DIANA

UK, 2013, 113 minutes, Colour.
Naomi Watts, Naveen Andrews, Douglas Hodge, Geraldine James, Juliet Stevenson, Art Malik.
Directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel.

Diana, Princess of Wales, was always a controversial figure, especially during the last three years of her life. She had separated from Prince Charles and was trying to live her own life, bitter at her treatment by Charles and the royal family, desperate to have more contact with her children, needy in terms of relationships. She moved into the public arena with different charitable causes and her concern about issues of land mines. And she was hounded by the paparazzi.

She was beloved by many people, called the Princess of Hearts, the object of an outpouring of national grief at her death, the subject of conspiracy theories concerning the manner of her death.

The screenplay for this film is based on a book by Kate Snell and is really a speculation about Diana’s relationship with the Pakistani heart surgeon, Hasnat Khan. He has remained silent about the relationship, so the material in this film is a story, imagined in detail, of love and frustration. Ultimately, Dodi Fayed is introduced but there is a strange ambiguity in the latter part of the film about Diana’s relationship with him.

The film offers a sympathetic portrait of Diana, especially as played by Naomi Watts, who does not always look like Diana but is able to give an impersonation, with accent, body language, especially the flirtatious tilt of the head in speaking to people and in giving interviews. She seems to be a asking to be loved.

For those devoted to Diana, the sympathetic portrait may please, but going behind the scenes as well as into scenes of her intimacy with the doctor may seem too intrusive.

For those not devoted to Diana or who are neutral about her, the film does offer a dramatisation of her loneliness and her need for a relationship. It also dramatises the relentless regimentation of her life and appointments, the continual scrutiny by royal officials of what she said and what she did (especially the famous interview with Martin Bashir), and the perennial hounding by reporters and paparazzi, the callous behaviour towards her, the impertinent questioning, the never ending need for yet another photo.

But what is mysterious is Diana’s treatment of some special reporters and photographers after her separation from Hasnat Khan. She phones a reporter, allows him to take secret photographs of her, including kissing Dodi Fayad which then appear in the papers. How much was defiance? How much was a manipulation? How much was getting back at Hasnat Khan? In the great scheme of things does this really matter? How important is it have those who idolise Diana?

Naveen Andrews is particularly serious, even stolid, devoted to his work, as Dr. Khan. The credibility of his meeting Diana, the continued association, their attachment and falling in love is real enough. As is her meeting with Dr. Christian Barnard to arrange a job outside the country, something she really wanted to do, escape from England, while still seeing her children. She goes to Australia for a memorial for Dr. Victor Chang. She goes to Boston for heart foundation social. She goes to Angola to campaign about land mines.

There is also an interesting sequence where she goes to Pakistan to meet the doctor’s family, happily received by many of them, feeling at home with the extended family and the children, listening to the complaints of the doctor’s mother about the sad experiences of partition. Could living outside England have really been possible? But the doctor, with reluctance, opts for his own privacy as well as maintaining his practice.
Which means that the film serves as a biopic, but without the guarantees that the details and the insights are actual because Diana is long dead and the doctor silent. Much of the treatment is in the style of popular magazines or popular television programs. But it is not quite enough for a valid and useful study of Diana, not enough insights into her personality.

1. Audience response to Diana, Princess of Wales? In her lifetime? In her death? The passing years?

2. The quality of this biography? Serious? For the popular audience? A life: marriage, children, difficulties, separation from Prince Charles, Camilla, the consequences?

3. The film starting with her death, a picture of her last hours, in the hotel, in Paris? Relationships? Dodi Fayed? The car, the paparazzi, the pursuit, the crash? The visuals?

4. The framework: the death, recreating the last hours, seen in the light of her death?

5. The screenplay, speculation about her direct relationship with the doctor? Meeting, the interactions, at the hospital, friendliness, the relationship? Going out to meetings? Her disguise, the week, going to the quiet cafe? Love? The consequences for her, going to Pakistan to meet the family, fitting in and enjoying the visit? The fact that these details were private, and the filmmakers having to imagine what they might have been like?

6. Naomi Watts as Diana, her look, manner, speech, the inclined head, the flirtatious manner? Calculating? Her devotion to causes, the visits, taking the children, becoming a celebrity, the publicity? What might have been her future?

7. Her women friends? Calling on them for advice? Psychological help?

8. The situation, Charles, at the airport, seeing her children, not seeing them often, relationship with the Royal family, feeling rejected? Her status as Princess, the separation, the preparation for the interview with Martin Bashir, the interview, her talking about a third person in the marriage? The effect of the speech?

9. Her friends and the contrast with her minders? Her relationship with them, their supervision, the shock at hearing the Bashir speech? Her controlled life, timetables, activities, meeting people, exercising her charm? Public and private life? The effect on her?

10. The doctor, his character, his skills, work, at the hospital, the encounters with him, her intrusion into his life, his liking her, her liking him, the meetings, the cafe, the affair? Who needs? His needs? His reputation, professionalism? The reactions? Her trying to get him a job? The visit to Pakistan, the family, the meals, the dancing, religion, the speculation on this private visit?

11. Pakistan, her going, the family, the characters, talk, celebrations, her being prepared to live this kind of life? Religious issues? The anti-British stances of some of the family?

12. Dodi Fayed, going out with him, poses on the boat, Diana ringing the editors, telling them about the photos, their publishing them? The effect? Why?

13. Her life, her achievement, liked or not? The tragic aspects? Her impact on British life, the Royal family, the ethos of Britain, especially in her death and the mourning?