Cast: Naomi Watts, Naveen Andrews, Douglas Hodge, Geraldine James, Charles Edwards

Directed By: Oliver Hirschbiegel

What better way to remember Lady Diana, than to recall a beautiful DVD the last two years of her life.

Celebrated and adored by millions, she was the Queen of people’s hearts, yet within her lay a loneliness that was visible just five years into her marriage. DIANA tells the story of Lady Diana’s last two years of her tumultuous marriage to Prince Charles. The film is an adaptation from Kate Snell’s book ‘Diana: Her Last Love’. DIANA is a compelling portrait of the Princess of Wales. Princess Diana played by British born Naomi Watts.

As the film opens, we see Diana getting ready in the Ritz Hotel in Paris, on that infamous day of 31st August 1997. We then go into flashback mode where we find Diana and Charles living separate lives. At a hospital, Diana meets Hasnat Khan (Naveen Andrews), a Pakistani heart surgeon whose freewheeling talk on heart issues captivates her. Soon Diana and Hasnat are in love with each other. They do all they can to keep the relationship under wraps, but the prying eyes of the media is too hard to escape. Diana wears a black wig to protect herself from being recognized at public places. At other times, she even smuggles Hasnat into the palace dodging palace guards. But it’s not long before the press comes to know of their relationship and makes it public. Hasnat is devastated, his career is at stake. On the one hand he is a heart surgeon and on the other he is in love with the most famous woman in the world. He loves Diana but is scared to commit. “If I marry you, I have to marry the whole world!” he tells her. Diana is heartbroken.

In comes in Baron Dodi Fayed. Diana is swayed by his affection for her. But it’s a ploy by Diana to teach Hasnat a lesson. The affair gets worldwide coverage with the media trying to get exclusive shots of Diana. The leave the Ritz hotel and the paparazzi are after them. What happened next left the world shocked.

Rating: ****

Reviewed By Verus Ferreira