Diana

It's the last 2 years in the life of Princess Diana (Naomi Watts). She's separated and meets Pakistani heart surgeon Hasnat Khan (Naveen Andrews). They fall in love in a secret affair. She would finalize the divorce. The open secret of the love affair would be front page news and he would break up with her. They would get back together but it would not last.

The romance doesn't come off right away. It's supposed to be love at first sight. However it's a weak start. Naveen is playing very cold and the relationship has very little heat. It does build up to a more reasonable romance but this is more of a tragedy. And it doesn't rise up to be a good tragedy. It's more of a beautifully shoot Lifetime movie. It doesn't help that there are some cheesy lines thrown in. I don't like to argue over accuracy about this movie. I doubt it's important enough to warrant the absolute truth. Naomi Watts gallantly tries to keep this from being a complete waste of time.

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.

Fatigued dramatization of Princess Diana's complicated love life in the final years before her untimely death in a Paris car accident in 1997. Stephen Jeffreys' screenplay (inspired by Kate Snell's book, "Diana: Her Last Love"), asserts that Diana was on the rebound from a broken love affair with a Pakistani heart surgeon when she died, and was using Dodi Fayed (who was killed alongside her) to stir up publicity and perhaps a bit of jealousy. As seen from a distance playing the piano, or filmed from behind getting out of cars or walking down corridors, Naomi Watts bears a passing resemblance to Diana (her coif is the only thing which will evoke memories of the ill-fated Princess, and even this isn't very convincing when seen in close-up). It isn't necessarily Watts' fault--she gives the part a noble try--but no modern actress should be expected to walk in Diana's shoes and pull off a feat of magic (even the real Princess of Wales found the role difficult to play!). Perhaps it's too soon to reenact this sad bit of history. In any case, the attempt is both crass and pointless, with the jet-setting locales and elaborate camera set-ups only adding to the discomforting feeling of wasted money, effort and time. ** from ****

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, not making a peep upon its release nor since, is one of those movies that simply exists where neither its content nor the way it was put together, where the techniques used to convey a well-known story, brought about no great insight, revelation or even valid emotional impact that only served to re-enforce the fact there was no reason for it to exist. It seems no matter how much director Oliver Hirschbiegel thought he might bring an interesting point of view to this film his attempts end up being completely ineffective in the fact that a majority of the people interested in the figure of Diana, Princess of Whales likely knew everything this movie would be bringing to the table (or had already read it in Kate Snell's book on which the screenplay was based) and thus found no reason to watch famous people play dress-up and re-hash the events of their beloved Diana while no doubt dramatizing it as much as possible. There was no need for a film though not because we all know how it turns out, but because Diana was such a figure that the public felt like they knew so well, personally even, that it is almost a betrayal to them to see this actress portray a part of the peoples princess they might not have seen before. This is no fault of the writers, filmmakers or actors and obviously is an element they have no control over, but while it may have felt like a valiant effort, a story worth bringing to a feature film the end result is something that points to every reason why it wasn't a good idea. All of that being said, there is indeed an effort put forth here and despite the bad press it received before it was given a chance there is a Naomi Watts performance here that while she no doubt had much higher hopes for it should be recognized as what it is: convincing on what were impossible levels. The same stigma that applied to the movie applies to the person picked to play Diana and the performance they ultimately gave. What Watts is able to do is somehow transcend the barrage of images we've all seen and do what the movie as a whole wasn't able to do and that is make us believe in this material. No, I didn't necessarily enjoy the film or find much of it interesting, but it has its moments and it had enough to show there is a solid biography to be made about Diana, but this just isn't it.