Kristen Stewart’s ‘Spencer’ receives 3-minute standing ovation at Venice Film Festival

By ANI

WASHINGTON: Actor Kristen Stewart’s Princess Diana biopic ‘Spencer’ received a three-minute standing ovation following its premiere at the Venice Film Festival on Friday.

As per Variety, both Stewart and the film’s director Pablo Larrain were present during the premiere.

Going by the rapturous response at the premiere of ‘Spencer’, the 31-year-old actor has pulled off one of the most dazzling on-screen transformations of the year.

As the closing credits of the dramatic film, which bills itself as a “fable” based on true events, the Venice crowd hooted and cheered, showering Stewart with a standing ovation. Stewart looked teary-eyed, as she hugged her director Larrain.

‘Spencer’, which is competing for the prestigious Golden Lion at Venice, follows Stewart as a troubled and dispirited Princess Diana during a 1991 bruising Christmas holiday to Sandringham House — one of Queen Elizabeth II’s private residences in Norfolk, England.

Over the course of the film and the winter break, Diana confronts her fears and her family. She makes the decision to end her marriage to Prince Charles, played in the movie by actor Jack Farthing.

The movie is sure to be the subject of countless think pieces and controversies, as it shows Diana teetering on the brink of a nervous breakdown. In the film, the Princess of Wales throws up after eating as she grapples with bulimia, talks about cutting herself and, in one particularly funny scene, tells her dresser to give her privacy so she can masturbate.

More so than showing her interactions with the royal family, the film focuses on Diana’s role as a doting mother to William and Harry — bringing them Christmas presents and sneaking them out of bed for a game.

While Stewart’s performance is sure to draw comparisons to Emma Corrin’s portrait of Diana in ‘The Crown’, it also shares quite a bit in common with Helen Mirren’s Oscar-winning turn as Queen Elizabeth II in ‘The Queen’.

‘Spencer’ is produced by Juan de Dios Larrain for Fabula Films, Jonas Dornbach and Janine Jackowski for Komplizen Film, and Paul Webster for Shoebox Films. Steven Knight (Peaky Blinders, Locked Down) penned the screenplay. (ANI)