Opinions are divided following the premiere of the highly-anticipated film about Diana Princess of Wales, which was shot in Norfolk.

Actress Kristen Stewart starred as Diana in the film ‘Spencer’, which was set over a weekend in the early 1990s when she joined the royal family for Christmas at the Sandringham Estate.

Earlier this year film crews, extras and actors including Stewart were spotted at locations such as Hunstanton, Shropham and Old Hunstanton.

The drama, directed by Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larrain, premiered at the Venice film festival on Friday September 3.

North Norfolk News: Kristen Stewart, who plays Princess Diana, on Hunstanton beach for the filming of 'Spencer'.Kristen Stewart, who plays Princess Diana, on Hunstanton beach for the filming of 'Spencer'. (Image: Linda Hall)

Robbie Collin, chief film critic for The Daily Telegraph, gave Spencer the maximum five stars and said Stewart will be "instantly and justifiably awards-tipped for this".

He said she "navigates this perilous terrain with total mastery, getting the voice and mannerisms just right but vamping everything up just a notch in order to better lean into the film's melodramatic, paranoiac and absurdist swerves."

Writing for The Guardian, Xan Brooks also rated the film five stars.

He noted that "Larrain's approach to the material is rich and intoxicating and altogether magnificent”.

The Financial Times rated the film four stars and praised Stewart's performance.

Writing for the publication, Raphael Abraham said the Hollywood star “nails the angst and growing mental frailties of Diana is no surprise”.

The Independent's Geoffrey Macnab, meanwhile, offered the film three stars.

He praised Stewart for a "memorable, very mercurial performance", adding that Spencer is "still a considerable upgrade on the ill-fated 2014 biopic in which Naomi Watts played the princess”.

The film also got three stars from the i paper's Christina Newland.

She said: "Resplendent as Spencer looks, with Stewart dressed in lemon sailor suits and white tulle ballgowns, it eventually becomes tiresome to watch Diana languish in her misery, her eating disorder, and her unravelling mental state.”

North Norfolk News: Kristen Stewart, who plays Princess Diana, on Hunstanton beach for the filming of 'Spencer'.Kristen Stewart, who plays Princess Diana, on Hunstanton beach for the filming of 'Spencer'. (Image: Linda Hall)

Spencer won only two stars from The Times' Kevin Maher.

Of Stewart's performance, he added: "The central turn is Diana played by the Twilight star Kristen Stewart with the kind of studied intensity that suggests relentless consumption of the Panorama interview (the head tilt, the batting eyes) and fruitless hours with a dialect coach that has produced only a strange, strangulated whisper."

Spencer is coming soon to UK cinemas.