Diana

This film took me by surprise due to all the negativity surrounding it. It actually turned out to be a decent film that I enjoyed. I've always loved Naomi Watts and she pulls of a great performance. So she doesn't look exactly like Diana - what actress does? Diana was very unique looking and Naomi is definitely the right person for the role.

Naveeen Andrews also pulled a strong performance and the film had good pacing and never got dull. The film was respectable to Diana and I liked how they ended the film.

Please do not judge the film before seeing it. The British press were never going to praise this film. Well done Naomi.. you should be proud of this film.

I went to see this movie almost without any expectations. Granted, in my mind, Naomi Watts's performance in "Mulholland Dr." was exceptional, but that was over ten years ago, so I made a deliberate effort not to compare the roles. I had not seen any reviews and did not know anything about the movie, except its title character. I knew the main outlines of Diana's life and had seen some of her interviews, although I was more familiar with her death. Thus I had no opinion of Diana herself, except that I had heard a little of her famous charity work. With these things in mind I went to the theater. To me the movie was excellent. The atmosphere was enchanting and at times haunting. Watts played Diana like a shape shifter, matching her every move when the character presented herself to the media, while breaking her facade in private. She portrayed tons of difficult emotion that had to convey an aristocratic filter created by the character's upbringing. Diana's life was presented as a complex mixture of personal and public, feelings and constraints, that lead to her being slowly crushed by the outside pressures she could not control. The movie's purpose was obviously apolitical and tried to convey Diana's driving force that was interpreted in the movie as love. It succeeded in this very convincingly. The credit for this goes not only to Watts, but also the director Oliver Hirschbiegel (who, I now notice, directed "Der Untergang", an exceptional film in its own right) and Naveen Andrews, who played his role with credibility and originality. Altogether I found the movie to be on-par with the best biographical dramatizations in film, even coming close to "King's Speech".

Now that I had seen the film, and had been thoroughly impressed by it, imagine my surprise when I tuned in on IMDb. At this moment the score was 4.9. I immediately noticed a pattern. Of all the 2900 voters 446 (15.4 %) had voted 1. In fact the value 1 dominated the chart, being the most frequent vote of all the values. I interpreted this is a symptom of pure ignorance. Obviously the movie is not the worst of all time, like for example "The Room", "Manos: The Hands of Fate" or "Plan 9 from Outer Space". There in fact seems to be an almost organized effort to trash the movie. I do not think this has much to do with the film itself, but is a continuation of the politicization of Diana's life. I would recommend, when reading reviews, to recognize the critics who judge the film based on their own preconceived notions and those who judge the film on its own merits.

My score for "Diana" is between 8 and 9, which rounds it up to 9.

The last few years of Diana's tragic life post separation and divorce is depicted in this biopic. It is fascinating, voyeuristic and quite moving.

Good points: Naomi Watts acts well. She has a satisfactory Diana accent and good imitations of her facial expressions. She captured Diana's essence despite being much more petite in build and having more delicate facial features than Diana. Good effort to recreate famous photographic moments and wardrobe and clothes. Physical resemblance isn't a must. After all Helen Mirren doesn't look like the Queen but she still won an Oscar. So Naomi's portrayal should be nominated at least.

The story highlights Diana's efforts in the campaign against land mines. And it gives her life a meaningful legacy. The hounding of the press and photographers, and her intimate daily life are fascinating to watch. Also the tragedy of her personal isolation and quest for happiness are very moving.

There are some faults. The balance of the screenplay was off when it came to her romantic life. Other TV biopics have shown the disintegration of her marriage but not so much the later relationships. However in this movie too much was spent on the affair with Dr Hasnat Khan. Naveen Andrews wasn't dignified enough for the role of a specialist doctor. He seemed crude and coarse. Quite disturbing to see her in his squalid flat. More screen time on the relationship with Dodi Al Fayed would have helped show contrast and give a more complete picture about her last months. The scenes on the yacht and Ritz Hotel are nicely done and should have been longer.

Overall worth a watch for the perennially fascinating subject matter.

Entering the cinema auditorium with a pre-conceived pessimistic judgment on the film yet determined to watch it anyways, I can only say that I am glad that I had not allowed for media and critic opinion to dissuade me from watching "Diana." The film does not portray Diana in a bad way at all. If anything, it reiterates the absolute disgusting habits our press have had in terms of absolute disregard and disrespect for people's privacy. You feel a certain connection with Diana throughout the film, and see her for the "normal person" she was deep down. Naomi Watts' performance was spectacular, and she certainly did Diana justice. Although the film is most certainly disliked by many - i.e: the media, Islamophobes and daily mail readers... It is disliked for the mere fact that the film provides an insight into things that make certain people very uncomfortable, such as the prospect of the Princess of Wales marrying to a Pakistani Muslim, and the fact that Diana was actually a human being, with feelings, and with a difficult life.

So all I can say is, ignore the media, and make judgements for yourself. Perhaps after watching the film, you would rate it as highly as I have, or perhaps you may walk out half way through... Regardless, it's a fantastic film with a beautiful portrayal of the 'People's Princess'... Be warned: Take some Kleenex with you...The ending... is rather emotional

DIANA was almost universally panned on its release in September, and continues to attract negative comments from users. In truth it is not as bad as it was made out to be, even though some of the details seem implausible (would Diana (Naomi Watts) be able to leave Kensington Palace on her nocturnal visits to Hasnat (Naveen Andrews) so easily, without being discovered or hounded by reporters?) Nonetheless Oliver Hirschbiegel's film does a competent job of portraying the sheer loneliness of Diana's existence in Kensington Palace, surrounded by servants but with no one to love her. Although tremendously popular with people and the media alike, she cannot get close to anyone; and when she does, her love-affair is doomed. Watts does not resemble Diana facially, but she does a good job of conveying both the good and not-so- good sides of her character; her desire to help people, her feeling of alienation from all families, and her tendency to manipulate the media to suit her purposes. The film suggests, perhaps controversially, that Diana brought much of the press harassment on herself, especially when she asks a trusted photographer to take snaps of herself and Dodi Fayed (Cas Anvar), with the sole purpose of making Hasnat jealous, and thereby encouraging him to call her again after a long interval. She certainly knows how to portray herself on screen - as seen, for instance, in her celebrated interview with the BBC's Martin Bashir (Prasanna Puwanrajah), where she deliberately adopts a pose for the camera so as to obtain maximum sympathy from viewers. Nonetheless the film does suggest that she was more sinned against than sinning - a victim, perhaps, of the contemporary obsession with fame and celebrity.