When She Died... Death of a Princess (2002) (TV)

User Rating:

3.7/10   

Director:

Rupert Edwards

Writer:

David Harsent (libretto)

Release Date:

25 August 2002 (UK)

Genre:

Music

Plot:

An original opera, written for television, following a disparate group of characters in the aftermath of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. |

Plot Keywords:

Opera | Marriage | Prostitute | Funeral | Suicide

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Geoffrey Dolton
Phillippa Lay
Anne Mason
Martina Messing	...	Monica
Henry Newman
Andrew Rees
Linda Richardson
Willard White
Nuala Willis

Runtime:

50 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Company:

Tiger Aspect Productions

Camel with the wind

When she died… I was out of the country, cycling round France, so I missed the mass hysteria. Seeing it in this film and in the recent film The Queen came as quite a surprise to me. I imagine many people are quite embarrassed now about their overreaction at the time.

This short opera, by Jonathan Dove depicts the reaction of three couples to Princess Diana's death, people who imagined that they knew her and took her loss personally. There is a couple who set off for the funeral in their Austin Maxi, you just know it is going to break down on the way. There is a woman who has had a phantom pregnancy and wanders through the crowns singing "I've lost my baby". Strangest of all is a man who employs a hooker to dress up as the princess.

The singing, as in Jonathan Dove's recent work "Man on the Moon" is conversational, like recitative.The music only really comes alive in the orchestral bits and the brief choruses. I was particularly irritated by the Austin Maxi woman who sounded like a flatulent camel.

Willard White plays a tramp and, to his credit, is the only singer who succeeds in making the music sound musical. Even he has to put up with a cliché-ridden libretto. When he starts with the phrase "It is a day…" you just know that he is going to continue "…like any other day".