X
- 2017
- PG
- Samuel Goldwyn Films
- 1 h 32 m
- 2017
- PG
- Samuel Goldwyn Films
- 1 h 32 m
Summary Bella Brown (Jessica Brown Findlay) is a beautifully quirky young woman who dreams of writing and illustrating a successful children’s book. When she is forced by her landlord to deal with her neglected garden or face eviction, she meets her nemesis, match and mentor in Alfie Stephenson (Tom Wilkinson), a grumpy, loveless, rich old man w...
Directed By: Simon Aboud
Written By: Simon Aboud
- 2017
- PG
- Samuel Goldwyn Films
- 1 h 32 m
- 2017
- PG
- Samuel Goldwyn Films
- 1 h 32 m
This Beautiful Fantastic
51
6.7
Where to Watch
Summary Bella Brown (Jessica Brown Findlay) is a beautifully quirky young woman who dreams of writing and illustrating a successful children’s book. When she is forced by her landlord to deal with her neglected garden or face eviction, she meets her nemesis, match and mentor in Alfie Stephenson (Tom Wilkinson), a grumpy, loveless, rich old man w...
Directed By: Simon Aboud
Written By: Simon Aboud
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 10 Critic Reviews
51
50% Positive
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
40% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
10% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 10 Critic Reviews
51
50% Positive
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
40% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
10% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
A charming, beautifully photographed modern fairy tale about love and gardening, This Beautiful Fantastic is worth seeing in spite of its dumb deterrent of a title.
Writer-director Simon Aboud doesn’t push the quirk factor; even when the narrative is at its most playful, he keeps it rooted to a lived-in reality. Mining familiar territory with an earnest clarity, he shapes a mild yet winning fantasy about hearts opening and friendships blooming.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 23 User Ratings
6.7
61% Positive
14 Ratings
14 Ratings
35% Mixed
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
4% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 23 User Ratings
6.7
61% Positive
14 Ratings
14 Ratings
35% Mixed
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
4% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
I happened onto this movie while looking for a similarly-named, more recent flick, and watched it with my wife last evening. She was delighted with the mature tone of the film and I was amazed to find it languishing at 51% critical approval here. Ordinary people rated it 3.6/5 stars on Netflix -- some 10,000 of them! If you're into sex, violence, drugs, vile language, and cardboard cutouts, this movie is not for you. If you have a literary bent, then you might want to give it a try. It's a bit like watching Masterpiece Theatre on PBS.
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This is an underrated movie that is sweet, a little odd and charming. I disagree with the idea that this is a formulaic movie; it's too quirky to be that simple. It might be for a smaller audience that many other movies but it's a welcome addition, if you enjoy this genre.
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Depending on how you take your twee — sparingly or, as is the case in this preciously concocted tale of English misfits, slathered like marmalade over a crumpet — it will either delight or quickly cloy.
Far too precious and eager to please to really deserve its self-description as a fairy tale.
Everything about “Fantastic” is designed to charm, and its success in that respect will depend upon the viewer’s susceptibility to cuteness and contrivance ladled on with some proficiency but no subtlety whatsoever.
There is such a thing as too sweet, and after this film, you'll feel a toothache coming on.
This Beautiful Fantastic is not meant to be realistic. It's supposed to be a fairy tale. That's fine, but it's a very low-stakes fairy tale, wrapped in a strained garden metaphor.
There comes a time for everyone that changes the life forever.
This is a very charming title if you are a fantasy film fan. Good looking film posters too from different languages for different regions. In a way, that was my reason to watch this, but anyway I would have seen it sooner or later being a cinephile. It was not a popular production, though the cast and storyline interested me more. They have categorised it as a modern day fairy-tale. But it was missing something. Something cinematically convince to its viewers. My best guess is 'stylish presentation'. Yep, it was a similar kind to 'Amélie', ' Citizen Dog' et cetera. It was not based on any book, but would have been a better format for such tale.
It was like those titles I mentioned in the previous paragraph which meets 'The Secret Garden'. Sadly, not well explored in its topics. For instance, the romance part was half-boiled. Funnily, I never knew the film trying to achieve that part. Of course it had a boy and a girl. In fact, three boys against one girl. But which path the narration is taking was well preserved till certain length of the film. Surely somewhat it was a fairy-tale, but most probably not like the one you would be anticipating. Especially in the initial stage, it bettered. Only later on it had started to fall back as a casual film.
The tale of a children's novelist. She is an orphan. Now being an adult, living independently in London, while working in a library. The story of her prior to land in the orphanage was a mystery. So basically she aspires to be a children's writer. Yet to write her first book. It was her normal lonely mechanical life, but one stormy day a trouble comes her way. The next door grumpy old man picking her for a verbal fight for several reasons and one of it were the neglected backyard. Now she has got a countdown to fix the issue. So the remaining the narrative focused on her undertaking, while the other side of her life, she's trying to get a close to an inventor.
❝Life and nature, it's just waiting to burst out anywhere it can, seeking light, getting on with it.❞
Definitely it should have been better. Not for just the cinephiles, but even normal people would feel that way. I don't know this filmmaker, but his direction was good, definitely not the writing skill. I think that's where it had failed mostly. It is still an above average, though if the screenplay, including dialogues was done better, then it would have been another level. Particularly, I did not like the transition between the scenes, events and the characters. One of the lines said at the final stage, after the story had taken a twist was poorly penned. That was the godfather of all the clichés, should have avoided at any cost.
By the way the actors were good. From Jessica Brown to Tom Wilkinson and other two did their respective roles finely. The synopsis says it is about an author, but the film explored different way. The entire film given preference to gardening. It took phases and were decent too. But at final stage it takes a twist by giving a convincing reason. But if that's what the whole story was relied on to surprise its viewer, then that's did not do its job as expected. Overall, the writing should have been improved to give the film a better chance to do well with the film goers.
Nonetheless, it is a watchable film. Especially I think women, family audience could enjoy it better. I would say the character Bella carried it all the way, despite Alfie jumped into the main storyline strongly in a mid way. The basic story was good enough. Bella is being a loner all her life, how suddenly everything has changed around her was the purpose of the film. Jessica Brown was a perfect choice for the role. She looked more beautiful than ever. Watch it for her, for the cast. Only a few people would feel they had seen a great film. It's just a good British film.
6.5/10
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95 minutes about the adventures of a heroine sort-of Amelie. Is´nt so clever and charming as french movie, but the performances does the needly for make this one a worthwhile choice for a sunday evening.
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(Mauro Lanari)
Unanimously considered almost a remake of "Amélie" (Jeunet, 2001), this "fairy tale in the fairy tale knows how to caress the audience and entertain using few furnished spaces of tender feelings, even if it sometimes tells more with words than with images". However its biggest problem is that the comedy about the full development of the protagonist, the neurodiversity of the duckling that has become able of flying, does not offset (how could it do this?) the drama about the grumpy and adorable old horticulturist played by Tom Wilkinson.
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Awards
Edinburgh International Film Festival
• 1 Nomination
Emden International Film Festival
• 1 Nomination
Hollywood Music In Media Awards (HMMA)
• 1 Nomination
