A good woman (Helen Hunt)

(Amazon UK link)

It’s over eleven years since we watched the DVD of the 2004 film ‘A good woman’, and we had both forgotten everything about it. As the story progressed, I remembered that it was an adaptation - or a film based on - the Oscar Wilde play ‘Lady Windermere’s fan’. But since I’m not familiar with the play, it didn’t help me recall any details of the film.

A woman called Mrs Erlynne (Helen Hunt) is really the main protagonist of this film, which is set in the 1930s. We meet her leaving New York where she has a lot of unpaid debts. And we quickly learn that she’s the kind of woman who attracts men, usually married ones. There’s a lot of gossip about her, much of it accurate.

The action moves to the Amalfi coast in Italy.  A young couple - Lord Windermere (Mark Umbers) and his American wife Meg (Scarlett Johansson) - are having a long holiday there. They’ve been married for a year, and she’s about to celebrate her 21st birthday. They are clearly devoted to each other, but Mrs Erlynne has her sights set on them… and we start seeing him arriving, secretly, at her house, followed by writing cheques to her. 

Goodbye Christopher Robin (Will Tilston)

(Amazon UK link)

I’m not quite sure why Amazon recommended the film ‘Goodbye Christopher Robin’ to me, but I’m very glad they did. I put it on my wishlist about six months ago, and was given it last Christmas. We watched it last night, and were totally mesmerised. It’s one of the best films we’ve seen for a long time.

It’s based on the true story of AA Milne, author of the two books about Winnie-the-Pooh and two books of children’s poems. We knew very little about the author before watching this. It’s entirely possible that there were inaccuracies or artistic license taken. But the extras at the end, and a little research done today suggest that, in essence, the film is very true to life.

Young Will Tilston is the star of this film, as the young Christopher Robin. It was his first role in a film, yet he is entirely believable. But the story starts shortly before he was born (after an initial sequence showing his parents, rather older, receiving a telegram). Alan (Domhnall Gleeson) and Daphne (Margot Robbie) are the parents concerned, known to all as Blue and Daff. Alan has just returned from World War I, without physical injury but with quite serious post-traumatic stress. This gives him flashbacks and terrors that his wife finds difficult to deal with.

Daphne is delighted to find that she is pregnant, but the birth is traumatic. She doesn’t know what to expect, and she is devastated to give birth to a boy. She’s terrified that he will go off to war one day, and refuses, at first, to bond with him. Alan isn’t at all sure what to make of the baby either. His handling is amusingly awkward. And when the baby is six weeks old, the parents go to Italy for a holiday without him, leaving him in the care of his new nanny, Olive (Kelly Macdonald). It seems shocking to us in the 21st century, but was evidently not unusual for a hundred years ago.

Christopher Robin is known as Billy Moon to his family and nurse. He has quite a happy childhood, cared for very well by Olive. He is given many gifts by his parents, including large numbers of stuffed animals who are the inspiration for Winnie-the-Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore and the rest. Daphne likes to play with her son sometimes, and is very good at animal voices. But she’s a socialite and quite selfish, and much more interested in having fun. Alan is a writer who has felt blocked since the war. This causes a great deal of tension between him and Daphne, particularly after they move out of London to the countryside.

Circumstances force Alan to take more notice of his son and the two of them start to bond in some quite moving scenes. Christopher Robin asks his father to write a book for him, and is thrilled - at first - when the book takes shape, illustrated by his father’s close friend Ernest (Stephen Campbell Moore). The film becomes lighter as they play ‘Pooh-sticks’ on a bridge, climb trees and play games in the woods.

The first book, when published, is far more successful than anyone could have imagined. It caught the imagination of the UK public, and eventually the rest of the world. It’s explained as a kind of childhood innocence, something that people are longing for after the horrors of the war, and the resultant depression and widespread starvation.

