This Beautiful Fantastic | |
---|---|
Directed by | Simon Aboud |
Written by | Simon Aboud |
Produced by | Andrea Iervolino Monika Bacardi Christine Alderson Kami Naghdi Matt Treadwell Iliane Ogilvie Thompson Jennifer Levine Norman Merry Phil Hunt Compton Ross |
Starring | Jessica Brown Findlay Tom Wilkinson Andrew Scott Jeremy Irvine Anna Chancellor Eileen Davies |
Cinematography | Mike Eley |
Edited by | David Charap |
Music by | Anne Nikitin |
Production companies | Ipso Facto Productions Smudge Films |
Release date |
|
Running time | 92 minutes [1] |
Country | United Kingdom |
Languages | English Irish |
This Beautiful Fantastic is a 2016 British romantic drama film directed and written by Simon Aboud and starring Jessica Brown Findlay, Tom Wilkinson, Andrew Scott, Jeremy Irvine, Anna Chancellor, and Eileen Davies.
Bella Brown is a young woman with obsessive–compulsive disorder. [2] She works in a public library and is trying to write a children’s book. Bella's fear of plants causes her to neglect the garden of her rented house. Bella meets her next-door-neighbor, a curmudgeonly widower named Alfie Stevenson, and his cook Vernon. After Alfie reports Bella, her landlord gives her one month in which to improve the garden, or face eviction. As Bella works on the garden, she bonds with Alfie, who Vernon has convinced to help. Alfie helps her find an appreciation for nature. She also starts a romance with Billy, an inventor who frequents the library, and who inspires her to begin writing a new story.
A storm destroys most of Bella’s progress on the garden. Billy asks her out on a date, but that day she is fired from her job and then sees Billy with another woman. She falls into a depression. With only a short time left until her landlord's deadline, Alfie and Vernon finish the garden for her. Billy visits and explains that he missed their date because he was in the hospital after an accident, and the person she saw was his triplet brother. Soon after, Alfie passes away. He was actually the owner of Bella's house, and has left it to her, and his own house to Vernon. Bella, now in a relationship with Billy, publishes her picture book, titled This Beautiful Fantastic.
Principal photography on the film began in London in July 2015. [3] [4]
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 61% based on 23 reviews, and an average rating of 6.08/10. [5] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 51 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". [6]
Middling reviews from critics used the term “twee” [7] [8] [9] with comparisons to Amélie . [7] [8] Negative reviews focused on having too many distracting questions, such as why Bella doesn’t just hire a gardener for a few days [7] and the film’s depiction of troubled mental health as a charming eccentricity. [7] [8] Some reviews focused on taste, with Dennis Harvey calling the film a "formulaic crowd-pleaser", that audiences will either find the film sweet or too sweet. [8] [9] Sheri Linden calls the film "sweet but not saccharine" and Neil Genzlinger writes "enjoyable performances keep the tale from becoming too heavy-handed". [10] [11]
The Hot Chick is a 2002 American fantasy comedy film directed by Tom Brady, from a screenplay by Brady and Rob Schneider, and starring Schneider, Anna Faris, Matthew Lawrence, Eric Christian Olsen, and Rachel McAdams in her film debut. The film follows Jessica Spencer (McAdams), a mean-spirited cheerleader who switches bodies with incompetent criminal Clive Maxtone (Schneider). When Jessica discovers that the switch was caused by a pair of enchanted earrings she had stolen, one of which accidentally ended up in Clive's possession, she enlists the help of her friends to get the earrings back together before the switch becomes permanent.
Jessica Marie Alba is an American actress, businesswoman, and entrepreneur. She began her acting career at age 13 in Camp Nowhere (1994), followed up by The Secret World of Alex Mack (1994), and rose to prominence at age 19 as the lead actress of the television series Dark Angel (2000–2002), for which she received a Golden Globe nomination.
Lady Susan is an epistolary novella by Jane Austen, possibly written in 1794 but not published until 1871. This early complete work, which the author never submitted for publication, describes the schemes of the title character.
Andrew Scott is an Irish actor. Known for his roles on stage and screen, he has received numerous accolades, including a BAFTA Television Award and two Laurence Olivier Awards, along with nominations for three Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards.
Normal is a 2003 American made-for-television drama film produced by HBO Films, which became an official selection at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. Jane Anderson, the film's writer and director, adapted her own play, Looking for Normal. The film is about a fictional Midwestern factory worker named Roy Applewood, who stuns his wife of 25 years by saying he wishes to undergo sex reassignment surgery and transition to a woman.
