Diana (2013)

During the last two years of her life, Princess Diana embarks on a final rite of passage: a secret love affair with Pakistani heart surgeon Hasnat Khan.

Director:

Oliver Hirschbiegel

Writers:

Stephen Jeffreys, Kate Snell (inspired by the book 'Diana Her Last Love' by)

Stars:

Naomi Watts, Naveen Andrews, Cas Anvar

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Naomi Watts	...	Diana
Cas Anvar	...	Dodi Fayed
Charles Edwards	...	Patrick Jephson
James Puddephatt	...	Security Guard 1
Douglas Hodge	...	Paul Burrell
Ilan Goodman	...	Diana Assistant 1
Geraldine James	...	Oonagh Shanley-Toffolo
Prasanna Puwanarajah	...	Martin Bashir
Rose O'Loughlin	...	Nurse Denise
Michael Hadley	...	Joseph Toffollo
Naveen Andrews	...	Hasnat Khan
Juliet Stevenson	...	Sonia
Max Wrottesley	...	News of the World Photographer
Christopher Birch	...	Ronnie Scott
Nathaniel Facey	...	Dwayne Johnson

Storyline

During the last two years of her life, Princess Diana embarks on a final rite of passage: a secret love affair with Pakistani heart surgeon Hasnat Khan.

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Plot Keywords:

camera shot of feet | foot closeup | female stockinged legs | nude pantyhose | pakistani | 

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Taglines:

The only thing more incredible than the life she led was the secret she kept.

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for brief strong language, some sensuality and smoking

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Japan]

Country:

UK France Sweden Belgium

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 September 2013 (UK)

Also Known As:

Caught in Flight

Filming Locations:

London, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$15,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£623,051 (United Kingdom), 22 September 2013, Limited Release

Opening Weekend USA:

$67,754, 3 November 2013, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$331,634, 22 November 2013

Company Credits

Production Co:

Ecosse Films, Le Pacte, Film i Väst

Technical Specs

Runtime:

113 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital Auro 11.1

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Diana mentions television shows she likes to watch; Coronation Street (1960), EastEnders (1985), and Casualty (1986).

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Goofs

When Diana orders burgers for Hasnat from Burger King, the current logo is seen on the bag instead of the old one in 1995.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Reporter: It is not the horror of landmines that is making the headlines back home, but reports of the Princess's romance with Dodi Fayed. Speculation fueled by the arrival last night of a car similar to that owned by the Princess.

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Connections

Referenced in Showreel: Another One Bites the Dust (2013)

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Soundtracks

Goldberg Variations BWV 988
Written by Johann Sebastian Bach
Performed by Vesselina Tchakarova

User Reviews

Beautiful Tragedy

I went to see this movie almost without any expectations. Granted, in my mind, Naomi Watts's performance in "Mulholland Dr." was exceptional, but that was over ten years ago, so I made a deliberate effort not to compare the roles. I had not seen any reviews and did not know anything about the movie, except its title character. I knew the main outlines of Diana's life and had seen some of her interviews, although I was more familiar with her death. Thus I had no opinion of Diana herself, except that I had heard a little of her famous charity work. With these things in mind I went to the theater. To me the movie was excellent. The atmosphere was enchanting and at times haunting. Watts played Diana like a shape shifter, matching her every move when the character presented herself to the media, while breaking her facade in private. She portrayed tons of difficult emotion that had to convey an aristocratic filter created by the character's upbringing. Diana's life was presented as a complex mixture of personal and public, feelings and constraints, that lead to her being slowly crushed by the outside pressures she could not control. The movie's purpose was obviously apolitical and tried to convey Diana's driving force that was interpreted in the movie as love. It succeeded in this very convincingly. The credit for this goes not only to Watts, but also the director Oliver Hirschbiegel (who, I now notice, directed "Der Untergang", an exceptional film in its own right) and Naveen Andrews, who played his role with credibility and originality. Altogether I found the movie to be on-par with the best biographical dramatizations in film, even coming close to "King's Speech".

Now that I had seen the film, and had been thoroughly impressed by it, imagine my surprise when I tuned in on IMDb. At this moment the score was 4.9. I immediately noticed a pattern. Of all the 2900 voters 446 (15.4 %) had voted 1. In fact the value 1 dominated the chart, being the most frequent vote of all the values. I interpreted this is a symptom of pure ignorance. Obviously the movie is not the worst of all time, like for example "The Room", "Manos: The Hands of Fate" or "Plan 9 from Outer Space". There in fact seems to be an almost organized effort to trash the movie. I do not think this has much to do with the film itself, but is a continuation of the politicization of Diana's life. I would recommend, when reading reviews, to recognize the critics who judge the film based on their own preconceived notions and those who judge the film on its own merits.

My score for "Diana" is between 8 and 9, which rounds it up to 9.