Diana (2013)

“Dramatic? My whole life has been dramatic. It’s been full of the sound of people shutting doors on me. You say you love me, you’ll always love me. Well, there’s about five billion people on this planet who can say that! But is there one who can stay with me? ” – Diana

Number of Times Seen – 1 (16 Aug 2020)

Brief Synopsis – Recreation of the final two years of Princess Diana’s life as she found true love before her tragic end.

My Take on it – This is a film that I’ve been interested in seeing for quite some time and am so glad that I finally got a chance to see it.

They do an amazing job showing how true love can turn someone’s misery into something much more special.

Naomi Watts is superb in the title role and makes the character of Princess Diana come to life before us, warts and all.

Her chemistry with Naveen Andrews is quite ecstatic and we ca truly believe their budding friendship that turns into powerful love.

This film is able to show us the hectic lifestyle of someone in the eye of the media who must do her best to separate her personal life fro the public life she has led since her marriage into the Royal Family.

At the same time, they show us how that can of lifestyle can affect someone with an opposing opinion; someone who wants to live a private life despite being in the public spotlight.

The choice to solely focus on Diana’s life while only alluding to the rest of the Royals (even her sons) is a great one because it allows us to stay with her as the anchor of everything that transpires.

As with all biopics, there is no proof as to how much of this story is true and how much is fiction, but regardless, they still do an exquisite job keeping things feeling so plausible and realistic as we watch how true love can transform someone and how friction can also lead to this kind of tragedy.

Bottom Line – Such a great biopic that is able to show us how a life of misery can turn so quickly when true love is involved. Watts is superb in the lead role and her chemistry with Andrews is ecstatic. She transforms herself into the Princess and makes it all seem so believable. They do a wonderful job showing the crazy kind of lifestyle that Diana needed to live due to her popularity and fame. We also get to see how difficult it can be for some people to live in the limelight when they wish to have privacy. The story does a great job focusing just on Diana and only mentioning the Royal family (including her sons briefly). There is obviously no proof as to how truthful this story really is, but the story comes across quite realistically and believable in all that happens here. Highly Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – When the camera first pans into Diana’s hotel room, at the very beginning of the movie, a wine glass is seen on a dinner table. This is an exact replica of the real glass used at the dinner where Dodi Fayed proposed to Diana at the Paris Imperial Hotel, minutes before their deaths. Dodi’s father, Mohamed Al Fayed, had the wine glass preserved in an acrylic pyramid and now is displayed, as a memorial shrine, at Harrod’s in London, England. (From IMDB)

Rating – Oscar Worthy (9/10)