Finding Neverland

Marc Forster (director)

James Barrie was a Scottish novelist and playwright whose most famous play was Peter Pan. (For some dates in Barries life see below). The web site for the Peter Pan mini course can be found at Peter Pan Mini Course

The film, Finding Neverland revolves aboud Barries involvement with the Davies family - especially their young sons, especially Peter, and his writing of the play Peter Pan.

Because the film focuses on such a small part of Barrie's life, one needs to consider whether it actually constitutes a biography or not. Although parts of Barrie's early childhood are brought up in dialog, they are a small and not terribly integral part of the film. Similarly the questions which have been recently raised about Barrie's interest in small boys which is thought by some to paralleling the interest of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (who wrote as Lewis Carroll, such books as Alice in Wonderland) and his interest in young girls. Although a hotly debated point in analyzing Barrie's life, it is brushed over in a single line or two in the film. A film about the girl on whom Alice in Wonderland modeled is Dreamchild

We may reasonnably question whether a film that portrays so little of Barrie's life may be considered a biography, especially to the extent that there seems to be no trajectory in this story.

In addition to the writing of the play Peter Pan the film examines in large part with Barrie's imagination and his attempt to deal with Peter, the youngest of the Dabies children and his lack of imagination andd fantasy as a result of the death of his father.

AFTER THE FILM

The film opens, not with the usual kind of statemet to make the audience believe this is a true story, but rather a statement that the film is "inspired" by real events, thus making the biograpical status of the film somewhat more suspect.

THe film begins with a sequence in which Barrie, while walking his dog Porthos, meets the Davies boys. His attempt to get them to see the dog as a performing bear leads to the film makers decision to actually show a circus with Barrie dancing with a bear. These shots are intercut with shots of Peter look at BArrie in the park dancing with the bear.

Among the criticism that can be leveled at the film is whether or not a film which prizes imagination, should in fact actually depict the bear, rather than letting the audience imagine it. However, the shots of PEter looking at Barrie dancing with the dog, imply that there is a need to show the bear to contrast it with the actual event of Barrie dancing with the dog. The intercuts of Peter imply that we are looking at what Peter sees as contrasted with what the other "imaginative" people see. This tends to give the film the feeling it is not so much a Barrie biography as it is a biography of Peter adn his transformation.

The film follows Barrie's decaying marriage (which has been decaying since the film began) but there seems little change in his character. The film does show how events in the real world become parts of the play Peter Pan and the audience is given a chance to see the boys and Barrie playing at being pirates and Indians (all of whom will appear in the play) and the chance to here dialog that Barrie will use in the play itself.

The film seems to deal with the realtionship between reality and fantasy especially in the creative (as opposed to interpretive) arts. Although there is no real answer to the question about how the two interact the film examines the relationship through both Barrie's and Peter's handling of the two areas. Parents
Margaret Olgivy (mother)
David (father)

Siblings:
Alexander
Mary (b. 1845)
Jane Ann (b. 1847)
David(b. 1853 d. 1867)
Sara (b. 1854)
Isobella (b. 1858)
JAMES (b. 1860)
Maggie(b. 1863)
two sisters who had died nine years before James was born

THE DAVIES FAMILY
The Parents
Arthur Llewellyn Davies(father)
Sylvia Jocelyn Llewellyn Davies (nee du Maurier)(mother). She is the sister of actor Gerald du Maurier and daughter of George du Maurier author of Peter Ibbetson and Trilby.

The Boys
George (oldest) killed in the war, 1915
John (Jack)
Peter suicide, 1960 Sloane Square station
Michael drowned in boating accident,1921
Nicholas

IMPORTANT DATES IN BARRIE'S LIFE

1860 9 May: James Barrie born at Kirriemuir, Scotland

1867: Death of brother David at age 13 in a skating accident.

1873-1878: Attended Dmfries Academy

1878: Studies at University of Edinbugh

1882: Receives M.A, from the University of Edinburgh

1885: Moves to London

1887: Publishes first book Better Dead

1888: Publication of Auld Licht Idylls and When a Man is Single

1889: Publication of A Window in Thrums

1891 16 April: First performance of Richard Savage
1891: Publication of The Little Minister

1892 25 Feb: First performance of play, Walker, London

1892 9 May: Accidental death of Barrie's friend Rev. James Winter who was to marry Barrie's sister Maggie. Later she marries James' brother WIlliam.

1894 25 June: First performance of The Professor's Love Story
1894 9 July: Barrie marries actress Mary Ansell.

1895 1 Sept.: Death of Barrie's sister Jane Ann 1895 3 Sept.: Death of Barrie's mother 1896: Publication of Sentimental Tommy and Margaret Ogilvy

1897 6 Nov. First performance of Little Minister (320 performances)

1898 March: Receives honorary LL.D. degree from St. Andrew's University, Scotland

1900 27 Sept.: First performance of The Wedding Guest (100 Performances)
1900: Publication of Tommy and Grizel, a sequel to Sentimental Tommy

1902 17 Sept.: First performance of Quality Street (459 performances)
1902 4 Nov.: First performance of The Admirable Crichton (328 Performances)
1902: Publication of The Little White Bird

1903: First performance of Little Mary (208 performances)

1904 27 Dec.: First performance of Peter Pan or The Boy Who Would Not Grow Up - London (145 Performances)

1905 5 Apr.: First performance of Alice Sit by the Fire (115 performances)

1906: Publication of Peter Pan in Kensington Garden

1908 3 Sept.: First performance of What Every Woman Knows (384 performance)

1909 2 April: Barrie receives honorary LL.D from the University of Edinbugh

1911 May: Appearance of Peter Pan statue in Kennsington Gardens

1913: Barrie made a baronet by George V

1916 18 March: First performance of A Kiss for Cinderella (156 performances)

1917 17 October: First performance of Dear Brutus (365 performances)

1918: Publication of four one-act plays called Echoes of War

1919 1 Nov.: become Rector of St. Andrew's.
1919: Publication of Barrie's "Preface" to The Young Sisters by 9 year old Daisy Ashford.

1920 22 April: First performance of Mary Rose (399 performances)

1921 27 May: First performance of Shall We Join the Ladies for festival. Actual run in 1923 ran 407 performances.

1922: Barrie receives the Order of Merit

1926 23 June: Receives honorary LL.D. from Oxford

1930 23 June: Receives honorary LL.D. from Cambridge
1930 25 Oct.: Barrie becomes chancellor of the University of Edinburgh

1936 21 Nov.: First performance of The Boy David

1937 19 June: Barrie dies. Buried in Kerriemuir cemetery wih brother and mother

1960 5 April: Peter Llewellyn Davies commits suicide by throwing himself in front of a subway train.