Credits
Distributed by
Fox Searchlight Pictures
Production companies
DJ Films
Gasworks Media
TSG Entertainment
Directed by
Simon Curtis
Written by
Frank Cottrell-Boyce
Simon Vaughan
Produced by
Steve Christian
Damian Jones
Cinematography
Ben Smithard
Edited by
Victoria Boydell
Music by
Carter Burwell
Synopsis
During World War II in 1941, Alan Alexander Milne – nicknamed "Blue" by his friends and family – and his wife Daphne receive a distressing telegram at their home. The story begins in 1916 during WWI with Blue fighting in the Battle of the Somme. Blue resumes his life with Daphne in England while suffering shell shock of occasional flashbacks to his battle experiences, and having a child with Daphne. Daphne appears traumatised by the birth as the midwife says 'she didn't understand the mechanics' of giving birth. She was also hoping for a girl and is disappointed to instead have a son. They name the baby Christopher Robin Milne but generally call him "Billy Moon". They hire a nanny, Olive, whom Billy calls "Nou". At Olive's job interview, Daphne says how wonderful it is that whilst the war killed so many men, it means there are a great number of women such as Olive who will never marry and can therefore be of service to others. When Billy learns that Olive has a beau, Alfred, he tells his parents, after which Daphne feels betrayed and confronts Olive nastily. Olive becomes angry with Blue and Daphne, resigns, and admonishes them for what they have been putting Billy through. Blue resolves to stop writing about the boy and his imaginary friends. Olive leaves and Billy's mother tells him not to 'blub' (cry). Blue ends Billy's publicity activities and enrolls him at a boarding school. However, "Christopher Robin" is bullied at the school and emerges bitter toward his father. When WWII 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 – convince the army to accept him regardless. Billy leaves for service, turning his back on his father and disowning the books and the money from them. He gives Blue the cricket ball from the one match they played together where they 'connected'. Blue tries to stop him going at the last moment but it is too late. The telegram from the opening scene is revisited, Billy has been reported missing and is presumed dead – news his parents pass along to Olive, who is distraught. Billy's parents are both devastated by the news; Daphne blames Blue for having made it possible to send Billy off to the war. Relations between them are once again strained. However, Billy has survived and arrives at the country house without warning, leading to awkward but tearful reunions with his parents and Olive. Blue and Billy reconcile as Billy tells his father how one of Billy's fellow soldiers, in the desert under enemy fire, sang one of the 'Hums of Pooh' which made him realise that his father's storybook was a gift to the world which enabled English soldiers to remember the simple happy things about home. Father and son walk together through the woods, showing Billy as both a young child and young man.
