The outstretched hand of a child ignored as she stands by her sister’s grave is an indelible image in ‘To Olivia’. This often moving yet disturbing drama chronicles the lives of children’s author Roald Dahl and actress Patricia Neal when their 7-year-old daughter, Olivia, died of complications from measles in 1962.
Dahl and Neal – played by Hugh Bonneville and Keeley Hawes – raise their children Olivia, Tessa and Theo in rural England. The book “James and the Giant Peach” has little traction and Dahl is at work on “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”. Neal has a Tony and impressive movie credits. Soon she will be thinking about the script that will lead to her Oscar, ‘Hud’. There is tension.
How parents grieve the death of a child together – or separately – is one of life’s painful mysteries. Director John Hay understands the emotion well, but avoids any struggle with Dahl’s legacy, tainted by anti-Semitic statements. In 2020, Dahl’s family posted a public apology for the author’s bigoted comments, many of which occurred after the period covered here. That a film intended to portray Dahl’s humanity – jagged by grief – might evade his anti-Semitic views is disappointing, but hardly surprising. So it’s mind-boggling that the filmmakers are going in the opposite direction with another famous figure.
When Neal and Paul Newman (Sam Heughan) meet for the ‘Hud’ shoot, Newman is reminded that Neal has lost a child. His answer – a cinematic concoction – is short, crude and cruel enough to make one think less of a legend. Just the wrong one.
To Olivia
Not judged. Running time: 1 hour 39 minutes. In theaters and for rent or sale on Apple TV, Google Play and other streaming platforms and pay TV providers.