Taglines: Inspired by the True Story.
Goodbye Christopher Robin Movie Storyline. The film begins during WWII, in 1941, with A. A. Milne (Domhnall Gleeson) – nicknamed “Blue” by his friends and family – and his wife Daphne (Margot Robbie) receiving a distressing telegram at their home. It then changes timeframe to a few decades earlier with Blue fighting in the Battle of the Somme, then resuming his life in England while suffering shell shock with occasional flashbacks to his battle experiences, and having a child with Daphne. She was hoping for a girl, and is disappointed to instead have a son, whom they name Christopher Robin Milne but call “Billy”. They hire a nanny Olive (Kelly Macdonald) who is given primary responsibility for raising the child.
Blue is having difficulty resuming his writing – he wants to draft a compelling treatise against war – and relocates the family to a house in the country with wooded acreage. Daphne resents the move, and at one point returns to London for an extended period. When Olive takes leave to care for her dying mother, Blue and Billy (Will Tilston) are left to fend for themselves for a time. Reluctantly at first, Blue takes Billy along on walks in the woods, and begins making up stories about the boy’s adventures with the stuffed animals the parents have bought for him along the way.
Blue invites his illustrator friend Ernest to join them at the house, and together they develop the Winnie-the-Pooh books, which become a huge success. Daphne returns to the house to help manage their newfound celebrity. As “Christopher Robin”, Billy makes frequent public appearances he finds confusing and frustrating. Olive becomes engaged and resigns, but admonishes Blue and Daphne for what they are putting Billy through. Blue resolves to stop writing about the boy and his imaginary friends, and ends Billy’s publicity activities, instead enrolling him at a boarding school.
But “Christopher Robin” is bullied at the school, and (now played by Alex Lawther) emerges bitter toward his father. When World War 2 breaks out, Billy is initially declared unfit for the draft, but he demands that his well-connected father – despite being horrified by war and the prospect of his son experiencing what he did – get him enlisted regardless. Billy leaves for service, turning his back on his father, and disowning the books and the money from them.
Goodbye Christopher Robin is a 2017 British biographical drama film about the lives of Winnie-the-Pooh creator A. A. Milne and his family, especially his son Christopher Robin. It was directed by Simon Curtis and written by Frank Cottrell-Boyce and Simon Vaughan, and stars Domhnall Gleeson, Margot Robbie, and Kelly Macdonald. The film premiered in the United Kingdom on September 29, 2017.
Goodbye Christopher Robin (2017)
Directed by: Simon Curtis
Starring: Domhnall Gleeson, Margot Robbie, Kelly Macdonald, Will Tilston, Alex Lawther, Stephen Campbell Moore, Richard McCabe, Geraldine Somerville, Kelly Macdonald, Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Screenplay by: Frank Cottrell-Boyce, Simon Vaughan
Production Design by: David Roger
Cinematography by: Ben Smithard
Film Editing by: Victoria Boydell
Costume Design by: Odile Dicks-Mireaux
Set Decoration by: Claire Nia Richards
Art Direction by: Tim Blake, Katie Money
Music by: Carter Burwell
MPAA Rating: PG for thematic elements, some bullying, war images and brief language.
Distributed by: Fox Searchlight Pictures
Release Date: September 29, 2017 (UK)
