There seems little else to do on a rainy Sunday afternoon except to get cosy, drink copious amounts of tea and watch a film. That is exactly what I did and the film choice, Goodbye Christopher Robin, was an utterly brilliant one. So much so in fact, that it is one of those films that will stay with you long after you’ve watched it.
Growing up, I cannot profess to have been a huge fan of Winnie the Pooh – I was more a Peter Rabbit girl. However, the stories, beautiful quotes and heart-warming characters are so incredibly timeless that it’s hard not to be familiar with them.
Goodbye Christopher Robin Film Still by David Appleby
“You’re braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” Christopher Robin
Much like Enid Blyton though, who famously penned the Famous Five tales, or J.M. Barrie who of course was the mastermind behind Peter Pan, A.A. Milne, author and creator of Winnie the Pooh, led a somewhat troubled life. Not only fighting in the Great War, but the strained relationship he had with his son, Christopher Robin Milne, following his much-loved creation of the bear who loved honey. By creating a fictional boy based on his son and the cuddly toys he surrounded himself with at their home in Sussex at Cotchford Farm, he inadvertently dispelled his son’s own childhood – something Robin would come to resent and go on to talk about at length in his later life. A.A. Milne, both before and after Winnie the Pooh, was a prolific playwright, but of course, despite a life of brilliant writing, he will only ever be known by most for his tales in The Hundred Acre Wood.
It always seems unfair, somehow, that the authors themselves should led such difficult lives. It is such a stark contrast to the happiness their characters – and especially those of Pooh, Piglet, Tigger and Eeyore – continue to bring to children and adults around the world, even today.
“So they went off together. But wherever they go, and whatever happens to them on the way, in that enchanted place on the top of the forest, a little boy and his bear will always be playing.”