Review of Spencer - The cinematic parallels of Spencer and The Shining
Spencer (2021) Dir. Pablo Larraín
Spencer is released on UK Blu Ray & DVD on 7th February 2022
A horror movie in disguise, this fictionalised account of Princess Diana is bolstered by a great performance from its star Kristen Stewart who anchors what could have been familiar territory (see Netflix’s The Crown).
The late Diana’s eating disorder, neuroses and bleak thoughts are all elegantly explored alongside more tender moments with her two young princes as she visits Sandringham Estate in December.
The exquisite direction and similarities with The Shining is what in fact gives the film the horror credentials it so pleasingly places under the surface. As an exploration of Diana's spirit & personal demons, its cinematic parallels to Kubrick's The Shining were very haunting and some side-by-side comparisons certainly show the particular influences its wears on its blood-red sleeve.
For example, we open with a winding drive up to a stately building, large enough to get lost in - both physically and emotionally.
The mazes of the gardens disorient with Wendy & Danny/Diana ultimately having to navigate through their lonely circumstances whilst the locations are seemingly busy and empty at once. The floor (carpet?) was a nice echo to Kubrick's classic.
The films begin and end with car rides with distinctly different tones - one family entering hell and the other (Diana) leaving - plus the importance of a staircase appears at a crucial times in both movie's narratives.
Each story sees lavish crimson rooms dwarfing the main characters plus there's a significance on books related to the protagonists' declining instability.
Spencer also sensitively explores Diana's punishing relationship with food & encounters around the kitchen serve to emphasise this as well as strange stilted conversations with bow-tie suited gents, who happen to be long-serving members of their respective households.
"Come play with us". Enough said.
The films have characters exploring (escaping) the winter outdoors which is both freeing and scary, whilst inside there is a metaphorical focus on concealed dingy corridors where the real truths occur.
There are glimpses of the outside world via television and the inside we are shown the leads looming over the tables filled with games. These "fun" puzzles and diversions in fact represent far more sinister emotional competition and family rivalry.
The sumptuous production design leads us to emerald bathrooms where our distraught leads are trapped in clasping "arms". Elsewhere, blood-red jackets and clothing hint upon vicious climaxes and these are paired with self-reflecting mirrors.
Overlooking Sandringham.
The End.
Despite all this, Spencer is not just a carbon copy and certainly stakes a strong claim as its own tremendous piece of work. It's a fantastically artful and measured movie that tackles Diana’s paranoia (or not) as she spends a holiday weekend staying with her “ghostly/ghastly” in-laws.
★★★★ ½
Michael Sales
