Royal experts criticize film about Princess Diana: 'They deprived her of respect and dignity'
Particularly harrowing are the scenes in which Princess Diana struggles with bulimia and self-harms
British royal experts have criticized "Spencer", a new film about Princess Diana, played by Kristen Stewart, saying it deprives the princess of her "respect and dignity" and makes it "unnecessarily gratuitous".
There is a scene in the film in which the princess, who died in a car accident when she was just 36, cries in front of her son, Prince William, as she struggles with an eating disorder and self-harm.
Particularly disturbing are the scenes in which the emotional Diana thinks of throwing herself down the stairs and suffocating with a pearl necklace given to her by her husband, Prince Charles. The film also describes her problem with bulimia as she vomits and even experiences hallucinations about her own death.
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"It's really cruel to show her like that. It's completely unnecessary. William and Harry will be very angry and hurt about this. They will find it horrible that their mother is being portrayed in such a huge movie this way," said Ingrid Seward, editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine for the Daily Mail.
Penny Junor, the royal biographer, and expert, agreed with Seward. "Poor William is all I can say, and let's leave Diana with a shred of respect and dignity. I know William was there when she was unhappy but it sounds to me the movie is factually incorrect," he commented for the Sun.
In one of the scenes, we can see young William begging his mother to come down to dinner after she locks herself in her room because she had previously injured herself with a wire.
William screams "Mummy, Mummy ... Mummy, you said to tell you if you are being really silly. You are being really silly." He then adds, "Please mummy, we have to sit down before Granny. Mummy just switch off your mind. Don't think about it until after dinner for everyone's sake."
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Princess Diana then comes out of the room with smudged makeup and asks her son if he saw Camilla Parker Bowles in the church on Christmas morning.
Royal experts have previously criticized the portrayal of Princess Diana in Netflix's "The Crown" series. They were annoyed that Emma Corrin, who embodied the Princess there, put her fingers in her throat and vomited after a fierce quarrel with Prince Charles. And fans of Lady D commented on Twitter that the bulimia scenes ‘were too hard to watch’.
"It was a significant thing in her youthful life, so I think it should have been portrayed in some way. But I think it would have been enough if she had just leaned over the toilet, they don't need such details. I think they exaggerated there," said Seward for the Daily Mail.
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The movie "Spencer" will hit the theatres on November 5.
By: Sarah R.
