[yasr_overall_rating]
A young woman who dreams of being a children’s author makes an unlikely friendship with a cantankerous, rich old widower.
It is hard to not fall in love with Simon Aboud’s “This Beautiful Fantastic.” It seems to be set in a world outside of time, perhaps even in a parallel universe. Life is generally ordinary but there’s a touch of grace perhaps, or a pinch of magic that has its feet firmly planted on the ground, keeping a level head about it. “This Beautiful Fantastic” has a bit of “Amélie” here and a bit of “Lemony Snicket” and “The Secret Garden,” there. Our protagonist is seemingly the type of girl that provokes a peculiar type of fawning from the people around her, and she goes on as if this were the norm for every young woman, which adds to her charm but occasionally makes you go, “Really?” I fell hard for this film very quickly and it pained me to pick at it, but the necessity to do so is very real.
Bella Brown (Jessica Brown Findlay) was abandoned as an infant in a park and protected by ducks. And was eventually found by an octogenarian and was then raised in an orphanage by nuns. She was deemed peculiar from a young age. And the peculiarity lingered well into adulthood. Perhaps due to her curious beginnings, Bella has her quirks and has a penchant towards order. She dresses in tones, not colors. Most of her wardrobe is varying shades of gray and black, which adds to her alluring, almost childlike demeanor. Everything around her seems awash in muted tones. And everything has its order from her clothes, to her food, her hygiene, and even her occupation at a small library. Everything has order except the garden. The garden is rampant with neglect much to the chagrin of Bella’s prickly neighbor, Alfie Stephenson (Tom Wilkinson). Bella’s acute fear of “flora” has landed her in trouble. She will be evicted if she has not fixed the eyesore that is her garden within a month’s time.
The neglected garden serves as a metaphor for cultivation, the cultivation of Bella. Bella is not void of aspirations; in fact, she aspires to be an author of children’s books. But as of yet has done nothing. She is cultivated by the odd mix of men that find themselves at the center of her life and troubles. There is, of course, her irritable neighbor, Alfie, who eventual softens and provides her with help engaging his vast horticulturist knowledge. And there is also Vernon (Andrew Scott), a delightful Irish cook who previously worked for Alfie, and now works for Bella due to Alfie’s increasingly cantankerous nature. And finally, the love interest, Billy (Jeremy Irvine) who sparks Bella’s imagination with his mechanical inventions. Each one of these men, each with a particular tenderness, help shape up Bella’s life. And of course, in the end, life is all the sweeter.
“This Beautiful Fantastic” is never saccharine or maudlin, it keeps a good balance and prevents nausea that many similar films are capable of producing. Everything about the world in the film has a quaint perfection, like a Wes Anderson film without the Wes Anderson steroids. But the very things that make it charming are some of the things, that when I start to question and dig, make me want to pick it apart. There is this unreal quality that is at once alluring and irksome. I find it problematic that this young woman is portrayed as nearly helpless, and there are only men available to lift her to her fullest potential. Cultivate their ideal.
And this world, this alternate English reality, must truly be parallel because I cannot imagine a woman going to an unknown place with a man she hardly knows simply because he says it would be rude if she didn’t (all smiles of course). Which for me was the single cringeworthy moment of the film. But I overlooked it because I didn’t want it to damper the extraordinary magical plainness that was beautifully crafted, anchored into the very fiber of the film. But it’s unavoidable.
With that said (and to be kept in mind), “This Beautiful Fantastic” will bewitch you. Flaws and all, I loved the film. Perhaps I loved it so because it seemed truly fantastic, a world of beauty and kindness up against a very real world of harshness and then some.
Now available on DVD & Digital HD
