"I've had enough of making people laugh. I want to make them see."
Filmology Rating: 3 out of 4
In my world, Winnie the Pooh is the most important character in fiction. I grew up reading the stories about Pooh and all of his friends in the Hundred Acre Wood, and at times I still at times go back to those stories. Those characters bring us back to a time of innocence which I find myself craving more often these days with a world around us in perpetual conflict.
Alan Alexander Milne, more commonly known as A.A. Milne; played by Domhnall Gleeson, has returned from The Great War grieving about the horrors that he saw. He finds writing to be pointless since he feels he cannot contribute anything to society to make wars end. His writing block infuriates his wife Daphne, played by Margot Robbie. She storms out saying that she has not been given the life she was promised. Daphne leaves Milne with their young son Christopher, played by Will Tilston. Milne and his son spend the next few days in the woods surrounding their estate where Christopher introduces his father to all of the creatures living in the woods which gives Milne the idea for his next book.
From the moment the film starts you realize that you are in for a somber film that will at one moment lift you up to amazing heights and the next it will drop you like a rock heading toward the ground at full speed, with nothing to break your fall. The first image that you see from cinematographer Ben Smithard, who shot My Week with Marilyn and Belle is something that should bring serenity to most people. The woods with the sunlight breaking through the tree branches to paint an elegant landscape is simply relaxing but then when the score by Carter Burwell, who composed scores for Anomalisa and Fargo, creates this melancholy tone that you cannot help but feel like you shouldn’t be happy looking at the picturesque image. The first thirty seconds of Goodbye Christopher Robin capture the entire film; the theft of a childhood, the idealism that eventually consumes us into the very thing we swore we were against, the beauty that is truly a monster.
Domhnall Gleeson continues to prove he is one of the best working actors, yet sadly most people will never actually remember him. Even in films where he has only a few minutes of screentime like mother! you will still be impacted by the performance he gives. Gleeson captured my attention with his heartbreaking performance in About Time and since he has gone on to star in blockbusters and independent films alike, giving memorable performances in each one. Playing A.A. Milne is Gleeson giving a different kind of performance, one that is more subdue, filled with internal conflict that you see with every frustrated glance he gives. Sadly the first film that comes to mind when I think about Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is Iron Man 3 and how shamefully they solved the issue in that film. I’m happy to say that this film will now be the film I go to when talking about that subject matter. The sudden bursts of anger and at times violence that Gleeson has when Milne is triggered are incredibly frightening and sad to watch. You cannot help but feel empathy for the horrors that he felt. Fighting in the War to End All Wars, only to know in his truest of hearts that war is in human nature and it will continue, especially when he cannot reason why the battles were fought. I myself cannot even explain WWI a hundred years after the battles were fought. His frustration and anger are not misguided. The aspect in which Milne was misguided was his infatuation with Daphne Milne, played by Margot Robbie.
Margot Robbie is one of the actresses whom I claim to never like, my usually go to line is “I just can’t understand the appeal,” when in actuality I understand the appeal. Robbie has that classic movie star beauty that reminds everyone of the golden age of Hollywood, and she is usually gives good performances; however she is normally in low quality films like Suicide Squad and Focus. Goodbye Christopher Robin might not offer the best performance given by Robbie, but it easily offers her a quality film. The issue with the performance is either a script issue or a real life issue. Nothing about Daphne Milne is likeable, to those in the literary community. She reminded me of Zelda Fitzgerald. Rather wreckloose, and really only caring about her own standing in the world and not of her husband’s or son’s. She truly makes for the closest thing this film has for a villain, but you never see her get her comeuppance, while probably being true to life, makes for a frustrating story.
Once the actual book is released the film loses track of what the story is about. Is the film about an author who wants to find escapism for a world in conflict? Is it about a child who is being ignored by his parents who use his imagination to make a profit? The film is obviously about both but it has a terrible time of balancing the two. You need more time with Milne to understand his logic to decide if he was manipulative or ignorant to what he is doing to his son. As a person who tries to empathize with everyone, I must side more with Christopher. He was raised in isolation with little contact with his family and then thrust headfirst into the spotlight. Not only was he robbed of his childhood memories that he created one day with his father, but he is robbed of a family, the basic necessity that every young child deserves. Since the majority of the film however if from the viewpoint of Milne rather than his son’s, the film feels incomplete without understanding his point of view. Fame doesn’t seem to have any value to Milne nor does money, so why would he do something so manipulative. The film needed to explore his side of the story since anyone with a conscience can understand the negative impact the fame is having on the young child. In case you somehow missed the robbing of the childhood you have Kelly Macdonald, who gives a great performance, breaking down and explaining how Christopher is a child who needs to still be a child.
I will always be grateful to A.A. Milne for bringing his son’s world to the populous, while the act itself was perhaps unintentionally immoral the outcome for the world was for the greater good. At times the most beautiful things the world can create come from the most heartbreaking situations.
Rating: Rent It
-Jonny G