Anyone looking for so-bad-it’s-good amusement will find his or her hopes sadly dashed by this dire Princess Diana biopic, which turns the Queen of Hearts’ secret love affair with Pakistani heart surgeon Hasnat Khan into a bland Mills & Boon romance. Saddled with excruciating, toe-curlingly bad lines, Naomi Watts tries gamely in the lead but bears almost as much resemblance to Barbara Windsor as she does to Diana Windsor. Her Diana goes from doe-eyed romcom heroine, meeting cute with Naveen Andrews’ Hasnat in a hospital, to budding bunny-boiler when their relationship sours. Towards the end, Diana’s complicity with the paparazzi arouses the odd flicker of interest, as does the suggestion that her liaison with Dodi Fayed was merely a rebound fling designed to pique Hasnat’s attention, but that’s as close as director Oliver Hirschbiegel gets to possible insight into his subject’s psyche.
Certificate 12. Runtime 108 mins. Director Oliver Hirschbiegel.
Released on DVD and Blu-ray on Monday 24th March by Entertainment One.
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