Movie Review – To Olivia (2021)

To Olivia, 2021.

Directed by John Hay.
Starring Hugh Bonneville, Keeley Hawes, Sam Heughan, Conleth Hill, Isabella Jonsson, Darcey Ewart and Bodhi Marsan.

SYNOPSIS:

Roald Dahl and his spouse – actor Patricia Neal – wrestle to reinvigorate their artistic careers following the demise of their eldest daughter.

Roald Dahl is among the most beloved kids’s authors of all time and the characters he created encourage different media at an unimaginable price. Final 12 months introduced a brand new adaptation of The Witches, whereas the long-running Matilda musical is quickly heading to the massive display and Netflix is engaged on a tonne of latest Dahl initiatives. His creations are timeless, however what of the creator himself? Veteran TV director John Hay makes the leap to films with To Olivia, which follows one of many tougher years in Dahl’s life.

The movie begins with the Dahl household ensconced inside their Buckinghamshire dwelling. Roald (Hugh Bonneville) has just lately printed James and the Large Peach and is at the moment engaged on a fantastical story set at a chocolate manufacturing unit. Cue at the least a half-dozen excruciating winks and nudges about how gobstoppers “by no means final lengthy sufficient” and conferences with grasping youngsters referred to as “Augustus”. Dahl and spouse Patricia Neal (Keeley Hawes) are plunged into grief when their seven-year-old daughter Olivia passes away after contracting encephalitis attributable to measles.

There’s definitely one thing additional poignant about To Olivia within the wake of 2020, telling because it does a narrative about immense and thrilling creativity being born from the ashes of grief. Hay’s movie, thoughtfully scripted by the director and co-writer David Logan, unpicks the fragments of a shattered household and, regardless of its mild biopic trappings, doesn’t draw back from the pressures of grief upon a wedding, and certainly on Dahl’s relationship together with his different kids. Isabella Jonsson is especially good as Tessa, who bristles with anger at her perception she will be able to by no means stay as much as the way in which her father felt about Olivia.

Bonneville does a stable job of navigating the contradictions of Dahl. He sparks with anger within the extra tense scenes, but additionally bursts with avuncular allure when the event requires it. At occasions, his cosy jumpers and twinkling heat are virtually related in tone to the work of Tom Hanks in A Stunning Day within the Neighbourhood, and that’s by no means an disagreeable factor to be reminded about. Hawes, in the meantime, is superb as a between-roles Neal, although her half is baffling underwritten contemplating the actual fact the supply materials just isn’t a biography of Dahl, however certainly one of Neal. She spends a lot of the second half of the film performing towards a god-awful inexperienced display model of Sixties LA.

But it surely’s the primary half of the movie which actually works, sketching out the familial bliss of the Dahl’s rural escape after which forcing grief into it with savage vitality. The palette of Graham Frake’s sunny cinematography noticeably darkens when tragedy strikes and, although some visible symbolism involving birds lands with as a lot thud because the Dahl references, there’s an emotional reality to the storytelling which is certainly price appreciating. Debbie Wiseman’s rating delivers an evocative, poignant accompaniment to the opening credit, however sadly serves as a clunky and heavy-handed emotional signpost for a lot of the narrative.

Anybody hoping for a movie uncovering the extra troubling parts of Dahl – his love of booze by no means figures as a lot because it appears prone to early on, and there’s no point out of his abhorrent antisemitic views – might be dissatisfied by To Olivia. But it surely’s an intriguing and poignant portrait of grief, even when it does really feel relatively missing within the sharp edges that would’ve made it really memorable. It’s not the definitive Dahl biopic many could have anticipated, however this was at all times one thing extra centered – and it does that job properly, if unspectacularly.

Flickering Delusion Ranking – Movie: ★ ★ ★ / Film: ★ ★ ★

Tom Beasley is a contract movie journalist and wrestling fan. Observe him on Twitter via @TomJBeasley for film opinions, wrestling stuff and puns.