Princess Diana (Kristen Stewart) attempts to survive Christmas with the royal family as her mental health deteriorates. 

Spencer opens with a subtitle describing itself as “a fable from a true tragedy” neatly underlining the fact that it is an artistic representation of a person and their emotional state rather than being based in any factual events. The film takes place over three days at Sandringham, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day and its focus is almost solely on Diana. 

Interactions with other members of the royal family are rarely portrayed here at all. With the main interactions being with members of staff ably portrayed by Timothy Spall, Sean Harris and Sally Hawkins. Each is sympathetic in their own way whilst trying to work within the boundary of their relationship to the princess. 

Otherwise the film is about Diana’s mental state, her struggle with bulimia, her struggle with her status as a royal and the fact that her husband is openly having an affair. 

Actual plot then is light, but that does not mean the film is not intriguing. Director Pablo Lorrain has previously done this sort of thing incredibly successfully with 2016’s Jackie which focused on Jacqueline Kennedy as portrayed by Natalie Portman. Both films share a stunning lead performance, beautiful cinematography and fantastic costumes. The difference perhaps though is that we all know that Diana does not get to make it through that pain and it makes the film much more bitter sweet. 

Kristen Stewart also makes this facet of the film harder to watch. Her performance is absolutely amazing and completely believable. The issue is that she is playing a woman who is metaphorically hanging by a thread that could break at any moment and it is hard to watch. It is heart breaking in fact.

Worth watching for Kristen Stewart, beautiful imagery and its artistic take on the subject matter, but I would suggest avoiding if you are looking for a more traditional biopic or indeed a straightforward narrative.