Movie Review: Spencer Battles Diana’s Depression
Watching Spencer, it was undeniably dramatic, but so was Princess Diana. She was fierce, kind, charming, sweet, smart, funny, lively, depressed, self-sabotaging, abused, and emotional: for better or worse. In essence, she was a good person learning to be better to herself, and Pablo Larrain’s newest film on the psychology of historical, female figures reveals it can take years for you to realize you don’t have to stay in hell.
If you have ever dated an abusive or cheating man, or been apart of a toxic, familial situation, you understand the invisible pressure to smile through the pain caused. In fact, you will look at your husband and/ or family members and ask if they are “genuinely” happy when they can play mind games and make passive-aggressive comments on each other’s being and choices. For Princess Diana (Kristen Stewart), she could not imagine Charles (Jack Farthing) and co’s happiness was real if all their interactions were plotted or planned for public consumption. Moreover, they never actually dropped their royals veils. In essence, there was never a time they could, actually, let their guards down, which makes Spencer an analysis on whether “faking it till you make it” can work for every spirit, particularly an open heart, free one like Diana.
Stewart’s portrayal of Diana mesmerizes, in part, because she embodies what it is to climb out of your long, festering depression. In a world, where so many people are oppressed and repressed by systems that put their emotions on constant trial, while asking them not be emotional, Spencer asks, “If you can’t escape the system against you, why do you join it and turn against yourself?” Amidst her battles with Bulimia, her suicidal ideation, and mental breakdowns in front of her children, lies a woman realizing that her “family” does not make her happy but why does she make herself sad because of them. Depression can last for years, in part, because we cannot imagine having inner peace when surrounded by people that do not believe we should even exist in their presence. Thus, from breakdown to breakthrough, Stewart assures not to make depression into a fit of madness and joy a fit of delusion. Instead, they are journeys that a person take in witnessing that self-love equals self-control, and the you can be joyful people despite all the people, from you husband to paparazzi, that try to take it from you.
With stunning visuals and a play on quietness, Spencer felt spiritually immersive like, you were a fly on Diana’s coat; hearing the thoughts she said to herself or the few people she trusted such as Maggie (Sally Hawkins), Prince William (Jack Nielen), and Harry (Freddie Spry). Each of them loved her and were waiting for her to love herself more so that she could love them more clearly and freely. I think that “note” or theme makes Spencer so subtly powerful; returning one’s autonomy to their self by not allowing others, who can control you materially, to ever have control or crush your soulfully. Spencer hits theaters on November 5.
