To Olivia (2021)

 

Poster Description: On the right: To Olivia is written in pretty green text with “The true story of Roald Dahl and Patricia Neal” floating in a blue sky. Wearing a long coat and floppy hat, Roald playfully chases Olivia in the foggy garden, surrounded by trees and his little white shed. On the left: Roald stares off into the distance, wearing a white shirt and green jumper. Patricia’s side profile is below him, moulding with the shape of his shoulder. She wears darker colours and looks sombre. “Only on Sky cinema February 19” is written in red and white in the middle on the bottom.

The Director: John Hay

The Cast:

Hugh Bonneville – Roald Dahl

Keeley Hawes – Patricia Neal

Darcey Ewart – Olivia Dahl

Isabella Jonsson – Tessa Dahl

Alfie Hardy & Tommy James Hardy – Theo Dahl

Geoffrey Palmer – Geoffrey Fisher

Conleth Hill - Marty Rett

Sam Heughan – Paul Newman

Certificate: PG

Released to Sky Cinemas: 19^th February 2021

The Plot:

For Roald Dahl (Bonneville, Paddington 2) and his wife Patricia (Hawes, It’s A Sin), life isn’t as easy as they had hoped. Roald’s first novel was only marginally successful, and Patricia struggles to juggle her acting career and motherhood. When their oldest daughter dies, their family is turned upside down.

The Review:

Adapted from Patricia Neal’s biography, the opening credits are accompanied by a lovely, animated juxtaposition of Neal’s glamourous Hollywood career and Dahl’s bleak time during the Second World War. Bonneville balances an intimidating presence in size and voice with playfulness, particularly towards children. During a James and the Giant Peach read-through, Roald jumps down to their level on the floor and challenges them to spit peach stones onto the stage. I enjoyed the knowing look that passes between him and a boy (prophetically named Augustus) whose father likes the sound of his own voice. It effectively establishes the dynamic between Roald and Patricia when they play a trick on the man, who is too busy being starstruck by her to realise she is married. The chemistry between Bonneville and Hawes carries the film effortlessly.

 

Image Description: (Left) Roald and Patricia (right) stand face-to-face in a hallway. Roald wears a brown plaid scarf and jacket, and Patricia smiles with her white silk-gloved hand on his chest. She wears a black hat and a high-collared maroon coat with a plunging neckline.

The Dahl family is introduced through a voiceover from Bonneville. Though it is not stated in so many words, it is obvious which daughter Roald favoured. He takes Olivia to the chocolate shop, discussing novel ideas and her menagerie of birds (adorably named after angels). The foreshadowing is there, but the sweet ordinariness of the family draws you in. Olivia may be her daddy’s cheerleader in every game he creates, but the younger daughter Tessa (the brilliant Isabella Jonsson) is surprisingly cynical for her age. “Is this another one of your stories?” She asks Roald gloomily when told there are fairies in the garden.

The slight friction between Tessa and her father is exacerbated following Olivia’s death, which hits Roald hardest. While Patricia tries to keep the family afloat, her husband shuts his family out. The fights between Hawes and Bonneville are fraught, shockingly realistic, and often painful to watch. Nevertheless, Bonneville shines in these brutal scenes, drifting around without becoming a parody of depression, and Hawes offers empathetic brittleness.

Considering its base material, I expected more from Neal’s perspective. Her subplot of getting back into acting offers a bit of levity (mostly because it’s still a shock to see Conleth Hill with hair), but it feels a little tacked on towards the end. Had the film been a few minutes longer, there might have been more time to explore this.

The score is softly whimsical, in contrast to how the film doesn’t shy away from the family’s difficulties. I was shocked by how frequently Roald and Patricia argued around the children. In many ways, the film represents the marriage, balancing their grief and keeping some form of normality.

As aforementioned, I was impressed by Jonsson’s heart-breaking performance. The main contention between father and daughter in the film – and perhaps a symbol of their relationship – is a doll (so named Matilda). Roald packs Matilda away, just hours after Olivia’s funeral, and completely disregards Tessa’s insistence that the toy belongs to her. It is one of many moments that forces the audience to wonder where Roald’s rock-bottom will be.

Roald later decides to visit his old teacher, Geoffrey Fisher. As Palmer’s last role before his death, he is suitably pompous as a priest with stalwart belief about animals being allowed into heaven. Given that Olivia loved animals, you can imagine how well that went down with her parents.

“Why can’t you cry like a normal person?” Patricia demands of Roald wearily. He goes to his shed at the bottom of the garden to write where his younger self appears in school uniform every time. At one point, he quietly scolds Roald for drinking too much, but this notion offers little beyond that. Over the Christmas period, I saw Roald and Beatrix: The Tale of the Curious Mouse, which highlighted Roald’s tragic losses during his boyhood, which could have been discussed between both aspects of himself.

Image Description: Tessa sits on Roald’s lap. Her hair is a short blonde bob, and she wears a blue dressing gown. Roald has an arm around her, wearing a brown cardigan and open-necked shirt. While he looks cautiously happy, Tessa has her mouth wide open with joy.

You don’t have to be a fan of Roald Dahl’s work to appreciate To Olivia. Although it focuses too much on his side of the story, it is an introspective look at a family struggling with terrible grief and making the most of life alongside it. It’s certainly worth a watch.

The Verdict: 4 STARS OUT OF 5

The Sources:

To Olivia poster: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7598106/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0

Is Patricia Neal: An Unquiet Life a biography or autobiography: https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=patricia+neal+an+unquiet+life&adgrpid=119628424003&gclid=CjwKCAjwm7mEBhBsEiwA_of-THlQoYTaIW3pLn4lvmUPIErGEidV3Ozvmp1q0EadDdQkEs1ZS9p4rhoCMBwQAvD_BwE&hvadid=509886821755&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=1006826&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=1558964830180503429&hvtargid=kwd-345222615749&hydadcr=23996_1815437&tag=googhydr-21&ref=pd_sl_9skwws7sq4_e

When was Charlie and the Chocolate Family published?: https://www.biography.com/news/real-story-behind-charlie-and-the-chocolate-factory-roald-dahl

Image: Roald and Patricia: https://www.skygroup.sky/article/sky-announces-the-release-of-to-olivia-a-sky-original-in-cinemas-and-on-sky-cinema-in-february-2021

Family tragedy: https://www.roalddahl.com/roald-dahl/timeline/1920s/1920

Roald and Beatrix: The Case of the Curious Mouse: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13027478/

Image: Roald and Tessa: http://close-upfilm.co.uk/to-olivia-12a-review