HBO Documentary Films is offering us a ruthless insight into the life of Princess Diana in the form of the documentary film titled The Princess. The film is directed by the Academy Award nominee Ed Perkins, who is best known for Black Sheep and Tell Me Who I Am comprises majorly of archival footage. It is produced by Lightbox in association with SKY, Academy Award-winner Simon Chinn, who is known for the much-acclaimed Man on Wire and Searching for Sugar Man along with Emmy-winner Jonathan Chinn of LA92 and HBO’s Tina.
The HBO Original documentary film has a runtime of 1 hour 49 minutes. Jinx Godfrey and Daniel Lapira serve as the editors for the project. The Princess debuted at the Sundance Film Festival 2022. However, marking the 25th anniversary of Princess Diana’s tragic death, HBO Max released The Princess on August 13, 2022.
– HBO Max’s The Princess (2022) Review Does Not Contain Spoilers –
The life of Diana, The Princess of Wales has always been in the public eye even when it was an era when social media was not a game-changing tool in the world. At the time when paparazzi and media outlets filled with gossip were just taking birth, it was Diana who seemed to have paid the ultimate price by being under the constant scrutiny of the world. Shocking and unbelievable, yet it is the ultimate truth.
Ed Perkins brings forward this critical theme of how Diana changed in the eye of the media and how the interference of the media changed her life through this unsparing documentary. Completely made as a complication of contemporaneous archival audio and video footage from the life of Diana, the documentary reflects on the key events of Ms Spencer’s life.
The documentary begins from the time there was a whirlwind courtship between Diana and Princes Charles and leads up to their engagement and follows Diana through the lens of the press as she emerges to be the people’s princess and spills the scandalous royal hot tea on her husband and the inner workings of the palace. It ends as violently as ever with the footage that depicts the final moments of Diana’s life when she engaged in a car accident in order to escape the paparazzi in Paris in 1997 which lead to her untimely death.
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This HBO piece isn’t educational about the life and whereabouts and what all deeds that made Diana who she is but, closely analyzes how the media made and broke the princess, mentally, emotionally and a leap on physically too, maybe. Dubbed ‘The Most Photographed Woman In The World’, the documentary does not shy away to show the overwhelming adoration as well as the judgement the woman received as she tried to perform her royal duties, and survive in a loveless marriage and be a princess in all the real ways.
However, one might just wonder what is so special about HBO Max’s The Princess? Aren’t there enough pieces on Princess Diana already from which we can learn about this amazing, beautiful woman? The technical answer is yes. But, the correct answer has to be no. These other pieces of work based on Diana don’t come close to what this HBO Max documentary is trying to achieve and might just have achieved. Understanding that Diana’s life was not her own but, almost seemed to be owned by the media is horrifyingly true and comes to life in this piece.
The Princess: Final Verdict
Overall, HBO Max’s documentary, The Princess, based on Diana Spencer has to be by far the most realistic and definitive one. The relentless media coverage she gained is very much visible in this docu-film as the entire thing is made up of archival footage, where ever so often to get to see Diana very closely and listen to her be the woman of few words and more action.
Fans of The Crown and Spencer are sure going to love this piece. And, in case, you are not, you should still stream this documentary to understand how relevantly the themes of the story strike in the present world we live in.
You can watch The Princess now on HBO Max.
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