[REVIEW] Diana

Going into Diana, I was excited to see the beautiful and inspirational Princess Diana depicted on the big screen; however, leaving the movie, the aura of the princesses was gone and I left feeling indifferent about her.

Diana tells the story of the late Princess of Wales, most famously known as Princess Diana, depicting the last few years before her tragic death. This film focuses on Diana (Naomi Watts) and her secret affair with Hasnat Khan (Naveen Andrews), a Pakistani heart surgeon. The main conflict in the relationship comes from Diana’s celebrity status and Hasnat’s desire for privacy. It becomes obvious very quickly that this match isn’t going to be the fairy tale romance Diana wanted.

Even though this was based on real events, I found the film’s entire premise implausible and laughable, which is one reason why the film is a bit of a failure. The princess-falling-in-love-with-a-perfectly-normal-heart-surgeon story seems the perfect recipe for a great Hollywood romance flick, but it never feels right watching it. I never really see what Diana sees in Hasnat or why she kept (almost stalkerishly) bothering him. I simply didn’t buy it.

There are very few instances where Naomi Watts is convincing as Diana. Unfortunately, the majority of these are when she’s not talking (e.g. the movie poster). I’ve always been a fan of Naveen Andrews and felt that his performance of Hasnat was decent (although, considering Hasnat has never been as high-profile as the princess, any interpretation would seem to work).

I didn’t hate the movie, although I didn’t love it either. I left the theatre feeling very indifferent, which is always a bad thing. Diana felt like a made-for-TV movie that, at the last minute, got bumped up to feature status because someone in a suit thought it was good enough. The acting was ok and nothing was really spectacular about it. And considering this film was about someone quite spectacular, that’s quite a shame.

✮ ✮