Dreamchild, the film based on a real-life incident in Alice Liddell's later life when, as Alice Hargreaves, she visited the USA for Lewis Carroll's centenary. Page 1.

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1985 - CORAL BROWN AND AMELIA SHANKLEY

Alice Hargreaves played by
Coral Browne

Alice Liddell played by
Amelia Shankley

with Ian Holm as
Charles Dodgson

and Jane Asher as
Mrs Liddell

ased on the true story of the grown-up Alice Liddell being invited to the USA to celebrate Lewis Carroll's centenary, the film intercuts memories of her childhood relationship with Charles Dodgson with some nightmarish visions of the Wonderland story. Ian Holm plays Charles Dodgson and the Wonderland characters are provided by Jim Henson's Creature Workshop. Amelia Shankley is cast superbly, she looks so uncannily like the real Alice Liddell.

The film makes excellent use of real Oxford locations. We see a recreation of the life of Charles Dodgson and his relationship between Alice, her sisters and their Mother, who, while respectful of Dodgson, is clearly none too happy with his obvious attraction to Alice. It never crosses the line, but the film quite clearly veers towards "Lolita" country, with Ian Holm's Dodgson constantly tortured by a love he can never express verbally.

he story opens almost back-to-front, with the Gryphon and the Mock Turtle on the sea-shore. However, it's the older Alice we see at first, sitting between them as she asks, "What is his sorrow?". These words are to be the keypoint to the whole film. As in all the Wonderland "flashbacks" which occur in the film, Alice alternates between both her elderly-woman and her young-girl personas.
As the younger Alice looks at the turbulent sea, the scene shifts to aboard the ship taking Alice Hargreaves to America with her companion, Lucy. Arriving in New York, the press seem intent on seeing her as the fictional Alice, but Mrs Hargreaves states very firmly that she is merely someone to whom Charles Dodgson told his stories and, "After all these years, I can scarcely remember him".
She projects a very strict and strong public image to the outside world, but, privately she is very insecure and fearful of advancing age. Although she has obviously put Charles Dodgson out of her mind for many years, he seems to haunt her now, as memories of her early life come flooding back.

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