The latest in the series of children’s book author biopics.
While biopics are a dime a dozen in Hollywood with most people’s lives, both notorious and obscure, ripe for cinematic examination, it’s the life of the children’s book author which seems to occupy a special niche in film. Each one seems to offer up their own take on their creator’s life and inspiration for the work which made them famous, hoping to score tears and acclaim in the process. Finding Neverland examined J.M. Barrie’s kinship with a fatherless family, Miss Potter honed in on Beatrix Potter’s early liberal ways, while Saving Mr. Banks looked at the troubled childhood of P.L. Travers and the woman who helped her through it. Goodbye Christopher Robin is the newest in this line with it’s impeccable casting, stunning production qualities and blacklist cited screenplay. While it may not gain much momentum in a time when every third film released seems to be based on someone’s life story, the film does just enough right to earn a movie lover’s time, attention and yes, tears.
In Goodbye Christopher Robin, the life of British playwright A.A. “Alan” Milne (Domhnall Gleeson) is examined beginning with his return from WWI with PTSD, to his marriage to Daphne (Margot Robbie), to the birth of their son Christopher Robin, nicknamed Billie Moon (Will Tilston). Unable to cope in London, let alone write, Alan moves his family to the English countryside where he intends to work on a book about the downside of war. When Daphne heads to London for a brief stay and the couple’s nanny Olive (Kelly Macdonald) is called away as well, Alan is put in charge of his son. Over the course of their time together, which includes playful escapades in the surrounding woods, the two bond and Alan is inspired to write a series of stories inspired by him and his collection of stuffed animals. Eventually the stories become a worldwide success, thrusting the young boy into the limelight.
Goodbye Christopher Robin works best when it functions as a father/son bonding tale. Once the women in their lives have gone and the two are left to their own devices, the gifts the two receive from each other are plentiful as both finally get to discover each other. Billie sees his father beyond the brooding figure in the study who mustn’t be disturbed and recognizes his creative instincts. For his part, Alan sees the world through his son’s eyes, and what once was dark and foreboding suddenly becomes imaginative, beautiful and pure. This is seen as the two play in a make-believe snowfall or dream up scenarios with the youngster’s stuffed animals. While they both see each other as father and son, they also find common ground based on their limitless imaginations and how they each make the other bring their’s to life. Through each other, the two form a bond that it uniquely theirs and consequently, the two view the world outside in ways they never otherwise would have. It’s a series of touching scenes filled with moment after moments of safe innocence that much like childhood, you wish could last forever.
Those moments end when Alan’s stories of Christopher Robin and Winnie the Pooh are published and become a runaway smash. While an attempt is made to shield young Billie from it all, the public eventually declares the young boy to be the real Christopher Robin and make him almost as famous as the characters his father created. While Daphne feeds into this, Alan expresses reservations before eventually giving in himself, allowing his son to be photographed continuously and attend a variety of events such as a tea party with contest winners. The saddest moment occurs on Billie’s birthday when an absent Alan (overseas promoting his work in America) delivers a birthday phone call to his son which is soon revealed as being broadcast live on the radio. It’s here where the film’s tone becomes horribly jarring. Though capably made by director Simon Curtis, Goodbye Christopher Robin can’t help but feels both invasive and uncomfortable once the public is let in. As a result, the audience feels much like the young Billie; confused, lost and wishing it could be just him and father once more.
Gleeson turns in one of the most accomplished performances of his evolving career as the complicated author. He doesn’t shy away from throwing himself into his character’s fragile state of mind and the struggle to be the kind of artist and man his family deserves him to be. Robbie’s role is one of the film’s trickiest, but she captivatingly speaks to the generation of women who coped the best they could as they sent husbands off to one war and their sons off to another. Macdonald’s role seems throwaway at first, but is eventually revealed to be full of life and soul, accentuated by the lovely way the actress brings it to life. Finally, Tilston is a casting agent’s dream and brings the playful wonder of Billie Moon to life while Alex Lawther as his grown up counterpart channels his bitterness and resentment.
Goodbye Christopher Robin does have its problematic side to it. To begin with, so many of the events depicted in the film feels so rushed and compressed. The biggest of these is in the overall journey of Daphne, which no one seems to really care about. But this isn’t her story. It’s the story of her husband, son and the bond the two created together. This is a film about the compromising of a childhood, of an innocence that was sacrificed so that countless children around the world should have their own; and ultimately, Goodbye Christopher Robin is the story of a parent and child coming to a peace and understanding with one another.
