Quartile rating: 6/10 · 1 rating
Using home videos recorded by her voice coach, Diana takes us through the story of her life.
Diana: In Her Own Words benefits from genuinely intimate source material — the private recordings made for her voice coach Peter Settelen give it an unusually candid, first-person quality that distinguishes it from standard royal documentaries. The plot structure follows her life chronologically and effectively, though it leans on familiar biographical beats. Acting is not applicable in the traditional sense, but the presentation and narration are functional rather than inspired. Cinematography is limited by archival constraints — competent assembly of existing footage rather than anything visually distinctive. Novelty earns a modest bump for the rare access to Diana speaking unguardedly about bulimia, self-harm, and her marriage, which few previous documentaries had. The ending is poignant given the subject but doesn't deliver a particularly bold or crafted conclusion.