Dreamchild
British Drama, 1985, 94 minutes
Starring Amelia Shankley as Alice
Ian Holm as Lewis Carroll
Special Effects by Jim Henson
The film Dreamchild is an ambitious surreal drama, adapted from a play of the same name. On a lake near Oxford University in Victorian England, a random boat-ride forges a surprising camaraderie between a witty storyteller and a spirited young girl. The storyteller is an Oxford mathematician, Charles Dodgson; the young girl is Alice Liddell, daughter of the Dean at the same university. Their serendipitous encounter will inspire the classic novel, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, a fantasy yarn which continues to enchant children worldwide. Dodgson published his famous work under the familiar pseudonym, Lewis Carroll. The enthusiastic reception of the book (translated into 174 languages) would propel Alice Liddell into celebrity status beyond her native England.
The plot of Dreamchild unfolds through a series of flashbacks from Alice in her old age. During a visit to Columbia University in 1932 (to commemorate the centenary of the birth of Lewis Carroll), the octogenarian Alice re-imagines her various encounters with Carroll. Her memories fuse reality with fantasy, as the camera alternates between events from the life of the real Alice and iconic scenes from Wonderland. The talented British actor, Ian Holm, plays Charles Dodgson. The vivacious Amelia Shankley would garner the Best Actress Award (1986) for her nimble performance in a double role as Alice (not only as Alice Liddell but also as the heroine of the novel which immortalized her name).
