Spencer

Spencer is a 2021 historical psychological drama film directed by Pablo Larraín from a screenplay by Steven Knight. The film is about Princess Diana's existential crisis during the Christmas of 1991, as she considers divorcing Prince Charles and leaving the British royal family. Kristen Stewart and Jack Farthing star as Diana and Charles respectively, joined by Timothy Spall, Sean Harris, and Sally Hawkins. Spencer premiered at the 78th Venice International Film Festival on 3 September 2021, and was theatrically released in the United Kingdom and the United States on 5 November 2021. The film grossed $25.2 million worldwide on an $18 million budget. It received generally positive reviews from critics, with Stewart's performance garnering widespread acclaim. For portraying Diana, Stewart was nominated for the Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, and Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actress. Plot On Christmas Eve 1991, the British royal family prepares to spend the Christmas holidays at the Queen's Sandringham estate in Norfolk. Among the attendees is Diana, Princess of Wales, whose marriage to Prince Charles has become strained due to his relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles. The staff of Sandringham prepare for the royals' arrival, and Diana drives around the Norfolk countryside. On the verge of a breakdown, she avoids heading to Sandringham until running into Royal Head Chef Darren McGrady. She notes that the long-abandoned neighbouring estate, Park House, was her childhood home. Then she notices a scarecrow in the distance and eagerly runs towards it with a nostalgic expression. Diana takes off its jacket, which once belonged to her father John Spencer, 8th Earl Spencer, and goes back to her car. When Diana arrives at Sandringham, her sons William and Harry are excited to see her, but she does not attempt to socialise with the rest of the royal family, who mostly ignore her. Diana's only friend at Sandringham is royal dresser Maggie, who encourages her to both combat the royal family and fulfil the obligations expected of her. Diana finds a book on Anne Boleyn in her bedroom. She begins to have dreams about Boleyn (including a hallucination of her at a Christmas Eve dinner where she imagines herself destroying a pearl necklace given to her by Charles and eating the pearls in her soup), eventually coming to believe that Boleyn's ghost is haunting her in her capacity as a fellow abandoned royal wife.