Dreamchild

As Alice and Lucy step ashore, they are mobbed by journalists seeking a splashy quote about Mr. Dodgson. Jack Dolan intervenes, offering help and guiding their press coverage. The encounter begins a tense, purposeful negotiation with fame.

Dolan quickly becomes her agent, lining up endorsement opportunities and steering media narratives. He and Lucy grow closer amid the pressure, while Alice remains wary of the spotlight. A quiet romantic current forms between Jack and Lucy as the stories unfold.

Alone in their hotel room, Alice hallucinates Dodgson and the Wonderland characters appearing in the room with her. They mock her aging and forgetfulness, mixing memory with fear and longing. The surreal visit deepens her internal struggle over their past relationship.

During the fantasy, she joins the tea party where Dodgson and the Wonderland figures tease her for aging and memory lapses. The scene juxtaposes childish fantasy with the ache of aging and hints at buried tensions. It foreshadows the complexities of their history.

The film cuts to the lazy boating party of July 4, 1862, where Dodgson, then a mathematics professor at her father's college, entertains Alice and her sisters with a whimsical tale that grows into Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. This memory anchors the origins of their bond. It also lays the groundwork for possible, uneasy overtones in their relationship.

Through further flashbacks, the film insinuates Dodgson harbored romantic feelings for Alice, suggesting an undercurrent beyond mentorship. The memory blends adoration with possessiveness, complicating the idea of him as a purely benevolent guide. These scenes blur the lines between guardian and admirer.

Alice realizes Dodgson's jealousy when she meets the man who would become her husband, challenging his sense of possession. She recalls his uneasy reactions and the way he guarded his place in her life. The moment reframes the dynamic from mentorship to a power struggle.

She recalls deliberately baiting his affections to provoke his nervous stutter, a revelation that complicates the late-19th-century dynamic of mentor and muse. The memory exposes a game-like tension beneath their interactions. It reframes Dodgson not just as a mentor, but as someone vulnerable to her tests.

Back in the present, Alice wrestles with her past, trying to understand what actually happened and what she wanted from Dodgson. She weighs memory against truth and questions how much of her story is shaped by nostalgia. The introspection lays the groundwork for choosing her path forward.

Delivering her acceptance speech at Columbia University, she begins to acknowledge Dodgson's role and the complexity of their relationship. The moment marks a turning point where she resolves to own her story rather than be defined by it. Emotions mix with resolve as she moves toward closure.

In a closing fantasy with the Mock Turtle and Gryphon, Alice and Dodgson forgive one another and find peace. The sequence reframes their history as something that can be reconciled in memory. It hints at healing rather than erasure and suggests resolution through imagination.

The film closes with Alice embracing her life with new clarity, supported by Lucy and Dolan, ready to move forward. Her past remains a mosaic rather than a verdict, shaping how she steps into the future. She carries the memory as insight, not guilt or shame.