Kristen Stewart in “Spencer”; Princess Diana.Photo: Neon; Getty
Did one Christmas really mean the end ofPrincess DianaandPrince Charles' marriage?
Spencer, director Pablo Larraín’s highly buzzy film starringKristen Stewartas the Princess of Wales, follows three days over the Christmas holiday at Sandringham in 1991, when an anguished Diana resolved to end her broken marriage.
Prince Charles and Prince Diana at Christmas 1991.Princess Diana Archive/Getty
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By the early ’90s, Diana had been treated for bulimia, but the cycle of bingeing and purging still cropped up periodically. “Especially” at the Queen’s estates in Windsor, Balmoral or Sandringham," she told Morton. “Sick the whole time.”
Princess Diana and Prince Charles announced their separation in 1992, 11 years aftertheir extravagant wedding. After Charles publicly admitted his infidelity and Diana gave her infamous BBC interview — in which she said that there were “three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded” — they finally made their divorce official in 1996 atQueen Elizabeth’s urging.
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WhileSpencer’s storytelling is fanciful (it even includes a cameo from King Henry VIII’s beheaded wife Anne Boleyn), it captures the essence of that holiday gathering: smiles for the public eye and misery behind closed doors.
“Spenceris a dive inside an emotional imagining of who Diana was at a pivotal turning point in her life,” Stewart previously said of the part. “It is a physical assertion of the sum of her parts, which starts with her given name: Spencer. It is a harrowing effort for her to return to herself, as Diana strives to hold onto what the name Spencer means to her.”
source: people.com
