Do we need yet another documentary about Princess Di—on top of all the tabloid-TV programs, books, Enquirer headlines and conspiracy theories?
Writer-director Ed Perkins makes a good case that he’s found a fresh approach. He shows the story with contemporary news footage. There’s no God-like narrator commenting, but we see the shadows of what’s to come.
We see the exultation of the 1981 fairy-tale wedding (with some sidelong glances at "family friend” Camilla Parker-Bowles.) Later news footage shows Diana’s rapport with the public, and the chagrin of the upstaged Charles. As the marriage deteriorates, giving way to separation and divorce, we hear the public gossiping, speculating and taking sides---until the shock of the 1997 car crash in Paris.
The Princess ponders the relevance of the monarchy, and our addiction to celebrity, although the film hasn’t been the first to bring up these themes.