Thoughts on Dreamchild

 

via Henson.com

"Mr. Dodgson seems to confess a remarkable number of things to you, my dear."

"Oh yes, Mr. Dodgson talks to me a lot."

"So it seems."

"He says every man should have somebody he can trust his secrets with."

"... But why on earth should he say that to you?"

"Because he loves me, of course."

Perhaps the best thing about Dreamchild, a movie with many things to recommend it for, is how well it conveys the difference between childhood experiences and adult memories. Alice Liddell (Amelia Shankley), age 10 or thereabouts, believes she can handle herself at the mad tea party and in her interactions with the Rev. Charles Dodgson (Ian Holm). Alice Hargreaves (Coral Browne), turning 80, is unnerved by the Gryphon and company (created by Jim Henson's Creature Shop, with voice performers including Alan Bennett and Julie Walters), haunted by both Dodgson and initially resisting the legacy/trap created when he, as Lewis Carroll, wrote Alice in Wonderland.

Of all people, I thought of Stephen Sondheim while watching Dreamchild. The music playing during older Alice's catharsis reminded me of Sunday in the Park with George and her realization is akin to the one in Passion. No one has ever loved Alice like Dodgson. While not a physical relationship, at least not according to screenwriter Dennis Potter, it was intimate and left an impression. Similarly, younger and older Alice, as well as Dodgson, are firmly of the Victorian era. Former reporter/amateur agent Jack (Peter Gallagher) is very much a creature of the Depression. Lucy (Nicola Cowper), an orphan who serves as a maid, companion and granddaughter figure for older Alice, seems to transcend the ages.

"This isn't just a job, though. She makes me see the world ... makes me see it through her eyes."

Directed by Gavin Millar, Dreamchild weaves back and forth between the 1860s and 1932. Older Alice, visiting New York to be feted at Columbia University on what would have Carroll's 100th birthday, is affronted by just about everything. No really, she gets the chance to look down on chewing gum and radio commercials, to name two. Potter and Millar get comedic mileage out of Alice's adventure outside her comfort zone, but they also acknowledge the darker effects of her journey. While Alice's forced to acknowledge her past, Lucy can't conceal her sadness that some day, the old lady's gonna die.

It's not essential, but I wish Browne and Holm had an actual scene together. Older Alice, agitated and alone in her Waldorf suite while Jack and Lucy are at a tea dance, briefly finds Dodgson in the girl's room. I found it interesting that we do not see how the relationship, as it were, began. We do, however, get a more or less ending event, when Alice and Dodgson picnic with people including her future husband. Anyway, Alice lived with the realization of Dodgson's feelings -- again, I'm struck by the fact we don't know when her attitude toward him changed; she appears to have known what's up by the time she was 12 -- and maybe she said all she wanted to say to him in his life. She still gets the last word.

"At the time I was too young, to see the gift whole, to see it for what it was. To acknowledge the love that had given it birth. But I see it now. At long, long last. Thank you, Mr. Dodgson. Thank you."

*The scene returns to young Alice, who apologetically-lovingly gives Dodgson a kiss on the cheek and rests her head on his chest.*

*Back to older Alice, who's apparently come to terms with everything and is receiving a standing ovation from the unaware audience.*

Recommended.

Thoughts:

-- "Now listen: any old dame who fell down a rabbit hole and sat down to tea with a mad hatter is gonna cheer me up, let alone our readers. And I'm a miserable son of a bitch. Or haven't you heard?" "(in unison) We've heard."

-- Critic's Corner: "A lovely, wistful little fairytale for grownups," Stephen Holden wrote in the New York Times. Roger Ebert: "An ambitious movie that tries to do a lot of things, and does most of them surprisingly well." "In some scenes it achieves levels of feeling that movies rarely get near," according to Pauline Kael.

-- Awards Watch: Browne won the Saturn and Evening Standard British Film awards, while Holm and Shankley were Saturn nominees (losing to Roddy McDowall and Barret Oliver, respectively) and the makeup and visual effects were BAFTA-nominated (losing to Ran and Aliens, respectively; of note, Labyrinth was also a visual effects nominee).

-- Hey, It's ...!: William Hootkins as one of the radio actors. Muppeteer Steve Whitmire operated the Mock Turtle and Caterpillar.

-- Hey, It's 1985!: I doubt Dreamchild's distributors were playing follow the leader, but Wonderland fans (if not purists) also with "Don't Come Around Here No More" and Irwin Allen's star-studded TV miniseries.

Courtesy YouTube

-- Memorable Music: The score is 41-34, still favoring songs written for movies. Dreamchild's entry is "The Mock Turtle's Song," recited by Dodgson on young Alice's cruel request (she knows it'll make him stutter; she apologizes to him with the kiss and hug) and then performed by a choir for older Alice.

-- "It's not cheap music that disturbs you. It's your youth."

-- Next: Sweet Dreams. On deck: Krush Groove. Coming soon: A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge, To Live and Die in L.A. and That Was Then... This Is Now.