Review 469: Goodbye Christopher Robin
Goodbye Christopher Robin is a touching, poignant, emotionally bio pic and a beautiful insight into the creation of Winnie-the-Pooh.
In early 1920’s England at the height of WWII, playwright A. A. Milne (Domhnall Gleeson) suffers from PTSD due to his experiences in WWI. Determined to write an anti-war book, Milne moves from London to the countryside in Surrey against the wishes of his wife Daphne (Margot Robbie).
A. A. Begins to spend more time with his son Christopher Robin nicknamed “Billy Moon” (Will Tilston) which inspires him to create Winnie-the-Pooh and the Hundred Acre Woods.
But as A. A.’s creation becomes a literacy phenomenon, his decision to use Christopher’s name results in him becoming famous and he endures the cost of books success.
The plot is a wonderfully well rounded, heartwarming look at the creation of one of history’s most popular and successful literacy creations. It brilliantly draws parallels between what Milne was feeling at the time with how England as a country was feeling at that time which was this massive amount of grief and sadness over a lost generation of men that went out to fight in WW I and they came back either changed or not at all and Milne is a living emobodyment of that generation.
When Milne finds solace in his creation, so does England and eventually the whole world manage t find some kind of peace in Winnie-the-Pooh and proved to be the fountain of joy that everyone needed at that particular point in time.
It pulls no punches in showing the more darker edges of the story behind the literacy phenomenon that is Winnie-the-Pooh.
Goodbye Christopher Robin is also an unflinching, open eye look at how fame can negatively affect someone. As the Winnie-the-Pooh become more and more successful, Christopher Robin finds the fame overwhelming things no person of that age should ever have to deal with.
Director Simon Curtis’ direction is sensitive, the cinematography is beautiful and captures the beauty of 1940’s Surrey countryside, the production design (recreating 1940’s England) is the terrific and brilliantly detailed, the costumes are fabulous, the score by Carter Burwell is wonderfully whimsical and gets the films tone rights.
It’s a triumph for the acting, Domhnall Gleeson delivers a layered, multifaceted, affecting performance as A. A. Milne. When we first meet him, he’s clearly deeply traumatised by his experiences during WW I. What he saw during the Battle of the Somme affected him to his core and as a result he experiences recurring flashbacks to these experiences (what we would now refer to as PTSD). Loud noises remind him heavily of explosions and gunfire and he’s persistently dogged by the sound of buzzing bees which remind him of flies which surrounded the corpses that he saw.
Because of theses experiences, he became so determined that he shirks the comedic plays he’s been writing to pursue writing an anti-war book.
He’s somewhat reserved in his own way but who’s also haunted by what he saw and that certainly doesnt help with his behaviour. That withdrawn nature is very and he’s trying to reconcile
The relationship he develops between Billy Moon feels ernest and completely natural
Margot Robbie is simply fabulous as Daphne, A. A.’s wife. Robbie plays what is inherently a very despicable character but Robbie seems to be very much aware of that and never shies away from that and attacks this role with a certain degree of assertiveness and fearlessness and makes a very valiant attempt to try to portray this character, not as a truly horrid person/one-dimensional stereotypes, but as a complicated woman with (like Milne) deep-seated emotional issues. Margot displays all the signs of post depression.
Even before Christopher is born, Alan and Daphne’s relationship is tested by the war, not just in Alan's change of character upon his return from the war but also the fact that she’s been at home waiting for him to come back, not knowing wether he actually will or not. Having a son in the form of Christopher was something she really didn’t want. She wanted a girl and the reason for this is because the time she spent waiting for A. A. to return, she sense that this isn’t going to be the final war and that there’s going to be another one and inevitably their son will have to go ad fight which is something she really doesnt want. So she treats Christopher very much as if he were a girl and dresses him accordingly. Even his haircut is quite feminine.
Daphne is very much a product of the time in that she’s this high society woman who goes to these lavish parties in London and they are her world and she’s resentful at being torn away from that. Neither the film or the character try to justify her actions, they just present it as it was just how it was in those days.
The film makes it abundantly clear that in those days it was perfectly acceptable to have a baby and leave it with the nanny and go back into this circle and neither she nor A. A. really consider the emotional abandonment that they’re broadcasting to their son.
Robbie’s performance isn’t one that’s filled with emotion, she doesn’t show any vulnerability because that isn’t the way she was raised. If she’s feeling something she will tell you directly to your face no matter what. She doesn’t sugarcoat it in any way. At the same time, however, when she does actually interact with Christopher and plays with him, Robbie very ernestly and effectively conveys this warm motherly presence and her playful side does aid in the creation of Winnie the Pooh.
Kelly Macdonald, however, is the heart and soul of the film playing Olive, Christopher Robin’s nanny. Macdonald superbly plays the maternal, caring, warm surrogate mother figure to Christopher. She finds a sense of purpose in raising Christopher. She’s resigned herself to this relatively lonely life but, ultimately, she’s the one who forges the strongest emotional connection to Christopher in the view of his often absent parents. Ultimately, she’s the one who raises him properly and certainly the one who looks out for him the most
4/5.
