“The Princess”, a documentary of almost two hours, dissects everything that led Diana Spencer from dream to drama. This film will be shown in cinemas on Wednesday August 31 and Sunday September 4.
What is exceptional in The Princess, Diana as you’ve never seen her, is that this documentary makes a striking dive into the dazzling destiny of a woman who, once rid of her dream of Prince Charming, fought tooth and nail to acquire a semblance of freedom. Until putting the British crown in danger, until dying.
The strength of Ed Perkins’ film (Oscar for best documentary in 2013 for Sugar Man on the mysterious musician Rodriguez), is that it takes up all the elements that led Diana Spencer to her tragic end on August 31, 1997, always stepping aside. And this as soon as it opened, since the first amateur images were captured from the vehicle of a gang of young Britons on the run in Paris. Driving on Place Vendôme, they notice a crowd in front of the Ritz and decide to stop: there must be a celebrity! A crowd of paparazzi form a compact wall of goals…before a car drives off, screeching tires. A few minutes later, a powerful Mercedes hit a pillar in a tunnel near the Alma bridge at around 105 km/h.
Ed Perkins’ documentary returns to the highlights of Lady Di.
The wedding
While Prince Charles is on a trip to India, rumors begin to circulate and hell begins for Diana Spencer who must fight to reach her little red Rover Metro 100 and get to kindergarten where she is an assistant. During the few meters that separate the door of his apartment from that of the car, journalists and paparazzi are unleashed to try to get a scoop. Cheeks rosy with stress, her gaze often concealed by heavy blond bangs, she gently dodges, sometimes with a shy little laugh. And then the union is formalized by Buckingham, speculation and comments (sometimes odious or indecent) ignite the media: “Her father and uncle vouch for her virginity. »
“Thanks to the prince
Everything will be alright “
The couple give their first agreed-upon interview. At the question “Isn’t it intimidating to go from being a nanny to being a possible future queen?” », Diana replies: “Thanks to the prince, everything will be fine, he supports me. » Then her smile freezes and her eyes seem to cloud over in doubt. Even before the ceremony scheduled for July 29 at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, the Diana craze is on: girls are adopting her bangs and some boys are getting tattoos of her portrait or her first name. The public thinks the press should give her some space, commentators predict that after the wedding, since she will be a member of the royal family, the paparazzi will leave her alone. You speak!
Tensions
Between the birth of William and that of Harry two years later, Charles and Diana make an official trip to Australia during which the prince realizes that the immense popularity of his young wife has, in fact, placed him in the back -plan. During an interview, vaguely irritated, he declares: “I came to the conclusion that it would be much easier for me to have two wives to cover each side of the street. I would walk in the middle to supervise. » In fact, it is, since Charles is still Camilla Parker-Bowles’ lover, which Diana knows full well.
Soon, indifference sets in. Thus, an hour after having accompanied the princess to Buckingham on her discharge from the hospital after the birth of Harry, he leaves to play a game of polo. They no longer appear together in public. Charles, often flanked by Camilla, is increasingly the prey of criticism. Especially since after the recordings of a private conversation between the prince and his mistress (“I want to come and go inside you, I want to live in your pants”), an unauthorized biography of the couple completes the tarnishing of the fairy tale.
Affirmation of independence
Her involvement with the weakest, her compassion for AIDS patients and her commitment against anti-personnel mines helped to skyrocket Lady Di’s already immense popularity. Neither Major James Hewitt’s book, which reveals his affair with her, nor the disclosure of her depressions (she tried several times to end her life), manage to tarnish her image, even if part of the public thinks she would do anything to get attention.
The crown wavers
It is ultimately the coldness of the royal family that marks the most the British who, if they had been distracted from the crisis by this royal marriage, are beginning to wonder what this royalty is for them. Having remained in the background for a long time, the queen banged her fist on the table and, after an explosive interview granted to the American channel NBC by Diana, the divorce is pronounced.
the after
With the 17 million pounds allocated to her, Diana could have led a more peaceful existence, despite the assiduity of the paparazzi. She nevertheless continues to play an ambassadorial role which has earned her contact with Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, Henri Kissinger, Hillary Clinton, etc. Otherwise, she divides her time between her two boys whom she adores and her new lover: Dodi Al-Fayed, son of Egyptian billionaire Mohammed Al-Fayed, owner of the Harrods store in London and the Ritz in Paris, where her son and Lady Di will take their last dinner, the evening of August 31, 1997, in their royal suite.
As the opening of The Princess, Ed Perkins’ documentary ends in an atypical way: a group of young British people film themselves playing cards. The TV remained on, soon announces that Diana had an accident. We joke, we assure that the media, not knowing what to say, do too much, until the announcement of his death which plunges the small assembly into dread and affliction.
The terrible epilogue shows the royal family, whose reaction was belated, at Diana’s funeral and, more particularly, her two young sons who watch their mother’s coffin go away with dry eyes, the protocol and the weight of the crown forbidding them any reaction. It is as admirable as it is monstrous.
“The Princess: Diana as You’ve Never Seen Her”, 1h48, in cinemas on Wednesday August 31 and Sunday September 4