Starring: Naomi Watts, Naveen Andrews, Geraldine James
It's 1995 and Diana Princess Of Wales (Watts) is the most famous woman in the world and going through a tumultuous separation from her husband, Prince Charles, whilst also travelling the world on various humanitarian efforts. Within this whirlwind she meets Hasnat Khan (Andrews), an eminent heart-surgeon from Pakistan, working in London. The two begin a love affair under the constant view of the paparazzi.
In terms of quality, the filmography of director Oliver Hirschbiegel has been rather inconsistent. Hirschbiegel first came to international attention with Downfall (2004), a tense and detailed account of the last days of Adolf Hitler. Diana has Hirschbiegel trying his hand at putting the life of a real person on the screen to less impressive results. Downfall worked because it presented a man who was almost entirely condemned and who had been dead for decades, presenting a three-dimensional view of a real and morally-complex (if ultimately despicable) human being who loved his dog and was kind to his staff whilst also calling for millions to die, including his own people who he believed had failed him. Princess Diana died only sixteen years ago and still holds a difficult reputation to assess without upsetting either those who saw her as a manipulative self-publiciser or a tragic and almost angelic figure. These may be extreme opinions but the film has to walk a tightrope with them nonetheless.
The direction the film takes as a result is a strange one that doesn't entirely work. For the most part, the film is respectful and even tilts towards being admiring whilst showing a very exceptional level of celebrity for Diana (during a televised interview, men n a pub are stood around looking at the tv, looking like they're watching aliens landing on Earth) but also displaying a figure starved of love. This is taken to rather odd ends when we have a sequence of her cleaning her lover's flat whilst he's away after a massive, possibly relationship ending, argument. It's played lightly and romantically, but it's a rather disturbing thing to do.
Naomi Watts tries hard with this conflicting image but you never get beyond the sense that it's someone playing Diana, although the way she carries herself and embodies Diana's own subtle foibles is impressive. Meanwhile, Naveen Andrews is characterful and gives the best performance of the film. To say Diana is Hirschbiegel's worst work would be untrue (check out his 2003 Invasion Of The Bodysnatchers remake, known as The Invasion to see a worse effort) but here, Horschbiegel struggles a little with a very tough project to do successfully and comes up a little short.
Next time, Ryan Reynolds and Jeff Bridges play two deceased cops bringing runaway souls back to the afterlife in R.I.P.D.
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