Spencer, Princess Diana, and the Forbidden Pearl Soup
Satiating the new generation's urge to eat the inedible...
A still from the film Spencer I edited for Consumption of Tide Pods awareness month
Spencer (2021) Film Flavor Review
Film Review: ★★★½
Food Review: ★★★★★
The royal historical biopic drama is a subgenre that has been in no short supply over recent years (most recently perfected by Netflix’s The Crown.) Written by Steven Knight and Directed by Pablo Larraín, Spencer subverts the genre norms through an experimental narrative for which knowledge of the real Princess Diana’s life is prerequisite.
While not a five-star film for the history books, Spencer is carried by Kristen Stewart’s performance like I’ve never seen a performance carry a work before (despite implementation of the world’s most wildly inaccurate wig.)
I mean, does that look like Princess Diana Spencer’s hair to you?
The film achieves the “poetic” status it was clearly gunning for, and is certainly worth a watch. In an era where we are questioning those born into power, our celebrity-obsessed culture, and the overall unbearable weight of being, Spencer, at the very least, rises above “exploitative.” This is largely due to the editing work of Sebastián Sepúlveda (whom the internet tells me served as the editor of another historical biopic focused on American royalty: Jackie).
One of the more memorable scenes of the picture takes place at a festive dinner that culminates in Stewart’s Diana eating the pearls from her own necklace along with spoonfuls of viridescent soup. Luckily, Stewart confirmed to Entertainment Weekly that no actresses or pearls were harmed in the making “They were literally just candy-coated M&Ms.”
The outlet also revealed the impactful crackling crunching noises of the pearl/candy breaking was left in at the suggestion of Stewart, further underlining her wisdom and punching-weight amongst the boys-club crew. (Can you hear my eye-rolls from over there?)
“Larraín really leaned into the nightmare aspect of it,” Stewart told EW, “to the point where I was like ‘Now I really know what movie I’m doing,’ because this reality of it is not a sort-of slight suggestion. It was all encompassing.” To the generation who yearns for the sweet pop of a tide-pod in their mouth and to be covered head to toe in green slime, Larraín and Stewart’s ultimate triumph of the film came in the form of a candy bisque.
Spencer’s forbidden soup scene, available, at least temporarily, for your viewing pleasure, above.
p.s. For those interested in British Royal commentary and musings from an intelligent, witty, American woman, may I suggest Amanda Matta of
substack newsletter — and @MattaOfFact on Tiktok and Instagram. She is my golden source for all the best royal takes, and I can’t recommend her enough.