even-handed fascinating fictionalization

Rating: 8/10 (30 October 2006)

Stepehen Frears has done an excellent job in presenting both sides of the tricky situation in which the Royal House of Windsor found itself at the death of the Princess of Wales. While the Foyal Family sees this as a private matter (Diana is no longer a royal, after all), the Labour Government rightly senses the pulse of the nation and capitalizes on the death of the "People's Princess," as one of Tony Blair's aides writes in his speech to the electorate to rally the anti-monarchy troops. The portrayal of the royal family, muddling through as best they could and following hundreds of years of tradition, could have been very badly handled by Frears, with overt partisanship, for example, but the obvious was avoided and even-handedness ruled the day. Helen Mirren puts in an award-winning performance portraying a complex character. The supporting cast is uniformly good also.