Uh Oh - Sour Grapes Unwelcome @ Cannes!

[klondike]

Diana documentary a flop with critics at Cannes
May 14, 2011, 11:52 AM EST
WENN

Keith Allen's controversial documentary about the death of Diana, Princess Of Wales failed to impress or shock critics as it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in France Friday, with many reporters walking out of the much-hyped screening.

Unlawful Killing, directed by the British actor and father of pop star Lily Allen, documents the 2008 inquest into the beloved royal's death in a 1997 Paris car accident, which also killed her companion Dodi Fayed and their chauffeur Henri Paul.

The documentary caused outrage in Britain after Allen chose to include a graphic black-and-white photograph of Diana moments after the crash, as rescue workers fought to save her -- an image which has never been published in the U.K.

Allen defended his decision to use the image, insisting the image was not used to shock or to boost the film's appeal.

But the controversy leading up to the movie's premiere proved irrelevant as reviewers invited to attend the big screening were left unimpressed by the piece and either left early or stayed behind to challenge Allen in a news conference about his film's criticisms and attacks on Britain's royal family.

According to the U.K.'s Independent newspaper, reporters grew angry about the documentary after Allen labelled the royals "gangsters in tiaras" and claimed that journalists never questioned the monarchy as they "wanted knighthoods".

The filmmaker also reportedly became embroiled in an argument with Martyn Gregor, writer of a biography on the Princess of Wales' death, who heckled Allen throughout the premiere.

Daily Mail critic Baz Bamigboye has also dismissed the film as "unlawfully dull" and slammed Allen for approaching Dodi's businessman father Mohammed Al-Fayed for financial backing, insisting the documentary is nothing more than "the ramblings of a sour old man who misses his son."

[charliechaplinfan]

I can't say I have a good opinion of either Keith Allen or Mohammed Al Fayed. Keith Allen strikes me as someone who wants to be controversial and likes to court the kind of controversy he's obviously found at Cannes, using those photos of Diana are just his level and Mohammed Al Fayed, he's desperate for any outlet for his views about Diana's death.

He obviously has provided no fuel for the fire of the conspiracy theorists who can't accept a speeding drunken, drugged driver crashed a car in which three of the occupants hadn't fastened their seatbelts.