A Olivia

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.

I was thoroughly enjoying this film and felt like it was getting to the midway point just to notice it only had 15 mins left to go!!!!

I honestly think they should have made a mini series about Roald Dahl and this been the first episode!

It Was a fantastic story but felt unfinished! The acting was superb and the casting was perfect, BUT It left me longing for more... there are so more stories left untold in regards to his life that I'd loved to have seen too!!

I highly recommend this if you don't expect to have a lot of his life covered only a year or so during a painful part of his career.

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.

Hugh Bonneville is excellent as Dahl, even looks like him, and Keeley does a workmanlike job as Patricia Neal but there's little to enjoy about the film really. It's largely factual so a good way to learn more about Dahl's life. I've given it 7 as I can't really fault the acting but it's a pretty gloomy piece all in all.

I have been waiting over a year for this one. Having grown up in the 80's Roald Dahl childhood stories were a staple, then as an adult I'm still attached to the film versions. The film gave me precisely what I wanted. A gorgeous story about Roald Dahl and his family through a difficult time, during the writing of one of my favourite of his books. Hugh Bonneville was perfect as Dahl, and the relationship between him and his wife was full of warmth, love, and humour, which really drew me in from the start. There were plenty of hints towards origins of his many books, but not overdone which would have made it feel forced. There were no long drawn out sections, which I often feel there are in these sort of films, and I thought the pace was perfect for the subject matter. I will definitely be watching it again. I'm only disappointed that it hasn't got the big cinema release it deserves!