What does our fascination with Princess Diana say about us?
The unmistakable flat vowels of an Australian tourist narrates the grainy, hand-held video footage of busy Parisian streets. A group of young friends laugh and gasp as they drive past the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe and then eventually stop outside The Ritz.New documentary The Princess cuts together archival news footage from Princesss Diana’s life to tell part of her story.
“There are a couple of moments in my own life where it just felt like the Earth kind of stopped on its axis and everyone in the world seemed to be focusing on this one singular event. I guess 9/11 felt like that, and Diana’s death felt like that,” says Oscar-nominated filmmaker Ed Perkins, whose new film“I remember vividly being woken up by my parents who were really emotional about it, and then we all kind of huddled around this little TV.
Perkins says, most importantly, the film serves as a reflection of society at the time, revealing the public’s own preoccupations, fears, aspirations and desires. There are very few revelations in the film, which chronicles Diana’s life from right before the announcement of her engagement to Prince Charles up to her death. And Perkins says after watching literally hundreds of hours of footage of Diana, he still didn’t really get to know her.
Does the film draw a connection between Diana’s life and modern-day royal crises? Director Ed Perkins says that’s for audiences to decide.interview Diana gave to BBC journalist Martin Bashir in 1995, in which she broke her silence on Prince Charles’ affair with Camilla Parker Bowles, saying: “There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded.”