Then the press get involved, wanting photos and interviews. Olive tries to protect her charge, but Daphne is keen on publicity. As becomes gradually clearer, her son is something of a pawn, drawn into more and more public appearances. As this happens, he feels less and less as if his parents really care for him.

His teenage years are shown only briefly, with some horrendous bullying. Fame has done him no good at all with his peers, and he emerges from school a bitter, angry young man (played extremely well by Alex Lawther). He then signs up for the army, at the start of the second world war, and we don’t know what the outcome will be until almost the end.

It could have been a depressing story. But it’s extremely well made, with acting so realistic that we were drawn right into the film. Our emotions were tugged, feeling for Christopher Robin who really only wants to be loved. He comes across as a thoroughly nice, caring child who is willing to do almost anything if it will make his parents care.

As well as being an excellent film, it was eye-opening as far as the real AA Milne and Christopher Robin were concerned. I had not really thought of them as three-dimensional people before, nor what fame of this kind might have done to an impressionable, cute and young-looking child. Indeed, I hope that the young actor will not suffer in a similar way for his instant stardom.

‘Goodbye Christopher Robin’ is rated PG, which is fair, but not necessarily helpful. There’s nothing ‘adult’, nor any nudity, and only the very mildest of bad language. But there are some quite gruesome war shots, and some other scenes or moments that could be disturbing to a young child. I wouldn’t really recommend it to anyone below the age of about twelve.

However, the scenery is gorgeous, the settings realistic and the pace exactly right to hold our interest without racing through the story. All in all, we thought it a wonderful film. There are ‘extras’ with brief cameos of some of the main actors and a bit more background, which we enjoyed watching afterwards.

Highly recommended to adults and teenagers, though it may change the way you think about AA Milne's children's books in future.

Review copyright 2020 Sue's DVD Reviews

A Good Woman (Helen Hunt, Scarlett Johansson)

(Amazon UK link)

This is another DVD which I had not heard of, but which Amazon recommended to me. Possibly this is because I like ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’. I didn’t really know anything about the actors in it. I was given it for my recent birthday, and had forgotten, until I glanced at the back, that it’s based on one of Oscar Wilde’s books, ‘Lady Windermere’s Fan’.

The start of ‘A Good Woman’, which is set in 1930, is a bit confusing. The elegant Mrs Erlynne (Helen Hunt) escapes New York after running up a series of debts; it’s clear from the comments around her that she’s had a series of affairs with married men. She decides to go to the Amalfi coast. 

Lord and Lady Windermere, a young and devoted married couple (Scarlett Johanssen and Mark Umbers) are there too for the season, and another young man, the charming Lord Darlington (Stephen Cambpell Moore) flirts with Lady Windermere.

All set in upper-class society, with everyone speaking in the same accent and dressing the same kind of way, it was rather hard to tell who was whom at times. I did find myself wondering whether it was going to be worth watching, but gradually it started to make more sense.

Mrs Erlynne seems to be attracted to young Lord Windermere, and he starts visiting her house, much to the consternation - and delight - of the locals, who are convinced they are having an affair. Lady Windermere has no idea at first, until she discovers that he’s been writing some rather large cheques…

It’s something of a comedy of errors, with lots of asides and implications, secret assignations and hints that are not explained until the end. It’s quite a clever plot, and although I’d heard of the Wilde play, I didn’t know the story. The fan - a generous gift from Lady Windermere’s husband - plays a significant part in the story, leading to near disaster towards the end.

It’s light and a bit fluffy, amusing in places, poignant in a few. The scenery is good, the acting sound, the pace about right. We had wanted to watch something that didn’t require too much thought, and which wouldn’t leave us drained with emotion, and ‘A Good Woman’ fit the bill nicely; it was quite uplifting in the end.

The PG rating is reasonable enough; there’s no bad language, no violence and no bedroom scenes. However the storyline is about the affairs of the upper classes and there are plenty of implications; still, I can’t imagine anyone under the age of about fourteen being interested in this.

Review copyright 2015 Sue's DVD Reviews