Finding Neverland
filled to pay the bills. While Barrie is trying to figure out how to maintain this balancing act he happens upon the Davies family: Sylvia, the mother (Kate Winslet), and her four boys, Peter, George, Jack, and Michael.
As Barrie watches them he seems to change before our eyes: In this family he sees and experiences an innocence and humane purity that is so powerful and overwhelming he is unable to consider anything else.
He introduces himself to the family, he becomes friendly with the family, and becomes part of their inner circle, which seems superfically appropriate, given Sylvia recently became a widow and is not in need of a new romance, but is in need of a father figure, at least for her children, and he--Barrie--is in need of someone who truly needs him, in any capacity.
But why is Barrie the way he is? We get glimpses of childhood events that go to partially explain: His older brother died early on, and his parents took to calling him by his brother's name; in effect denying him his childhood and his life.
He plays games with Sylvia's boys. He entertains them by playing with a big, stuffed bear, and leads them in games of pirates and cowboys and Indians. He dresses in funny costumes and entertains them for hours on end without any indication he expects anything in return.
Sylvia and the boys appreciate him and are grateful for the attention he lavishes on them, especially when it becomes apparent she has developed a concerning cough and is unable, at a point, to care for the the boys. All is well, it seems, except for Peter (Freddie Highmore, in an amazing and remarkable performance that should gain him proper notice), who, it seems, was never a child. He is wise, sober, and solemn. He tells Barrie off with the remark: You are not my father.
That Barrie does not want to be Peter's father is incidential. That he wants, more than anything, to be Peter's brother, is telling. But throughout this revelation the harsh truth of the reality at hand becomes heavy: Sylvia's condition worsens. The boys and Barrie, wanting to comfort her, stage a play in the family garden; it is cut short by her racked coughing.
Barrie may not have had aspirations of becoming sexually close to Sylvia, but at least two other women in his life are concerned about his intentions: His
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