Spencer (2021)

This movie is about Princess Diana, but not an overview of her life, but rather focuseing on one extremely painful moment in it. Much like Jacki focused on Jackie Kennedy's response to the assasination of her husband, this film zeros in on the end of Diana's marriage to the Prince of Wales. It is Christmas 1991, which Lady Diana is spending with the royal family in Sandringham even as her loveless marriage is unravelling. There is a protocol, there are expectations to be met, and nothing is her own, not her choice of clothing nor her husband, who is now known to be having an affair. She is humiliated and spied on from every corner of her day. She is close to a nervous breakdown with bulimia attacks and episodes of self-harm. From the beginning, where she deliberately arrives late to trying to entering her family home and picking a jacket off a scarecrow, Diana feels like a barely tolerated stranger in Sandringham, where the Royals are celebrating Christmas. Apart from her sons, the rest of the royal family are largely indifferent and cold towards her. Only the help, and we the audience, are rooting for her--but it is a painful thing to watch.