Her magical journey

IF YOU ARE A HARRY POTTER FAN, DON’T MISS THE J.K. ROWLING’S BIOPIC ON NETFLIX

Not only kids but also many adults have binge-read the Harry Potter series. If you have been curious about the author J.K. Rowling’s life, then her biopic on Netflix, Magic Beyond Words: The JK Rowling Story, will hook you instantly.

The biopic talks about how her agent Chris had advised the critically acclaimed author not to use her name, Joanna — an indication of her gender on the book. He reasoned that boys would not read a children’s book written by a female author even if the protagonist was a male. So, Joanna opted for the initial alphabets of her name and added on her mother Katherine’s name. Thus was born J.K. Rowling, a single mum struggling to survive on assistance and dreaming of that ideal job even as she secretly wrote the last book of the sevenbook series in advance.

Rowling’s dramatic journey is brought to life by Poppy Montgomery, the

Australian–American actress, who excels in the emotional scenes, and portrays the trials and tribulations of a young Joanna’s experiences with remarkable sensitivity.

The breakdown scene when Joanna loses her mother Anne Volant to multiple sclerosis, the humiliation she undergoes while being brutally assaulted by her first husband Jorge Arantas, a Portuguese television journalist, with whom she has a daughter Jessica, etc. hit you hard despite the fact that much of Rowling’s personal experiences are out in the public domain.

Her disillusionment with her father Peter Rowling, who remarried within a year of his wife’s passing away, is reflected by his absence in the movie post his remarriage. Rowling, who graduated in languages from the University of Exeter, finds herself quitting multiple jobs as she remains deeply unsatisfied with her profession. Her brief disastrous marriage to Jorge during her stint as an English language teacher sees her returning home with her infant daughter.

This is when the author struggles to survive on a weekly state assistance of 69 pounds. Her desperation to find a home for her daughter and herself and the conviction with which she assures the real-estate agent of her desire to give Jessica a good life will find resonance with single mums across the world.

The charm sets off after her sister Diana convinces Rowling to send her book for publishing after she calls it ‘magical’. But her struggle continues as her books find an agent, Christopher Little, who is convinced by his assistant to read the book.

After numerous rejections, the manuscript finds a publisher, Bloomsbury, and the magic for Rowling truly begins. The biopic does leave some unanswered questions. Not much is known about her sister. But one is left wondering, why given that she appears to have been in a better place financially, did she not help Joanna?

Also, the documentary doesn’t explore the love story between Joanna and her husband Neil Murray. Instead, he is merely introduced as her fiancée who accompanies her to the first movie adaptation of her book.

However, the overall effect is so impactful that it ends up with new found respect for the author.

Rowling’s dramatic journey is brought to life by Poppy Montgomery, who excels in the emotional scenes, and portrays the trials and tribulations of a young Joanna’s experiences