Making a biopic of the People’s Princess was always going to be a risky proposition, given how much interest the media and the public continues to have in the Princess of Wales fifteen years after her death. What can be said that hasn’t been said thousands of times before? But it is a dramatic story, and Diana - which premiered yesterday in London - had as good a chance as any.
The film stars the reliable Naomi Watts in the eponymous role, and it’s directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel of Downfall fame. Commercially speaking, it’s maybe as sure a bet as can be. What, pray tell, could possibly go wrong?
A lot, apparently. The first reviews are in, and most are absolutely scathing. The Mirror, The Guardian and The Times have all cursed it with a single star and vitriolic text to match. The Time’s Kate Muir calls it “atrocious and intrusive”. David Edwards has few kind words for Watts, stating “Wesley Snipes in a blonde wig would be more convincing”.
Peter Bradshaw, meanwhile, reserves particularly strong words for Diana's allegedly iffy script, declaring that the finished product is “an excruciatingly well-intentioned, reverential and sentimental biopic about her troubled final years, laced with bizarre cardboard dialogue”. Christopher Tookey with The Daily Mail couldn’t even muster the enthusiasm to be outraged, simply saying “if you’re in the mood for schlocky romance, it just about passes the time; but it never succeeds in being moving, or even involving. It’s not even enjoyably bad.”
Did anyone like it? The Telegraph and The Daily Express each award the film a moderately more enthusiastic two stars. In perhaps the most positive review, The Independent thinks it’s solid three star material, but let down by “sudden shifts in mood”.
The film focuses on Diana’s affair with Dr. Hasnat Khan, and will be released on the 20th September for those who remain curious despite the harsh early words. Can the film really be as awful as some critics are claiming? Based on the evidence of the trailer, we tentatively predict yes, it most certainly can.
