To Olivia

One of the first , if not the first book I ever read was Charlie And The Chocolate Factory. A brilliant book that I still hold dear to my heart . Ronald Dahl had a fantastic talent that not many authors had but there is so much about the man that I never knew . Until now

In 1962, Patricia Neal and Roald Dahl retreat to the English countryside to bring up their young family. The seemingly unlikely pair find their relationship put to the test by a tragic loss.

Firstly I had no idea that he was married to Patricia Neal . The sultry older woman to Paul Newman's Hud . A brilliant film that I only watched for the first time this year .

Secondly i didn't know about the tragedy in his life and how it affected him and his family so badly.

Although this does delve into the writing of Charlie and the Chocolate factory and the Patricia's Oscar winning performance in Hud , this is more about family and their grief .

It's about dealing with bereavement of a daughter and and how they got through the worst thing that can happen to a family .

Hugh Bonneville is great as Dahl as is Keeley Hawes as Patricia Neal.

The prosthetics on Bonneville take a little getting used to but you can see why they did it because the last thing you want is Roald Dahl to be a Robert Crawley from Downtown Abbey.

I really liked this and I can't quite get my head around the low ratings it has got . Perhaps I was more invested in the story that most people ?

It's an emotional story but jumps from scene to scene in parts which I found annoying. The young actress who played Tessa was excellent. Hugh Bonneville was fine as Dahl. Keeley Hawes, my absolutely favourite British actress, is a quintessential English rose and the American accent didn't suit her and wasn't very good. It's often the little things they get wrong that ruin an otherwise good film for me. The 2-year old boy appeared randomly, silent and unmoving and was barely mentioned.. When Roald threw a clod of earth at the window to attract Pat's attention, that clod moved about several times in the scenes that followed, sometimes disappearing altogether then returning in a different place. Don't they have continuity editors any more? Other than that, it was pleasant to watch with a decent storyline but I got a sense of a film that they'd rushed to get finished.

Probably not one for anyone born out of the British Isles this wonderful so call true tale of the then struggling Roald Dahl wonderfully portrayed by Hugh Bonneville yet outshone by the still glamorous Keeley Hawes as the Anglo American Actress Patricia Neal.

Without being too sickly in love or without being to turbulent it shows a strained marriage that is rocked with tragedy, one i am just learning about by watching the film.

The two young girls who played Olivia and Tessa ( now known as Sophie Dahl ) where really great.

As a kid growing up in the 70s and 80s Charlie, Danny, The Twits, Mrs Pepperpot , James etc were just a joy and i was always much more a Dahl reader than a Enid Blyton and her bloody Racist and not very PC Noddy books ,or the sickly famous five which i I only liked the border collie.

Back on topic, good acting, above average script. Not bad all round to say it was a SKY TV Exclusive. Cant understand reviews under 7 but i suppose some people dont understand just how important as a Briton and legend Roald Dahl is.

One for a rainy afternoon in lockdown times

My Review- To Olivia My Rating 7/10

I've read various descriptions of this movie made in 2021 mostly describing it as depicting the tumultuous marriage between author Roald Dahl and Oscar winning Hollywood actress Patricia Neil.

Both roles impressively played by Hugh Bonneville as Roald Dahl and Keeley Hawes as Patricia Neal, who also gives an impressive performance . However I thought in this case Keeley Hawes a little too British to play the Kentucky born famous American actress with a very distinctive voice.

I disagree with the simplicity of labelling this emotional story just as a the story of a tumultuous marriage .

It was a marriage that lasted 30 years in which the couple survived the tragedy of a brain damaged son then the loss of their eldest daughter Olivia at the age of seven from encephalitis caused by measles .

Then later Patricia Neal suffered three burst cerebral aneurysms while pregnant in 1965 and was in a coma for 3 weeks.

Roald Dahl who was fascinated by medicine assisted in his wife's recovery by pushing Patricia Neal back to normalcy with six hours of mental and physical exercise every day.

The timeline that this movie portrays in their marriage takes place earlier in the 1960's at a tumultuous time in both their lives .

Roald Dahl's writing success was minimal compared to his famous wife Patricia Neal who is offered the movie role that she eventually won her best actress Oscar for cast as Alma Brown opposite Paul Newman in the 1963 hit movie Hud.

It explores the couples shared grief which eventually becomes a source of redemption and strength, ultimately leading Dahl to write the renowned classic "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." Directed by John Hay who co wrote the script with David Logan To Olivia is based on a novel by film historian Stephen Michael Shearer titled An Unquiet Life.

I enjoyed this movie as I think anyone interested in film history but I wonder if the novel is better than the movie.

I don't want to say to much about what happens, I suppose the trailer does say. This is a film about a famous couple in the 60's dealing with their grief when losing a child. The pain, the loss the love. A loving family trying to pick up the pieces, to regain their strength and stay a family for the rest of their children. This is a moving and sad movie but really good about a very famous couple. Very well acted by all the cast.