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Finding Neverland
Directed by Marc Forster
Starring: Johnny Depp, Kate Winslett, Julie Christie, Dustin Hoffman, Radha Mitchell, Freddie Highmore, Paul Whitehouse
Miramax Films
2004, 101 mins
Region 2 DVD release through Buena Vista Home Entertainment, March 2005
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| Films about writing and the creative process can sometimes be unsatisfying, since there are difficulties both with showing the inner
mechanics of the imagination and with telling a story that holds our interest in its own right. But Finding Neverland succeeds
brilliantly on these counts, eloquently revealing what made J. M. Barrie tick, and in tracing the development of his most famous work, Peter Pan, giving us a narrative of
complex human relationships that is intriguing, moving and ultimately heartbreaking.
One of the best films of 2004, it nonetheless failed to score at the Oscars; but as a great-looking movie, along with the
performances of Depp and Winslett, and Marc Forster's direction, it was easily on par with the winners. |
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| Set at the dawn of the Twentieth Century, it has a near-perfect period atmosphere, and both Johnny Depp's Scottish accent as Barrie and Kate Winslett's cultured and
ladylike one as Sylvia Llewelyn Davies are spot-on. Sylvia is a widow with four sons, who meet Barrie in a park one afternoon and become
involved in boyish play. In particular Barrie forms an understanding with a middle son Peter (Freddie Highmore), who is withdrawn,
traumatized by the death of his father. Through joining in their games, Barrie helps heal the family wounds, and also stimulates his
hitherto stagnant writing life.
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With this the film notches up in style and technique to keep pace with its subject. Earlier, during the damp opening night of
his new play, Barrie conjectures rain falling onto the audience; when playing cowboys and indians or pirates with the boys, there is constant cross-cutting between the real settings
of the games and their fully realised imaginary worlds. Similarly when Barrie dances with his dog for the family's entertainment, we also
see Barrie as ringmaster, the dog as a bear and throngs of extravagantly costumed clowns dancing around them. Then one night when the boys are roughhousing on their beds, unwilling to retire, Barrie sees them take to the air, and the rest is history.
This elision of fantasy and reality is beautifully and effortlessly done, and brings to mind the best of the Powell-Pressburger films, notably The Red Shoes, and also
Peter Jackson's Heavenly Creatures, Kate Winslett's debut film.
But as Barrie's friendship with the Davies' deepens, tensions emerge. Sylvia's authoritarian mother (Julie Christie) locks
horns with Barrie, as she conclude he's damaging her reputation and her prospects of re-marriage. Meanwhile Barrie's wife, Mary (Radha Mitchell), feels estranged due to his new involvement, and the marriage falls apart. And
Sylvia starts to get coughing fits, which all soon realise are the harbinger of something really bad.
Nonetheless out of all this chaos Barrie's masterwork emerges, and everything soars higher still as we see the writer's flights of fancy now become concretised as the stage play Peter
Pan, which, despite scepticism from his producer (Dustin Hoffman), becomes a raging success. The play's opening night, where the laughter of specially invited orphans enthuses
the stuffy audience, is another magical sequence. As is the film's emotive conclusion, where the play is presented in a stripped-down version for the sick Sylvia, before the final elision into a fantasy of a fantasy.
Ultimately what makes Finding Neverland so very, very good is the fine counterbalance between a strong and exquisitely tear-jerking earthly narrative and a
superlative evocation of a personal fantasy realm. Together these elements are so entrancing that the factual truth of the underlying
material hardly seems to matter. Johnny Depp is worlds away from the unattractive, diminutive Barrie, but his perennial boyish aspect and
a performance of great poise and judgement make him fit the role so well. Freddie Highmore too is stunning as Peter, getting the mood
swings and febrility of his character with a rare expertise. This relationship between boy and man is touchingly and convincingly done,
and with careful scripting and direction, the film succeeds in avoiding the pitfall of darker motives on Barrie's part, becoming more than a biopic or 'true story', but one of the
very best fantasy-in-real-life movies.
DVD extras comprise of a three routine documentaries, deleted scenes and outtakes, and a commentary from Marc Forster, producer
Richard Gladstein and writer David Magee. 'The Magic of Finding Neverland' features the usual interviews, clips and 'making of' scenes, but is lacking in sparkle and originality of approach.
Better is 'Creating Neverland', which looks into how the fantasy sequences were put together. 'On The Red Carpet' is little more than a series of clips from the Venice Film festival Premiere. But the detailed commentary
is very worthwhile, going into all aspects of the production and showing how the film developed out of the play The Man Who Knew Peter Pan. Overall
the extras are not on par with the brilliance of the movie itself, but for that alone this is a DVD worth having.
© Roger Keen 2005 |
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