Goodbye Christopher Robin(2017)

Storyline

• A rare glimpse into the relationship between beloved children's author A. A. Milne (Domhnall Gleeson) and his son Christopher Robin, whose toys inspired the magical world of Winnie the Pooh. Along with his mother Daphne (Margot Robbie), and his nanny Olive, Christopher Robin and his family are swept up in the international success of the books; the enchanting tales bringing hope and comfort to England after the First World War. But with the eyes of the world on Christopher Robin, what will the cost be to the family? — Fox Searchlight Pictures After fighting in World War 1, Alan Milne returns home to his wife Daphne and settles down to writing plays, poems and books. They have a son, whose nickname is Billy Moon. As Billy grows up, his and his father's wanderings in the woods near their home and their play-acting with Billy's toy animals becomes the inspiration for a series of books by Alan Milne. These books are among the most-loved and most sold children's books ever written - Winnie the Pooh. Alan Milne was better known in literary circles as AA Milne and his son was Christopher Robin Milne. — grantss The film begins during WWII in 1941, with Alan Alexander Milne - nicknamed "Blue" by his friends and family - and his wife Daphne receiving a distressing telegram at their home. It then changes time frame to 1916 during WWI with Blue fighting in the Battle of the Somme. He resumes his life with Daphne in England while suffering shell shock of occasional flashbacks to his battle experiences, and having a child with Daphne. She was hoping for a girl and is disappointed to instead have a son, whom they name Christopher Robin Milne but generally call "Billy Moon". They hire a nanny, Olive, whom Billy calls "Nou". Blue is having difficulty resuming his writing - he wants to draft a compelling treatise against war - and relocates the family to a house in the country with wooded acreage. Daphne resents the move and returns to London for an extended period. During that time, Olive goes to care for her dying mother and the cook takes some time off, leaving Blue and Billy to fend for themselves. Reluctantly at first, Blue takes Billy along on walks in the woods and begins making up stories about the boy's adventures with the stuffed animals the parents have bought for him. The lives of the Milne family - Alan Milne, better known as A.A. Milne , his wife Daphne Milne, and their only offspring Christopher, C.R. Milne - between the First and Second World Wars is dramatized. Within the family context, Alan and Christopher are generally referred to by their pet names of Blue and Billy Moon, respectively. Following WWI, Blue and Daphne's marriage is strained by their differences and by the effects of the war, Blue's military service which has led to Blue suffering from PTSD and Daphne emotional distress. Those differences include Blue's want to move to the country, Sussex, from London, forgoing his successful career as a playwright to write something more substantive along the lines of an anti-war manifesto, while Daphne, in her self-absorbed mentality, wants to retain an exciting life in London, with she considering her ultimate sacrifice being having a child, Billy Moon, which is only exacerbated by the difficulties of childbirth. As neither Blue or Daphne are mentally equipped to be parents, Billy Moon is largely under the care of a nanny, Olive Rand, who Billy Moon refers to as Nou. While there had been moments of love and affection within the family, one of the most prolonged is when Blue is forced to care for Billy Moon on his own, the two spending much time together in the woods coming up with stories about Billy Moon's stuffed animals and Billy Moon's trips to the zoo with Nou to visit a black bear there named Winnipeg. This time together leads to Blue writing the Winnie the Pooh series of children's books. The books become wildly successful as a panacea for the world's post-war woes, only putting Billy Moon in the unwanted spotlight as the real life "Christopher Robin", he knowing people only clamoring after him because of the books and not because of him as a person. This exposure hurts even more as Billy Moon originally saw the stories as the secret world solely between father and son. What happens due to the books' success leads to a greater fracture not only within the family but also with Nou who arguably has more of Billy Moon's best interest at heart than his parents. The question then becomes whether the comfort that the books have brought to the public in general will ever translate back to the Milne family. — Huggo 1 more All