Directed by Ed Perkins, The Princess is a documentary about the life of Princess Diana as her engagement to Prince Charles turned her into one of the most photographed women in the world.
When we first see Diana in the documentary, she is hounded on the street as her relationship with Charles, heir to the British throne, has captured the media’s attention. It is evident that she feels uncomfortable with the number of eyes on her, not to mention being followed closely and essentially coerced into commenting on her relationship without knowing how to act and address the press. This short interaction immediately sets the imposing tone that the media had on Diana and sad truth is that once she was set to marry Charles, her private life was no longer existent – and Perkins, along with editors Jinx Godfrey and Daniel Lapira, continue to reinforce this tone with an extensive compilation of archive footage.
As audiences only see Diana through a lens, the amount of intrusion on her life makes The Princess uncomfortable watching. In fact, Perkins consistently highlights the extent of media sensationalism and its unforgivingly constant presence on Diana and Charles, especially as we see the extent that they go to attain readership with instances such as full transcripts of private calls, which also includes one notable conversation between Charles and Camilla (leading to the infamous Tampongate), and how paparazzi complain about Diana hiding her face when all she wants is catch a flight and basically left alone. Needless to say, The Princess shows the inexcusable and shameless lengths the paparazzi will go to for an exclusive and how they regard the private lives of not only Diana but also the Royal Family as anything but private.
With the acclaim and awards buzz surrounding Pablo Larraín drama Spencer, as well as the timely direction of Netflix drama The Crown moving into the later life of Lady Di, there seems to be a continued or even renewed interest in Diana Spencer 25 years after her tragic death and The Princess seems to be capitalising on that. Although the documentary may fill in the gaps for younger audiences, it comes across as an unnecessary and disrespectful insight to a woman who was quickly thrust into the public eye and tragically never had the chance to leave its sight.
Rating: 
Director: Ed Perkins
Runtime: 104 minutes
Country: USA
