagement until her death 16-years later.
The book explores both the media’s obsession with the royal, and its impact on the life of Princess Diana.
Ed Perkins directed The Princess. He used archival footage and retold Diana’s story, from Prince Charles’ 1981 engagement until her death 16-years later. Above is Diana, London in 1996
Director claims to have created an “immersive and experimental” take on the tragedy of the people’s princess. The film, he said, tried to live in contemporaneous archives from that time and allowed it to unfold in a “present-tense” manner.
He stated, “It is a Shakespearean tragedy. But it is one that many people lived through and participated actively in.
American critics have praised the documentary as a ‘watchable’ and for providing a fresh perspective on the life of Princess Diana. It will air on HBO in the second half of this year.
Kevin Maher of The Times noted, however that any British viewer – or anyone with even an passing interest in Royal Family matters – will recognize the footage.
The film’s opening shows Diana being seen by tourists from Australia in Paris and is followed up with a captivating closing.
‘We jump back to 1980, and to the famous so-called “engagement rumours” footage of Diana being chased into her mini metro by over-excited journalists,’ Maher writes.
One critic pointed out that the footage was very familiar for British viewers. This is true even for those who have only a passing fascination with the Royal Family. Photograph of Diana in Paris, 1992
‘And then off she goes, and off we go, year by year, beat by beat, through that same achingly familiar Diana story via a clip selection that you will not have seen many many times before if you’re either very young (and I mean pre-teen young) or are only recently arrived on planet earth.’
Simon Chinn, the producer of the film, explained that the movie was inspired by the decision Prince Harry and Meghan Markle made to leave the Royal Family. This shockwave sent shockwaves through the British monarchy.
He explained that the motivation for this movie, or its timing, was, perhaps, due to the story of these people.
“Our instinct was…to go back and feel what we have always considered the “origin tale”, to see what else we can learn from the stories of Diana.
It comes just weeks after Spencer came out, with Kristen Stewart playing the role of the princess for the people.
Variety, one of the critics, praised the film saying that it was “perfectly timed and compulsively viewable once over-lightly document.” It’s a chronicle of Princess Diana culled entirely from television news footage and other public records…
‘It’s galvanizing to see the real story laid out exactly as it happened — or, more precisely, as it happened and as it was presented to the public, those being, quite often, two very different things.’
The Daily Beast agreed, writing: ‘You don’t leave The Princess with a brand new viewpoint, per se. Diana is portrayed well while the palace, media, and common modern view of what occurred during this time are vilified.
‘But to reconsider all of that through how we consumed it and, not only that, how we were fed it, is a fascinating exercise—even if it’s one made possible by the excessive lenses and attention that were placed on her that we now feel we should condemn… but maybe never will.’
The film comes weeks after the release of Spencer, which stars Kristen Stewart as the people’s princess, and as The Crown series 5 continues to film, with Elizabeth Debicki in the role.