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 ?

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 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.

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!