Finding Neverland: Review

Résumé du document

Finding Nerveland was directed by Marc Forster and released in 2004. It's a drama about the life of the author sir James Matthew Barrie (Johnny Depp) and the genesis of his main character Peter Pan. The events take place in the early 1900s. The author last play was a huge disaster and yet he can find neither inspiration nor imagination for another one. But thanks to his meeting with the Lllewelyn Davies family this is going to change. Spending more and more time with Mrs. Sylvia Llewelyn Davies (Kate Winslet), a widow and her four children, he finds the words for his new play Peter Pan but at the same time he slowly comes off his wife. The movie highlights the importance of the Llewelyn Davies family being a source of inspiration for the author.

The drama is lessened by the scenes of the children's games coming directly from the imagination of Mr. Barrie but is always put forward by the hardness and strictness of the grand-mother Mrs. Du Maurier (Julie Christie) and the breast cough of Mrs. Llewelyn Davies. The emotional music also empowers the drama (Jan A. P. Kaczmarek won the Oscar of the best film music). In regards of the special effects (and sound effects), they are few and only used to illustrate the author imagination. As for the acting, the four children are extremely good. Johnny Depp goes with ease from serious to humoristic or childish and Kate Winslet reflects the pain of the cancer (breast cough) Sylvia is going through. There is no problem understanding the actors, even the children, for their accent are from pure English to slightly Scottish.

Extraits

[...] But thanks to his meeting with the Lllewelyn Davies family this is going to change. Spending more and more time with Mrs. Sylvia Llewelyn Davies (Kate Winslet), a widow and her four children, he finds the words for his new play Peter Pan but at the same time he slowly comes off his wife. The movie highlights the importance of the Llewelyn Davies family being a source of inspiration for the author. The drama is lessened by the scenes of the children's games coming directly from the imagination of Mr. [...]

[...] For example, even before meeting the Llewelyn Davies family, Mrs. Barrie already knows a lot about them. The story is more than based on this part of James Barrie's life. There are only few differences as far as we know. Little differences such as the number of children Sylvia Llewelyn Davies had: she had five boys not four as it is said in the movie or the job of Geroge du Maurier (her father) wasn't a painter but rather a drawer and an author. [...]

[...] Du Maurier (Julie Christie) and the breast cough of Mrs. Llewelyn Davies. The emotional music also empowers the drama (Jan A. P. Kaczmarek won the Oscar of the best film music). In regards of the special effects (and sound effects), they are few and only used to illustrate the author imagination. As for the acting, the four children are extremely good. Johnny Depp goes with ease from serious to humoristic or childish and Kate Winslet reflects the pain of the cancer (breast cough) Sylvia is going through. [...]

[...] For her, he even dressed in his dead brother's cloths as it is mentioned in the movie. The information that Mary Barrie tells about the Llewelyn are also accurate: Mr. Llewelyn Davies did die of a jaw cancer. Something that is probably not the most obvious in the movie but is again true, is that James Barrie was a good friend of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, we can see them chatting a few time during the movie (at the beginning, just after the first play and at the cricket game). [...]

[...] Useful words/expressions: Opening night= première To do a play = jouer une pièce de théâtre Crap= rubbish=de la merde Wretch = miserable Muzzle = musolière A candle-snuffing word = mot destructeur (qui éteint la bougie) My bonny lad = mon beau garcon No income to speak of = Presque pas de revenus A lease = un bail To sign for the storage = signer pour mettre au garde meuble A playmate = un cammarade de jeux Indulge me = m'accepter To swell = gonfler A flea's breath of doubt = le moindre doute Bare = vide To be flush = être tout rouge To wear one self out = s'épuiser The silver = l'argenterie The linen = le linge Shabby = usé, miteux Hairy toad = crapauds poilus To giggle = glousser To pull itself together = se reformer Scattered = dispersé Cottage = villa, maison de vacances, maison de champagne Mending = raccommodage The essay: James Matthew Barrie was born in Kirriemuir (Scotland) in 1860. The movie shows us the British society at the beginning of the 20th century in which every men and particularly women were eager to have good social relationships. As we can see in Finding Neverland Mrs. Barrie is looking forward to meeting Mrs. Du Maurier, a well known and established woman. The importance of gossip is not to be denied. [...]