Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Unwritten truths
‘‘ Bonneville never glosses over Dahl’s selfishness, while Hawes is exasperated
TO OLIVIA Cert PG ★★★ On Sky Cinema and NOW TV now
Films about famous novelists always face the same problem. Whether they’re hammering away at a typewriter, scribbling on a notepad or tapping away on a keyboard, writing will always be stubbornly un-cinematic.
In this Roald Dahl biopic, writing is a little more high octane. Dahl (Hugh Bonneville) is trying to knock out Charlie and the Chocolate Factory while his marriage is falling apart, the bills are piling up and he’s hammered on whisky.
And these days, people moan about the challenges of working from home. A stylish animated sequence under the opening credits traces the paths of dashing fighter pilot Dahl, and Hollywood star Patricia Neal (Keeley Hawes) to a meeting at a New York party in 1951.
The live action begins 10 years later when they are living in a “rickety old tub” of a house in Great Missenden, in Buckinghamshire, with their three young children Olivia (Darcey Ewart), Tessa (Isabella Jonsson) and Theo (Alfie and Tommy James Hardy).
Neal and Dahl are wonderful parents but their careers have stalled.
James and the Giant Peach has just flopped and the plum roles have dried up for Neal. Then disaster strikes when their
seven-year-old daughter Olivia dies of measles.
Dahl can’t process his grief, numbing his pain with booze and shouting at poor little Tessa.
It all comes to a head when an exhausted Neal flees to Hollywood with the kids for a part in a new Paul Newman movie called Hud.
This domestic drama feels more suited to an episode of a TV series than a standalone movie but the excellent performances keep us watching.
Bonneville never tries to gloss over Dahl’s selfish nature, while Hawes lets us feel Neal’s exasperation.
We care about them because we believe in them.