WORDS: COLUM HOLLAND
Going into this film I had already read that Hasnat Khan, Diana’s alleged lover described it as “completely wrong” and based on “cruel lies” as neither he nor Diana ever spoke about their relationship. The question is then can the film at least present the viewer with an engrossing and emotional story even though it has no basis in fact? The simple answer is no.
The film is based on the book Diana: Her Last Love by Kate Snell, and stars Naomi Watts and Naveen Andrews as Princess Diana and Hasnat Khan. Focusing on their relationship during the last two years of Diana’s life, the film hinges on the chemistry between these two; sadly, they have none. Diana falls nearly instantly in love with this man and one is left perplexed as to why.
This is not the actors’ fault as the real problem in this film is the script. Every exchange that aims to be romantic and insightful is either pretentious, ludicrous or occasionally both. In one scene, Diana walks through a hospital and inquires what it is like to perform a heart surgery for ten hours. Hasnat pauses in contemplation and tells her, looking deep into her eyes, “You don’t perform the operation, the operation performs you.” The dialogue in scenes such as this is soap operatic at best and jarring and distasteful at worst.
One of the other constant annoyances in this film is the editing. Great editing is something you do not see; when it is good, scenes will flow from another, allowing you to concentrate on the film with no distractions. In Diana, the film can change location so quickly and abruptly it leaves you wondering why certain scenes were even included. It feels clunky and disturbs the flow of the movie, taking you out of the experience.
Regardless of these issues, the film fails at a most basic level: The viewer never really feels like they come to know who Diana was as a person. Some of her major relationships with the likes of Prince Charles and her children could have been focused on more but are almost entirely glossed over. Her rebound with Dodi Fayed implies a manipulative streak to make Hasnat jealous but even that is never fully explored. The film occasionally captures her loneliness and the feeling of captivity by the paparazzi but it is not enough to give a real insight into who she was.
They may put Naomi Watts in her clothes, give her the right hair and recreate famous images but she is never really Diana. Oliver Hirschbiegel created a defining biopic in Downfall, but Diana indicates that it may be time to explore other genres.
