Enid was one big b#tcb, hoe.
Discuss.
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MovieChat Forums > Enid (2009) Discussion > Enid was one big b#tcb, hoe.
I think the drama explained the reasons for Enid's behaviour very well. Her father leaving was traumatic and she never got over it, so she weaved a fantasy world that she never quite left. It was a different era, children were seen and not heard in those days. She was a prolific writer and sells 8m books a year to this day. She was utterly ruthless though, first to her mother, then her brothers and then her husband and children. She had the ability to cut them out of her life which most of us would find diffcult. In the end though, she lost the love of her daughter Imogen and then sadly her mind, so she did get a sort of come uppance in the end. They do say that Kenneth and Enid could not keep friends, if someone won a game of bridge they wouldn't speak to that person ever again. He was a toady and enjoyed spending her money, nothing like the complete gentleman that Hugh was. His widow is 101 and she is going to publish her autobiography.
shareJust because she experienced *beep* there was no need for her to spread it around for others especially her children. I think that she was exceptionally cold mother even for the time.
shareRuttles, I know what you mean, Enid had the ability to cut people out of her life, her mother, brothers, her husband and children. We just can't understand it, but you must have met people who are far worse. Enid was one helluva woman!
shareI found this drama painful to watch. I even had a nightmare about her that night. I feel sorry for all the people she hurt, especially her children, but also her siblings, her first husband, no doubt others we didn't see.
Of course HBC was great as were the other actors and the entire production.
Highly recommend it - just brace yourself.
I've just caught up with this on the iPlayer, I like HBC so thought would give it watch. I think we do cut people out of our lives for perfectly normal reasons, and it's always subject to that bit more scrutiny if it's a revered figure like a mother but of course we can choose .. as the saying goes. Enid had far worse problems than simply cutting her mother out of her life it seems.
She never grew up, it amazed me that she could form any kind of relationship let alone have two children. I was quite revulsed when Kenneth came into her life dear God he did look old enough to be her father but then maybe that was the whole point of the relationship and when she fell pregnant by him I felt quite sick. That he couldn't relate to her girls sort of said it for me - and he was upset that the child they lost (she deliberately fell?) was a boy. Perhaps it's just as well they didn't have the child. She was portrayed in this to be a total selfish b... on one hand and a sorry figure in another. Very good performances from Helena and Matthew
Julie, tell us about your nightmare - I'm fascinated!
Don't forget, this was a piece of drama, so events were made to look more...dramatic than they may have been in real life. Her daughters (one now no longer with us) disagreed on what she was like. Imogen, who survives, tended to portray her as this biopic did, whereas Jillian defended her and carried her flame. Imogen is still alive, and it's her version they've gone with...you do the math, as Enid would most definitely not have said.
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The drama did show things a bit more....exagerated than in reality. It even stated this at the beginning of the programme.
To get a better insight into Enid Blyton then Barbara Stoneys official biography is the best place to start. It features in more detail the events in the drama. Especially her relationships with her children and husbands and also how fragile and childlike she was at times.
There was in around 1996 a Channel 4 documentary series called Secret Lives and Enid Blyton was featured in one of these. Well worth a watch if you can find it(I have it on tape) as it interviews both of her daughters Gillian and Imogen as well as her agent, her first husbands widow and daughter. It even has revelations about Enid and Dorothy Richards relationship which some suspected to be of a more intimate nature. The biography also picks up on this whereas the drama never.
The drama was good, but it only showed a few sides to a woman with a lot more sides to her.
@davidcarmon4
What? But it was on TV! It must be true. Stop questioning the TV!
An interesting interview here with both of her daughters, by the way.
http://www.ngjmkamp.nl/enidblyton/eblinks.php?Klikid=30
Pure speculation, but I wonder if she suffered from post-natal depression, and/or had a personality disorder. Although, on the same note, I am mindful that there is a tendency to attach a note of poor mental health to anybody we don't understand.
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At many parts during the movie I would say, "HBC's being such a bitch!!! SHE'S SUCH A GOOD ACTOR!!!," much to the pleasure of whoever else was in earshot of me.
When the youngest daughter locked the car door, I was very pleased with her. :]
On a slight side note, I'd really like to see those interviews mentioned above. I bet they'd be hard to find online though.
yeah. compulsively watchable, though.
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