Friday, August 10, 2018

Goodbye Christopher Robin

As I have been stuck at home with a dreaded viral infection of the horrible kind, I have alas not been able to view any further film festival movies.  I today was able to manage to actually sit up for a few hours in the living room, and watch the movie Goodbye Christopher Robin, which I had been meaning to see for some time.

In this biographical movie, we get to see the relationship between Christopher Robin, and his parents, Alan Milne a playwright suffering after serving in World War 1, and his beautiful but distant mother.  We see that his main source of comfort is the nanny who cares for him for most of his youth, although I wonder how true this representation was - in my mind a father writing such a book as Winnie the Pooh and When We Were Young must have had a deep deep love and understanding of play than the cold and aloof father portrayed in the movie. 

Still the young actor playing Christopher Robin was riveting to watch, and the beautiful forest and home were lovely (which I hope were English).  I can imagine in making this movie that balance between drama and magic was a difficult balance - I was just hoping for a few more reflective moments, some more visuals to stick with me.  I did love one of the final photos - of Christopher Robins real toys - the real Pooh, Eyeore, Tigger, Piglet and Roo that now live in the New York Public Library.  3/5


1 comment:

John Bellen said...

I don't know much about Milne himself, but I do know that his relationship with his son was very strained, though he wanted it to be better. I think the boy grew up thinking that his father thought him more as a character to advertise than as a son, which was probably a grave misunderstanding. Rather a sad tale, really.