Blue Moon Blog

We planned a family night to watch the biopic, Miss Potter, starring Renee Zellweger, and our two girls were worried it would be either an old black-and-white movie or a boring, monotone thing, like the ones Mom watches on the Biography channel. Fortunately for all concerned, what we got instead was a charming, lively and inspiring entertainment, the story of a creative woman’s life, Beatrix Potter.

Her work on Peter Rabbit and other stories is widely known and read, but I for one didn’t know anything at all about her story, which turned out to be an asset as the movie unfolded her life to us. It’s a revealing portrait of an an artist making her way, first as a young girl sketching in the garden, then as a young woman struggling to get her work published, finally as an accomplished author and conservationist settling in the rolling majesty of her Hill Top Farm. Through it all, she’s at home and one with nature, intimate with the creatures she draws and the characters that populate her stories. This is illustrated through brief and tasteful animated sequences of Beatrix interacting with her characters, as they come to life on the page.

Her father is almost always supportive throughout, but I cringed for Beatrix at every disparaging comment and belittling remark from Beatrix’s mother about to her daughter’s talent. How fortunate we all are she pressed on anyway and persevered, regardless of the obstacles. But how much easier it is when artists are given a positive helping hand, as I wrote yesterday.

Zellweger is rosey and plucky in an honest portrayal of Potter, especially sparkling when reunited on screen with Ewan McGregor (their first paring was a the fun satire, Down With Love), positively bursting with joy in their joint creative venture and as they develop feelings for each other.

What a pleasure it was to watch this movie in particular with our girls, artists and lovers of nature themselves. Once the movie ended, our daughter, Emily immediately pulled the Peter Rabbit books from our shelves, requesting we get more, and asking questions about Potter’s life. One can learn more about Beatrix Potter and see her observant and subtle drawings at some great resources on line, but you may want to watch the movie first, to go on a splendid ride, and save the further details for afterwards. But you can’t pass up the virtual experience of reading the first Peter Rabbit book, apparently originally published in black-and-white.