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Diana (2013)
Director: Oliver HirschbiegelWriters: Stephen Jeffreys, Kate Snell
Cast: Naomi Watts, Naveen Andrews
Genre: Fictionalized Biography Drama-Romance
I went into watching this with no idea of what this movie was about. It was just a movie that I found on my library shelves. I'd never even heard of it before. All I knew about it was from the DVD cover...it had a big name star, Naomi Watts and she did look like Diana. At least until the movie started. Sure, no actress is going to look just like Diana. But only during a couple of the scenes did she resemble the Princess. Getting the right look is an important part for a film like this. Obviously they were able to get Naomi's makeup right for a couple scenes, so why couldn't they do that for the entire movie?
To make matters worse Naomi seemed to be sleep walking through her performance. There's one scene that worked. It's the famous TV interview in which Diana talked about her failed marriage and about hurting her arms and legs. In that scene Naomi nails the facial expressions of Diana. For that brief moment she was Diana.
Otherwise what we get is Naomi Watts, looking like Naomi and acting like Naomi. I can only conclude that the director wanted to make some sort of mock-documentary, as Diana is portrayed in the most negative fashion possible.
I know very little about the real Diana and have no strong opinions about her. But in the film she literally stalks a Pakistan surgeon who she has had an affair with. He tries to break it off with her and yet she repeatedly call hims. She even goes so far as to do a fake Irish accent and lying about her identity when he refuses to talk to her. Then we see her desperately rushing to his apartment, sneaking in with a spare key and cleaning the place on her hands and knees. And the apartment was dirty!...with half eaten food everywhere and dirty dishes staked high!
We don't see Diana caring about her sons or caring about anything other than the surgeon. We see only one brief visit to Africa on her campaign to rid the world of land minds. This was a big part of the last years of her life and yet the film glazes over it like it was nothign. It was as if anything interesting or positive about her was left out of the story. Instead we see her rolling around the floor with a dumpy looking surgeon. Only at the very end of the film do we see her with Dodi Fayed. Then we learn that Diana is only with Dodi to make the first boyfriend (the surgeon) jealous.
I found myself not believing the portrayal of Diana or the story the movie told. I felt like I was watching a bad made for TV movie.
Director: Oliver HirschbiegelWriters: Stephen Jeffreys, Kate Snell
Cast: Naomi Watts, Naveen Andrews
Genre: Fictionalized Biography Drama-Romance
I went into watching this with no idea of what this movie was about. It was just a movie that I found on my library shelves. I'd never even heard of it before. All I knew about it was from the DVD cover...it had a big name star, Naomi Watts and she did look like Diana. At least until the movie started. Sure, no actress is going to look just like Diana. But only during a couple of the scenes did she resemble the Princess. Getting the right look is an important part for a film like this. Obviously they were able to get Naomi's makeup right for a couple scenes, so why couldn't they do that for the entire movie?
To make matters worse Naomi seemed to be sleep walking through her performance. There's one scene that worked. It's the famous TV interview in which Diana talked about her failed marriage and about hurting her arms and legs. In that scene Naomi nails the facial expressions of Diana. For that brief moment she was Diana.
Otherwise what we get is Naomi Watts, looking like Naomi and acting like Naomi. I can only conclude that the director wanted to make some sort of mock-documentary, as Diana is portrayed in the most negative fashion possible.
I know very little about the real Diana and have no strong opinions about her. But in the film she literally stalks a Pakistan surgeon who she has had an affair with. He tries to break it off with her and yet she repeatedly call hims. She even goes so far as to do a fake Irish accent and lying about her identity when he refuses to talk to her. Then we see her desperately rushing to his apartment, sneaking in with a spare key and cleaning the place on her hands and knees. And the apartment was dirty!...with half eaten food everywhere and dirty dishes staked high!
We don't see Diana caring about her sons or caring about anything other than the surgeon. We see only one brief visit to Africa on her campaign to rid the world of land minds. This was a big part of the last years of her life and yet the film glazes over it like it was nothign. It was as if anything interesting or positive about her was left out of the story. Instead we see her rolling around the floor with a dumpy looking surgeon. Only at the very end of the film do we see her with Dodi Fayed. Then we learn that Diana is only with Dodi to make the first boyfriend (the surgeon) jealous.
I found myself not believing the portrayal of Diana or the story the movie told. I felt like I was watching a bad made for TV movie.
Last edited by Citizen Rules; 09-23-18 at 05:39 PM.
I don't know if any of you followed the media coverage on Diana when she was alive. I'm about the same age Diana would have been, so I remember many of the news stories and I never heard of her affair with the surgeon.
