Mostly disagree with critics: this is technically very good but, as a film, just meh. The film is artsy, which usually means a 50/50 situation to me: very good or very painful and pretentious. This is a bit on the middle. There is a very strong and powerful scene around 40 minutes - and it's an hallucination...- but it's a shame that, after that, this turned to be much less interesting and repetitive until we have Diana visiting her old house (definitely, the highlight of the film, technically and emotionally). It's ok for some time, some meaningful - and totally predictable - conversations, with, unfortunately, no subtlety at all. It has an interesting score and is well directed, but...it should be so much more than these two hours of the same. Can anyone tell me that this would be any different if it was a 60 minutes film? There is no arc, there is no grow, nothing new, the characters end exactly like they started, most - except Diana and Maggie played very well by Sally Hawkins - totally unidimensional, like MCU villains. I liked the suffocating elements that we saw before in films like Birdman or Shiva Baby, but I think the tone is an issue here, as we keep the same and the same mood for the entire 2 hours (except the KFC trip).
Even more surprisingly, I don't think KStew performance is really Oscar worthy (but she will probably win). Don't get me wrong: she does a good job. I just think I would enjoy it much more if I didn't know the real Diana. I never, never, never saw Diana here. I always saw Stewart trying to act like Diana. Some of the things she does are obviously very well taken from Diana - like inclining her head to the side when she speaks or some eye movements - as expected, she can also play very well with what is emotionally requested (even if not as convincing as Jessica Chastain or Tessa Thompson in other films this year, I felt more like someone acting than a real person here). I just didn't feel her character that close to the real Diana, with some clear exaggerations (why always whispering? Diana had a sweet and calm voice but she was not whispering all the time...also forget that "perfect accent" that some are talking about).
In short, I think this is as good as weak: there are beautiful technical elements, Stewart acting is strong (even if it worked much better if it was about a fictional character), you can feel the tension and anxiety growing up, but...I can't avoid to think of this as an Oscar-bait (not in the way of appealing to mainstream audiences, but critics and connoisseurs - who play a big part nowadays) and disappointing, as it thinks it has a lot to say but it just keeps playing with the same elements over and over again, being completely one-note, repetitive and even patronising (do we really need all that expository dialogue to explain the same over and over again?).
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