Karen J. Dalton was an American country blues singer, guitarist, and banjo player. She was associated with the early 1960s Greenwich Village folk music scene, particularly with Fred Neil, the Holy Modal Rounders, and Bob Dylan. Although she did not enjoy much commercial success during her lifetime, her music has gained significant recognition since her death. Artists like Nick Cave, Devendra Banhart, and Joanna Newsom have noted her as an influence.
The National Board of Review Award for Best Acting by an Ensemble is an annual film award given by the National Board of Review.
Sweet Dreams is a series of over 230 numbered, stand-alone teen romance novels that were published from 1981 to 1996. Written by mostly American writers, notable authors include Barbara Conklin, Janet Quin-Harkin, Laurie Lykken, Marilyn Kaye, and Yvonne Greene.
Jessica Rose Brown Findlay is an English actress. She played Lady Sybil Crawley in the ITV television period drama series Downton Abbey and Emelia Conan Doyle in the 2011 British comedy-drama feature film Albatross.
Albatross is a 2011 British coming-of-age drama film directed by Niall MacCormick, written by Tamzin Rafn and starring Sebastian Koch, Julia Ormond, Felicity Jones and Jessica Brown Findlay. The film revolves around the premise of an aspiring teenage writer entering the lives of a dysfunctional family living on the south coast of England. "Albatross" is a metaphor used to describe a constant and inescapable burden.
The Woman in Black: Angel of Death is a 2014 supernatural horror film directed by Tom Harper and starring Phoebe Fox, Jeremy Irvine, Helen McCrory, Adrian Rawlins, Leanne Best, and Ned Dennehy. The screenplay was written by Jon Croker from a story by Susan Hill. It is the sequel to the 2012 film The Woman in Black, and is produced by Hammer Film Productions and Entertainment One. During WWII, the London bombings force two schoolteachers to evacuate a group of children to the coastal village of Crythin Gifford. When the refugees take shelter at Eel Marsh House, one teacher, Eve Parkins, soon realizes they are not alone. Little does she know that what lives in the house is more sinister than what they were running from. The film had a premiere in Dubai on December 30, 2014.
Winter's Tale is a 2014 American romantic fantasy film based on the 1983 novel Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin. The film is written, produced and directed by Akiva Goldsman. It stars Colin Farrell, Jessica Brown Findlay, Jennifer Connelly, William Hurt, Eva Marie Saint, Russell Crowe and Will Smith. Winter's Tale premiered at London on February 13 and was theatrically released on February 14 in the United States by Warner Bros. Pictures.
Refuge is a 2012 American drama film written and directed by Jessica Goldberg, based on her play of the same name. It stars Krysten Ritter, Brian Geraghty, Logan Huffman, and Madeleine Martin.
A Girl Like Her is an American pseudo-documentary drama film directed by Amy S. Weber. The film stars Lexi Ainsworth as Jessica Burns, a 16-year-old bullied high school girl who attempts suicide, and Hunter King as Avery Keller, a former friend who has been relentlessly bullying Jessica for months. The film was originally titled The Bully Chronicles but the title was later changed.
Harlots is a British period drama television series created by Alison Newman and Moira Buffini and inspired by The Covent Garden Ladies by British historian Hallie Rubenhold. The series focuses on Margaret Wells, who runs a brothel in 18th-century London and struggles to secure a better future for her daughters in an unpredictable environment.
The Sweet Life is a 2016 American comedy-drama film directed by Rob Spera. It stars Chris Messina and Abigail Spencer as two depressed people who take a road trip to commit suicide at the Golden Gate Bridge.
MDMA is a 2017 American crime drama film written and directed by Angie Wang, and produced by Wang and Fire Horse Film Productions LLC in association with Blue Creek Pictures. The film is about a young woman, Angie Wang, who becomes the biggest supplier of MDMA on the West Coast of the United States in the mid-1980s. According to the film's official website, it is "inspired by true events" from Wang's own life.
Paper Spiders is a 2020 American drama film directed by Inon Shampanier, written by Natalie and Inon Shampanier, and starring Lili Taylor and Stefania LaVie Owen. It tells the story of a high school girl struggling to help her mother, whose paranoid delusions spiral out of control. It is described as "a bittersweet story about coming of age in the shadow of mental illness."
The Banishing is a 2020 British gothic horror film directed by Christopher Smith, starring Jessica Brown Findlay, John Heffernan, John Lynch and Sean Harris. It premiered at the Sitges Film Festival and London FrightFest Film Festival in October 2020, before being released digitally in the United Kingdom on 26 March 2021. The movie revolves around a haunted-house horror set in the lead up to World War II.