Pablo Larraín’s 'Spencer' wasn't a standard biopic; it was a psychological horror film disguised as one. Its power came from its claustrophobic mood and its intense focus on a woman’s fractured inner world. Here are five foreign films that share its DNA.
1. Persona (1966)
Ingmar Bergman's Swedish masterpiece is the definitive film about the collapse of a public-facing identity. It follows a famous actress who suddenly goes mute and the young nurse assigned to care for her in a remote cottage. As the nurse talks endlessly to fill the silence, their personalities begin to blur and merge in unsettling ways. 'Spencer' used the ghost of Anne Boleyn to explore Diana's fears of being erased and replaced. 'Persona' takes that idea of a fractured self and makes it the entire show, questioning whether any 'persona' can survive under intense psychological pressure. The film explores the duel between a public self and a private soul, a theme central to Diana's torment.
2. Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975)
If 'Spencer' made you feel the oppressive weight of royal ritual, Chantal Akerman’s Belgian slow-cinema landmark will feel unnervingly familiar. The film observes a widowed mother over three days as she performs her domestic chores—cooking, cleaning, and seeing male clients for sex work—with rigid, mechanical precision. Akerman presents this routine in long, unblinking takes, turning mundane actions into a portrait of confinement. Like Diana trapped in the suffocating schedule of Sandringham, Jeanne is imprisoned by her role. When small cracks appear in her routine, the tension builds to a shocking breaking point, proving that the most dramatic breakdowns begin with the quietest unraveling.
3. Three Colors: Blue (1993)
At the end of 'Spencer,' Diana makes a break for freedom. Krzysztof Kieślowski’s French-Polish classic is a profound meditation on what that liberty actually means. After losing her husband and daughter in a car accident, a woman named Julie (Juliette Binoche) attempts to achieve absolute freedom by cutting herself off from every person, possession, and memory from her past. But her history, particularly the haunting music of her late composer husband, refuses to let her go. Like Diana, Julie is a woman trying to escape a gilded cage—in her case, a cage of grief and public expectation. The film is a masterful, lyrical exploration of emotional liberty, asking if it's ever truly possible to escape who we are.
4. The Handmaiden (2016)
For a film that matches 'Spencer’s' gothic, 'woman-trapped-in-a-mansion' aesthetic but cranks up the suspense, look no further than Park Chan_wook’s South Korean thriller. A pickpocket is hired to become the handmaiden to a Japanese heiress, part of a scheme to defraud her of her inheritance. What follows is a labyrinth of psychological games, shifting allegiances, and bids for liberation. The film’s lush, oppressive visuals and claustrophobic framing create a palpable sense of constriction, mirroring Diana’s experience at Sandringham. While its plot is more intricate, its core theme of women fighting to overthrow a toxic patriarchy and escape captivity makes it a perfect, albeit more pulpy, companion piece.
5. Julieta (2016)
Pedro Almodóvar’s Spanish drama is a story about a woman haunted by the ghosts of her past, much like Diana is haunted by both history and her own choices. The film follows Julieta, whose life unravels after a chance encounter dredges up the profound grief of her daughter's unexplained disappearance years earlier. Told through flashbacks, the film explores how unspoken pain, guilt, and memory can fracture a life. Almodóvar, a master of the female_centric narrative, uses his signature vibrant style to paint a portrait of a woman’s internal world. Like 'Spencer,' it's less about the events that happen and more about the enduring emotional aftermath—the quiet, heartbreaking struggle to survive uncertainty and loss.
