The film shows us the inner strength Diana always had. Photo / Supplied
The Princess (109 mins)
Directed by Ed Perkins
Reviewed by Jen Shieff
The Princess is an unusually frank, surprisingly unsentimental insight into Princess Diana's life, a different take from any other fictional or documentary accounts of her. If you think The Princess is nothing new, same old, you'd be wrong. It
will likely soften even Diana's harshest critics and grip the most jaded of viewers.
Until now, Diana has been seen as the one chosen for her suitability to bear the heir to the throne, who turned out to have star quality as soon as she put on that engagement ring, a shy person, mostly shunning the spotlight, sometimes appearing to seek it. Ed Perkins' film glosses over those familiar aspects of her, showing us instead the inner strength she always had and how time has changed not only the way we understand her as a person, but also her impact on the monarchy and on society.
Without a huge budget or a big crew, with only actual footage and clever editing by Jinx Godfrey and Daniel Lapira, Ed Perkins shows an intelligent Diana, insightful from the beginning, with a lot more depth than Charles.
It's fascinating to see ordinary people and hear their voices, in ordinary places, like the supermarket, when Diana news started to accumulate. Through those clips and through the telephoto lenses of many, many cameras, we see that it was her audience who created one of the most recognised people in the world. Intrigued, they couldn't get enough of her.
