Spencer, released in theaters on Nov 5, portrays a fictional account of the affairs that took place in the royal family during Christmas and spans over the course of three days including Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day.  

  The focus is on Princess Diana and her unpleasant view of her life. On many occasions Diana attempts to get back to her childhood home but is stopped. She also rebels subtly and tries to present her anger, whether this be in her own head or by the end with more straightforward action. Some of these include her talking with the dresser and expressing her anger through words before asking the dresser to leave it out for the dresser’s sake as well as her breaking the pearl necklace given to her by Prince Charles. 

  On top of this she has many hallucinations, which are artistic interpretations rather than factual events, of Anne Boleyn who was another royal family member who was also in a strained relationship with her husband. Sometimes Boleyn appears in Diana’s dreams while other times she shows up in, as previously mentioned, hallucinations. By the end of the movie, Diana claims that Boleyn had saved her life by telling her to just break off the pearl necklace just as she did. 

  Many criticisms have been made about the parts of the movie that were not proven by fact but either by speculation or just unreal events. This includes the Anne Boleyn scenes as well as one of the final scenes where Diana takes action to take her sons out of the pheasant hunt, which was never seen by reporters or commented on. The only fact was that Diana was reported to disapprove of her sons taking part in the sport.  

  The music in the movie was phenomenal as well as the acting by both the main cast as well as any side or background people. The music during dramatic scenes would build up and get extremely loud, which makes the audience feel the anxiety along with Diana as she dealt with her internal unease or anger. The camera angles worked to state how everyone was watching, which led to a sense of unease as well when any characters would stare or just watch for a while before panning or continuing to the next scene. The aesthetic of the castle also always felt on point with the time that the events took place. 

  Before watching Spencer, I feel it would be best to learn more about Diana’s life to understand her struggles more. Prior to watching the movie, I didn’t know there was a strain between Diana and her husband, which led to confusion in the beginning scene where Diana drives herself to the Christmas occasion. I also didn’t know why the movie was named Spencer until days after I watched the movie and found out it was her previous last name. 

  I would recommend Spencer to anyone who would like to watch a statement or art piece more than an entertainment piece, but for those wanting to avoid sensitive topics like bulimia, cutting, or suicidal thoughts, this might not be the right movie to watch. My overall score would be four out of five stars only for the confusion of fictional and factual events that took place in the movie.