Tolkien(2019)

PG-13
Rated PG-13 for some sequences of war violence
1h 52m

Release Date: May 10, 2019 | Wide

Tolkien's novels were inspired by his mom's storytelling, falling in love with another orphan, Edith, forming a brotherhood with 3 other misfits at school, the trench war of WWI and later telling stories to his own kids.

Official Website

Releases

Original Release | May 10, 2019

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Box Office Results

Results

Opening Weekend US & Canada:
$2,200,537
Total US & Canada:
$4,535,154
Total International
$4,554,886
Total Worldwide:
$9,090,040

Current Showtimes

Your Location or

(U.S. Only)

Director & Top Cast

Dome Karukoski
Director

Kallum Tolkien
Second Soldier

Gallery

Technical Specifications

Aspect Ratio: 2.35 : 1

Other Details

Country of Origin: United States

Language: English,Middle English,Old English,Latin,German

Summaries

Plot Summary

As young children being raised by a single mother Mabel (Laura Donnelly), J. R. R./ John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (Nicholas Hoult) and his brother Hilary (James MacCallum) receive help from a local priest, Father Francis (Colm Meaney), who must relocate them from their home in Sarehole Mill to small apartments in Birmingham due to financial hardships. JRR had grown up in the countryside, running among the trees, the meadows, the streams and the lush greenery. He was not happy to relocate to the city. Their mother is supportive and loving, filling their minds with stories of adventure and mystery which she recites by the fireplace at night. Mabel was very vivid in her story telling and brought her narration to life with her expressions.Mabel becomes ill, however, and one day upon returning home from school, Tolkien finds her slumped in her chair, dead. Father Francis becomes the boys' legal guardian, and eventually finds a kindly rich woman Mrs Faulkner (Pam Ferris) who agrees to takes them in, providing them with room and board while they continue their childhood education at the King Edward's school. There, Tolkien meets Edith Bratt (Lily Collins), the woman's only other ward. Tolkien is taken with Edith, whose piano playing he admires, and the two become friends.At school, Tolkien immediately shows talent with languages, earning rough treatment from a rival classmate, Robert (Patrick Gibson). When the two boys get into a fight, the headmaster (Owen Teale) Robert's father - orders that they spend all of their time together for the remainder of the term. Robert's father believed that men should be comrades wherever they are from, and that collegiate relationships are the cornerstone of learning.While both initially resent the assignment, Tolkien is soon accepted into Robert's small circle of friends, and the four - J. R. R., Robert Q. Gilson, Geoffrey Bache Smith (Anthony Boyle), and Christopher Wiseman (Tom Glynn-Carney) - form a close friendship. Smith helps Tolkien realize that Robert was threatened by Tolkien's smartness, as before he came along, Robert was the top student in class. Robert admits that the punishment from the headmaster was entirely his fault. Wiseman is a music buff and has had many musical pieces published. Tolkien is an avid reader and enriches himself by reading all sorts of fiction books, specifically on the topic on fantasy and imagined worlds.They form the TCBS or "Tea Club and Barrovian Society" which grows with the years, even as they attend separate universities. Meanwhile, Tolkien continues his friendship with Edith, falling in love with her. Tolkien's love with languages continues and he also invents an entirely new language. JRR mentions cellar door as a combination of English words having an especially beautiful sound independent of their meaning. Edith helps Tolkien realize that things are not perceived to be beautiful because of how they sound, but rather what they mean and represent.In time, JRR introduces Edith to the TCBS. Christopher and Edith get into a debate on the merits of Wagner's work as a composer. But JRR interrupts the discussion and takes Edith home. Edith admonishes JRR for not understanding that she is a prisoner with Mrs Faulkner and that she yearns for freedom. And JRR took away the only free moment in her life when she was debating Wagner with Christopher.The group helps Robert to stand up to his bully father, the headmaster. Robert had invited friends home as the Headmaster was away. But he returned early and ordered that Robert's friends should leave as the circumstances have changed. Robert stands his ground and says that he made a promise to his friends that he would like to keep. The headmaster relents.Father Francis finds out about their relationship and recognizes that it is affecting Tolkien's grades, and so forbids him from pursuing her while under his guardianship. Tolkien is distraught, not wanting to lose the priest's financial support of his schooling. He relates the conversation to Edith, promising they will be able to be together when he reaches 21, the age of majority, but she instead ends the relationship.One night, Tolkien wakes his whole school, the University of Oxford, in the middle of the night when, drunk, he walks out onto the lawn, yelling in one of the many languages he invented. Several professors yell at him from the windows until Tolkien collapses into Smith's arms, sobbing, and tells Smith that Edith wrote to him, telling him that she is engaged.Tolkien struggles at Oxford and his association with the boys gets him into trouble and his scholarship is terminated. As he does not have any funding, Tolkien is at the verge of dropping out of Oxford. The same day he receives word that Edith is engaged to be married and completely breaks down. Geoffrey is TOlkien's best friend, and consoles him at this hour), but attracts the attention of Professor Joseph Wright (Derek Jacobi), a prominent philologist. Tolkien realizes language is his true passion, and enrolls in Wright's class. Wright sponsors Tolkien's scholarship and allows him to continue at Oxford.When the First World War breaks out, he and his friends all enlist in the British Army. Before Tolkien leaves, Edith returns and realizes that she still loves him. She decides to break off her engagement with the other man, and the two declare their love for each other, sharing a kiss before Tolkien leaves.At the Battle of the Somme Tolkien, suffering from trench fever, goes to look for Geoffrey convinced that he is calling him, but is unable to find him and collapses unconscious. He wakes in a hospital weeks later with Edith by his side, to find that Geoffrey and Robert were both killed. Wiseman survived but is left traumatized and unable to speak. Years later, Tolkien and Edith are married with four children. Now a professor at Oxford himself, Tolkien decides to try his hand at writing a children's adventure book. The film ends with him inspired to write the famous opening line of The Hobbit: "In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit."The Hobbit was published in 1937 and made Tolkien world famous. He died in 1973, 2 years after Edith.

Storyline

Tolkien explores the formative years of the orphaned author as he finds friendship, love and artistic inspiration among a group of fellow outcasts at school. This takes him into the outbreak of World War I, which threatens to tear the "fellowship" apart. All of these experiences would inspire Tolkien to write his famous Middle-Earth novels. — Fox Searchlight Pictures A deep insight into the career and life of a male writer as he falls in love and challenges himself with his education. With the help of his love of his life and his peers, he becomes one of the most recognized writers in the world and of all time who everyone would come to know. — RECB3