To Olivia: Neon NZ Review

Cast: Keeley Hawes, Hugh Bonneville

Director: John Hay

Revelling in its miserabilism and its maudlin nature while missing some of the magic of Roald Dahl himself, director John Hay's To Olivia looks like a prestige picture for the elderly, but fails to hit any truly resonant notes.

Set in the 1960s, To Olivia looks at the fracture that hit US actress Patricia Neal (Hawes) and struggling author Roald Dahl (Downton's Bonneville) after the death of their daughter Olivia from encephalitis.

But as the duo spiral into depression, each handles it in different ways, bringing tension to their marriage on screen, but unfortunately not really translating it well into an audience sat through endlessly soul-sinking moments.

It's not that Bonneville and Hawes don't deliver rich performances, it's more that the material is too whimsical and interested in manufacturing moments rather than making them feel organically sown in. Things simply happen because they need to, and it somewhat punctures the story and robs it of any would-be emotional heft.

It's a fairly solid TV drama in the way that old films play in the background on a Sunday, but is enlivened by a cameo from Geoffrey Palmer as a vicar intent on telling Dahl and Neal that there's no place in heaven for animals.

Yet it's this moment which also points to To Olivia's flaws. It's too keen to wallow in shallow dramas rather than dive fully in, and seems almost uncertain of what exactly it wants to be.