The Princess review – Diana documentary offers a cautionary tale

Director Ed Perkins’s film, composed of archive material, shows how press and public fed on each other’s appetite for the royal

There can’t be many people who are not fully versed in the story of Diana, Princess of Wales. And this accomplished, smartly edited documentary tells us nothing that we don’t already know. What it does, however, is offer a compressed chronology of Diana’s treatment by the media and her relationship with the people of the UK. Like Asif Kapadia’s Amy – a portrait of a woman who proved to be similarly fascinating to the press – the film is entirely composed of archive material. Combining news footage, interviews, blustering commentators and vox pops, the film serves as an accusatory finger pointed at public appetites and the press that fed them, and a cautionary tale.

Watch the trailer for The Princess.
  • The Princess is in cinemas from 30 June

Contributor

Wendy Ide

The GuardianTramp

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