The Lost Princess

Early on there’s a self-described ‘sensitive scene’ of family discussion over the appropriateness of translating ‘Chao’, the leading lady’s royal title, into English as “princess”, out of fear of offending the Siamese royals whose ancestors had long annexed the Lanna kingdoms including Chiangmai (and if they hadn’t, the white man would have, but that’s a whole other film). ‘The Lost Princess’ is not merely a defiant English title but an apt one: an intimate experience of the last days of Chao Duangduen na Chiangmai, a lost soul from a lost kingdom, whose family’s three-storey teak palace by the Ping River was replaced by a gigantic gold shop and Varoros market after descendants of the last kings of Chiangmai went bankrupt. Thus through her granddaughter’s unflinching gaze we see how valiantly she clings to her royal heritage, both the fantasy of it, and the uncomfortable reality, with so much sincerity that she’d rather eat every meal alone than be seated at table with anyone not her ‘equal’. She is coated with blush and powder, dressed up with diadems and placed on a fake gold throne with red satin cushion to present trophies for cultural achievements. It all looks like props and costumes, which indeed it is: the people queuing up to pose for Facebook on the gold throne in brand new traditional costumes seem ill at ease but proud. Fairytale Chiangmai is there in lantern-filled sunset skies but it’s these intense, complex scenes that really get under our skin. Even as grander, ‘more royal’ relatives (who live in Bangkok) laugh at her ‘delusion’; even as her grandiose projects lie in ruins; even as her memory departs before she does, it matters that we remember that Chiangmai has its own history as a sovereign kingdom. “We could cut off people’s heads!” as Chao Duangduen exclaims so memorably. Cannibalising one’s family usually comes with consequences, as many writers and filmmakers know to their cost; how rare for this to have been allowed in a Thai family. Especially appealing is her long-suffering son’s candour and sincerity. We have to thank the whole awesome Na Chiangmai clan for a film so loving, brave and beautifully-made.

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(Alice Skinhead)

Trailer l ตัวอย่างหนัง :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxWkBybQM2Q