New movies to stream from home this week

Between ‘The Crown’, Kristen Stewart in ‘Spencer’ and tabloid culture’s insatiable hunger for all things royal, viewers would be forgiven for thinking another Princess Diana documentary is free at best — or, timed. on the 25th anniversary of his death, at worst morbidly opportunistic. But “Princess, “Ed Perkins’ gripping and thoughtful documentary is perhaps the film we’ve been waiting all along. Avoiding the usual conceits of talking heads, voice-overs and bio-fiction narrative tropes, Perkins simply stitches together footage of Diana’s life, gleaned entirely from archival footage.These clips – her fairytale courtship with Prince Charles, their “wedding of the century”, the troubled marriage and breakup that followed, her transformation from the catnip fairy English paparazzi and, finally, her martyrdom at the hands of the media she both concealed and masterfully manipulated – constructed into something sad, sobering and surprisingly profound. people” – a nickname that comes to have a disconcerting double meaning by the end of the film – Perkins’ essay becomes less about the title’s mythological icon and more about fame, fandom and the public’s complicity in misery of Diana and the possible destruction. “The Princess” might be the most poignant depiction of a character who will always just stay out of reach; it is certainly the most relevant, even in its most obliquely damning form. TV-14. Available on HBO and HBO Max. Contains mature theme elements. 109 minutes. — Oh