Saving Mr. Banks – Cry (Recommendation)

Year: 2013

Director: John Lee Hancock

Starring: Tom Hanks, Emma Thompson, Colin Farrell, Jason Schwartzman, B.J. Novak, Paul Giamatti, Bradley Whitford, Ruth Wilson, Rachel Griffiths, Annie Rose Buckley, Kathy Baker, Melanie Paxson, Ronan Vibert, Andy McPhee

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5kYmrjongg

 

Mary Poppins (1964) was a film that everyone quoted, and everyone loved. I remember arguing with my parents that “a spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down”, and trying to sing supercalifragilisticexpialidocious without making any errors. Before the 1964 Disney film, Mary Poppins was the protagonist in P.L. Travers’ book series by the same name, published between 1934 and 1988. Incidentally, it was within this time that Walt Disney approached Travers for the rights to adapt her novel(s) for the silver screen, and is when Saving Mr. Banks is set.

The film revolves around the creative collaboration between Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) and P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson), who was known to be demanding and opinionated i.e. not wanting Mary Poppins to become “disneyfied”. Through the metaphorical tug of war between the two, we discover that the secrets of Travers’ past rationalise her ferocious desire to preserve the story.

Director John Lee Hancock uses flashbacks as tool in explaining the enigma of Travers: from discovering her real name was Helen Lyndon Goff; learning she originated from Australia; and unearthing that her father was an unsuccessful, alcoholic banker. These revelations are key in identifying why Travers was so emotionally invested in the adaptation of her story. There are many correlations between her life and the tale of Mary Poppins, making it apparent that though the story is fiction, it is a semi-biographical retelling of Travers’ own life. This connection is made apparent through the opening credits when Hancock plays a mellow rendition of Chim Chim Cher-ee. The camera slowly descends through the clouds, and a voiceover of Colin Farrell quotes the character Bert: “Winds in the east, mist coming in, Like somethin’ is brewin’ and bout to begin. Can’t put my finger on what lies in store, But I fear what’s to happen all happened before,” following which the camera pans to a young Travers.

Each flashback is veiled in gold, reflecting the Australian sun and creating a whimsical setting for Travers’ childhood. However, each time we’re taken back, the film becomes darker as Travers’ father’s substance abuse becomes apparent. We learn how each script amendment, or stipulation is due to her relationship with her father, Travers Robert Goff (Colin Farrell), from his preference in being clean-shaven, to working in a bank, and his utter adoration for his children, even if he “can’t see past the end of his nose”. He was her idol, inspiring her pseudonym. Once Disney is able to negotiate and coerce Travers into signing away the rights, production finally gets underway and is eventually completed. Travers attends the American premiere, where Hancock uses footage from the original film to firmly establish that the film was a way of immortalising and vindicating Travers Robert Goff of all his sins, seen through Dick Van Dyke’s line: “Your dad’s a fine gentleman, and he loves you… I don’t like to see any living thing caged up… They makes cages of all sizes and shapes, you know”. This is presented over a flashback of a young Travers facilitating her dying father by giving him a bottle of alcohol, indicating that her father was trapped in a cage of alcoholism, and thus that, through the characterisation of Mr. Banks in Mary Poppins, she sought to give her father a chance for redemption.

As the film draws to a close we are transported back to a young Travers talking to her father, asking him to never leave her. He responds “I promise. I will never leave you”, underlining that the books and the film were tools used by Travers to ensure that he kept his promise, by immortalising him forever. This is a bittersweet film that celebrates the life of a woman who devoted her existence to commemorating the life of her beloved father, speaking to us all, even in the simplest of senses.