The Anonymous Critic.
In early 1920’s England at the height of WWII, playwright A. A. Milne (Domhnall Gleeson) suffers from PTSD due to his experiences in WWI. Determined to write an anti-war book, Milne moves from London to the countryside in Surrey against the wishes of his wife Daphne (Margot Robbie).
A. A. Begins to spend more time with his son Christopher Robin nicknamed “Billy Moon” (Will Tilston) which inspires him to create Winnie-the-Pooh and the Hundred Acre Woods.
But as A. A.’s creation becomes a literacy phenomenon, his decision to use Christopher’s name results in him becoming famous and he endures the cost of books success.
The plot is a wonderfully well rounded, heartwarming look at the creation of one of history’s most popular and successful literacy creations. It brilliantly draws parallels between what Milne was feeling at the time with how England as a country was feeling at that time which was this massive amount of grief and sadness over a lost generation of men that went out to fight in WW I and they came back either changed or not at all and Milne is a living emobodyment of that generation.
When Milne finds solace in his creation, so does England and eventually the whole world manage t find some kind of peace in Winnie-the-Pooh and proved to be the fountain of joy that everyone needed at that particular point in time.
It pulls no punches in showing the more darker edges of the story behind the literacy phenomenon that is Winnie-the-Pooh.
Goodbye Christopher Robin is also an unflinching, open eye look at how fame can negatively affect someone. As the Winnie-the-Pooh become more and more successful, Christopher Robin finds the fame overwhelming things no person of that age should ever have to deal with.
Director Simon Curtis’ direction is sensitive, the cinematography is beautiful and captures the beauty of 1940’s Surrey countryside, the production design (recreating 1940’s England) is the terrific and brilliantly detailed, the costumes are fabulous, the score by Carter Burwell is wonderfully whimsical and gets the films tone rights.
It’s a triumph for the acting, Domhnall Gleeson delivers a layered, multifaceted, affecting performance as A. A. Milne. When we first meet him, he’s clearly deeply traumatised by his experiences during WW I. What he saw during the Battle of the Somme affected him to his core and as a result he experiences recurring flashbacks to these experiences (what we would now refer to as PTSD). Loud noises remind him heavily of explosions and gunfire and he’s persistently dogged by the sound of buzzing bees which remind him of flies which surrounded the corpses that he saw.
Because of theses experiences, he became so determined that he shirks the comedic plays he’s been writing to pursue writing an anti-war book.
He’s somewhat reserved in his own way but who’s also haunted by what he saw and that certainly doesnt help with his behaviour. That withdrawn nature is very and he’s trying to reconcile
The relationship he develops between Billy Moon feels ernest and completely natural
Margot Robbie is simply fabulous as Daphne, A. A.’s wife. Robbie plays what is inherently a very despicable character but Robbie seems to be very much aware of that and never shies away from that and attacks this role with a certain degree of assertiveness and fearlessness and makes a very valiant attempt to try to portray this character, not as a truly horrid person/one-dimensional stereotypes, but as a complicated woman with (like Milne) deep-seated emotional issues. Margot displays all the signs of post depression.
Even before Christopher is born, Alan and Daphne’s relationship is tested by the war, not just in Alan's change of character upon his return from the war but also the fact that she’s been at home waiting for him to come back, not knowing wether he actually will or not. Having a son in the form of Christopher was something she really didn’t want. She wanted a girl and the reason for this is because the time she spent waiting for A. A. to return, she sense that this isn’t going to be the final war and that there’s going to be another one and inevitably their son will have to go ad fight which is something she really doesnt want. So she treats Christopher very much as if he were a girl and dresses him accordingly. Even his haircut is quite feminine.
Daphne is very much a product of the time in that she’s this high society woman who goes to these lavish parties in London and they are her world and she’s resentful at being torn away from that. Neither the film or the character try to justify her actions, they just present it as it was just how it was in those days.
The film makes it abundantly clear that in those days it was perfectly acceptable to have a baby and leave it with the nanny and go back into this circle and neither she nor A. A. really consider the emotional abandonment that they’re broadcasting to their son.
Robbie’s performance isn’t one that’s filled with emotion, she doesn’t show any vulnerability because that isn’t the way she was raised. If she’s feeling something she will tell you directly to your face no matter what. She doesn’t sugarcoat it in any way. At the same time, however, when she does actually interact with Christopher and plays with him, Robbie very ernestly and effectively conveys this warm motherly presence and her playful side does aid in the creation of Winnie the Pooh.
Kelly Macdonald, however, is the heart and soul of the film playing Olive, Christopher Robin’s nanny. Macdonald superbly plays the maternal, caring, warm surrogate mother figure to Christopher. She finds a sense of purpose in raising Christopher. She’s resigned herself to this relatively lonely life but, ultimately, she’s the one who forges the strongest emotional connection to Christopher in the view of his often absent parents. Ultimately, she’s the one who raises him properly and certainly the one who looks out for him the most
4/5.
The Anonymous Critic.
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