This docudrama about the last two months in the life of Diana, Princess of Wales, was far less exploitative than I expected it to be. It's an interesting mix of semi-fictionalized scripted scenes, actual news footage, and recent interviews with some of the principals present during the period portrayed, including Mohamed Al-Fayed and Dodi Al-Fayed's security guard Kez Wingfield. Much of Jenny Lecoat's teleplay is based on testimony found in the 800-page Paget Report, published in 2006 by the United Kingdom's Metropolitan Police Service following a four-year-long investigation, which helps give it an air of respectability. Genevieve O'Reilly neither closely resembles nor sounds much like Diana, but she manages to convey a sense of what life must have been like for an international celebrity constantly caught in the spotlight. We are left to question the veracity of certain scenes involving no surviving witnesses, but for the most part it's easy to accept this as a reasonably accurate account of the events portrayed. Director Richard Dale receives bonus points for mercifully sparing us a recreation of the actual crash.
Review of Diana: Last Days of a Princess
Diana: Last Days of a Princess
(2007 TV Movie)
Interesting Docudrama Focuses on Diana's Final Weeks
15 August 2007