To Olivia is a difficult grief story of a couple who has lost a beloved child. An additional layer to the story is just who this married pair happens to be: the famous author Roald Dahl and actress Patricia Neal, whose fragilities and failures make the story painful and true.
The movie’s artful filming and true moments lifted it upward. Especially pivotal was a scene where Neal must rehearse lines with Paul Newman (Sam Heughan). She fears she can’t—and so, she can’t. But Neal returns later and nails her character. The truth of an actor who can touch that core place with honesty? I’ll not forget it.
I’ll also not forget the truth of how messy grief is—and how grief begets grief. A stranger at the doorstep speaks his sympathy and must endure a long and awkward embrace from the woman of the house. The younger daughter—in her misery and anger—acts in ways sure to wound or provoke her parents. Neal’s anger and tongue stand alongside her husband’s grief and depression.
Both Dahl and Neal were enormously famous in their day. Known for dark humor, Dahl’s children’s stories still sell and remain familiar in movieland. Think Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The BFG, or Matilda.
Neal, an American actress, starred with the top leading men of her day, such as John Wayne, Gary Cooper, and Paul Newman. Her acting fame was overshadowed, however, with her affair with Cooper; she was 21 while he was 46—and her strokes while pregnant. Medical care of stroke victims changed after her ordeal.
Familiar actors play the power duo. The Downton Abbey earl Hugh Bonneville is Dahl while the award-winning Keeley Hawes is Neal. Geoffrey Palmer and Conlith Hill also appear in supporting roles.
The rapid-fire imagination of Dahl adds an enchanting element to this hard story. The scenes where he invites children into Imagination Land are sweet.
The story is a sad one with its real depiction of a marriage that sags beneath the burden of grief. Christian viewers might long for this family to be able to grieve with hope. Language is pervasive. (Amazon Prime Video)
About the Author
Cynthia Beach authored the 2024 novel, The Surface of Water, and the writing book, Creative Juices for Writers. She co-directs Scriptoria Workshop with Newbery-winner Gary Schmidt. In 2025-6, she will serve as Artist in Residence in Dundee, Scotland.