When the movie opens, we see the back of Diana, walking the hallways of her castle, a giant cell phone in her hand, reminding us of how the world was when she was alive and well. But Diana never lived to see iPods or DVDs or more importantly, her sons grow up. We aren’t certain who she’s talking to on the giant cell phone but when she turns around and enters that fated elevator – the one with the stock footage we’ve seen time and again in real life – we see that Naomi Watts has the body language of Diana down, but not necessarily the ‘look’. That’s okay… nobody can really embody Diana though Watts manages to capture Diana’s spirit.
Then the film takes us back to two years prior building up to that elevator’s descent. Immediately Diana wins us over. A divorced woman eating toast and beans, going for long jogs, and passing the time with volunteer work since she can only see her sons Prince William and Harry once every five weeks. But she’s bored, and there is nothing worse than a wealthy woman with an idol mind whether you’re a Princess of not.
Enter Dr Hasnatt Khan (Naveen Andrews) who is the love of her life, a man devoted to his career as a heart surgeon. He smokes, he eats Burger King and he doesn’t treat Diana like royalty. She likes that. And with nothing more to do than idolize him, Diana has found something to fixate on. For awhile it seems like more a soap opera.
But then real life seeps into their existence….his family won’t accept a divorced Christian woman. Then there’s his job, which will be destroyed by the hounding press and their cameras. How can he perform his surgeries which parallel such significance against the hungry obnoxious tabloids. So the relationship is doomed. With no place to turn, Diana succumbs to Dodi Fayed (Cas Anvar) and we learn that she used him to make Hasnatt jealous. It’s too bad her scheme never paid off since the universe delivered her fate…an untimely death.
This is a sad film. But a significant one into a glimpse of an unusual royal world which is probably why the British critics are having such a difficult time with it. One would suspect they want to keep their Princess royal not human. But American women will love it. Diana was a ‘feeling’ woman first and a Princess second. Diana was the Marilyn Monroe of Princesses with a misunderstood and lonely life.That fateful night in Paris 1987 may very well have been her destiny… her only escape from a life without paparazzo or royalty.
♔ ♕ ♚ 1/2