Goodbye, Christopher Robin

                 While I expected Loving to be a terribly sad movie and it wasn’t, the opposite turned out to be true for Goodbye, Christopher Robin.  It was a very sad film, but still one worth seeing.       

                Playwright A.A. Milne (Domhnall Gleeson) is struggling with the horrors he experienced during the first world war.  His wife, Daphne (Margot Robbie), doesn’t understand what he’s going through, nor does she even want to attempt to.  A self-absorbed woman, life does not exactly go smoothly for Daphne and Milne.  When Daphne becomes pregnant, things become even worse.

                The delivery of her son, Christopher, was difficult.  Then, out of fear of losing someone she loves, Daphne declares she will not have any more children.  Nor will she become close to the one she does have.  All the care Christopher needs will be handled by a nanny.

                At first the Milne family and their nanny, Olive (Kelly Macdonald), live in London.  When Milne’s writing struggles continue to increase, he decides to move everyone to the country.  This decision does not sit well with Daphne for long.  She loves the action of the city and being the center of attention.  With Milne still not writing, Daphne leaves him and Christopher until her husband starts writing again.  This wouldn’t be so bad, but not long later Olive must leave to take care of her sick mother, leaving Milne to care for Christopher (Will Tilston) all by himself.

                Things between Milne and his son get off to a rough start as Milne has no idea how to care for a young child.  It is when they start to play together with the stuffed animals Daphne has given Christopher that things start to improve.  They come up with stories together.  Stories that Milne writes down and turns into a book.  This is where the problems for Christopher really start to begin.

                The book, Winnie-the-Pooh, is a huge success, with everyone wanting to meet Christopher Robin.  Christopher, even at his young age, keeps saying he is not Christopher Robin.  That boy is fictional, but no one will listen to him.  His parents insist Christopher go on interviews and make public appearances.  Daphne believes all this attention is her due, and Milne does nothing to stop her.  Only Olive tries to defend Christopher against the attention.  In fact, it is her support of Christopher and her desire to get married that eventually causes Olive to leave her position.

                Life does not improve for Christopher until Milne sees it is time to end things.  Then a whole new set of bad situations arise.  That’s because Milne sends Christopher off to a boarding school where he is constantly bullied for being who he is.  Christopher (Alex Lawther) makes it through school and quickly enlists in the military for the second world war.  While fighting, Christopher is declared either missing or dead.  This is news his parents believe to be true, which is why it is so shocking when Christopher walks up their road one day, alive.

                Both parents are happy to see Christopher, but it is Olive who is truly happy.  She has lived nearby the entire time Christopher grew up, and has never forgotten him.

                Even though Olive left her position when Christopher was still pretty young, I was glad to find out her love and support was with him through all the rough things he had to deal with.  She seemed to always have his best interests at heart.  If Olive hadn’t been around, I hate to think of what might have happened to Christopher.  This could have ended up being an even more tragic story.