(Los Angeles) Forced once again to a 100% virtual formula because of the pandemic, the Sundance film festival opened with an “immersive” documentary devoted to Princess Diana and her troubles with the British royal family.
Posted at 2:48 p.m.
The successive waves of the coronavirus have also forced many filmmakers to adapt their way of working and The Princess is part of this series of films present at Sundance that have been conceived solely from archival footage.
Without a narrator, the documentary transports the viewer to the time of Diana and Prince Charles’ tumultuous marriage, exploring the impact that the obsession of the media and the public may have had on this union.
“It’s a kind of Shakespearean tragedy, but a tragedy that many of us have known, and in which we have even taken part”, estimated Thursday evening the director of The Princess, Ed Perkins.
Many documentaries devoted to this episode had tried to “get into Diana’s head”. Ed Perkins chose to analyze how the press and the public at the time perceived and judged the young woman.
The film thus reviews awkward interviews given by the princely couple on television, interspersed with images showing paparazzi hiding in the bushes with their telephoto lenses and complaining about Diana’s distrust of them.
The tragic disappearance of the princess, in 1997 in Paris, is illustrated by an amateur video shot by a group of friends watching the television news, whose initial good mood is quickly swept away by the announcement of the fatal road accident. .
Ed Perkins is aware of the countless number of documentaries already devoted to Diana, but explains that he wanted with his film to create something “more immersive and experimental”. He “tries to give the point of view of the time through archives, unfolding the events on the mode of the present of narration”, says the director.
The Princess fate as the British Royal Family is challenged by the departure of Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, who say they have faced racist backlash within the family and are battling with the tabloid press to preserve their private life.
“Their story is one of the reasons why we made this film, or at least the reason why the moment seemed right to us,” assured producer Simon Chinn.
“Our instinct was to go back to what we had always considered ‘the origins’ and see what we could learn about what happened next for Diana,” he says.
” Evolution “
PHOTO RICH FURY, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE ARCHIVES
The Sundance festival continues until January 30.
Earlier in the evening, festival director Tabitha Jackson explained that the “virtual” part of Sundance would likely continue even after the pandemic is over, as interviews and round tables via the internet help to “diversify the audience” .
“Now that we’ve figured out how to do this, I don’t want to go back on it,” she says.
Co-founder of the festival, actor Robert Redford, 85, was also delighted with the addition of this new platform, which he described as “an evolution of the vision of Sundance”.
Other films shown for the opening night of the festival included fire of love, also a documentary based on archives, which traces the journey and tragic end of French volcanologists Katia and Maurice Krafft. The couple were killed in an explosion on the flanks of Japan’s Unzen volcano in 1991.
Jesse Eisenberg’s directorial debut, a comedy titled When You Finish Saving The World with Julianne Moore and Finn Wolfhard, also premiered. This feature film follows the upheavals of a troubled American family and the disputes between its various members over several decades.
Renowned for its ability to spot future talent among independent films (Reservoir Dogs by Quentin Tarantino, Damien Chazelle with whiplash), the Sundance festival continues until January 30.