This Beautiful Fantastic

This Beautiful Fantastic, released in 2016, is a charming British dramedy and romantic film that brilliantly explores the intimacy of friendship, the magic of dreams, and the enduring power of hope. The movie beautifully unfolds painting visuals with words as it showcases the delicate blend of life’s bitter and sweet moments.

This Beautiful Fantastic centers around the character of Bella Brown, brilliantly portrayed by Jessica Brown Findlay. Bella is an introverted young woman who dreams of becoming an author. She lives alone, and her personality has an obsessive-compulsive edge which is evident in her immaculate and meticulously organized home. Yet, her backyard, an untamed jungle, is a stark contrast to her organized living space. With a strong aversion to flora, she has promised to herself never to nurture a plant.

It’s all peaceful until one day when the nature-loving grumpy old man next door, Alfie Stephenson, played impeccably by veteran actor Tom Wilkinson, complains about Bella’s neglected and wild garden. This starts a chain of encounters between Bella and Alfie, who has a flourishing garden of his own. The landlord warns Bella that if she fails to tidy up the garden within a month, she would be evicted. Bella is placed in a precarious situation that she must face head-on.

To overcome this predicament, Bella starts to begrudgingly learn about gardening and life from Alfie. Though she is initially resistant to the old man’s condescending lessons about plants, she gradually succumbs to the beauty of nature and starts seeing her garden, and life, in a whole new light.

The growing relationship between Bella and Alfie is teetered by a complex yet heartwarming friendship between the two, with Alfie gradually serving as a surrogate grandfather-like figure to Bella. Alfie gradually shares his passion for plants and horticulture with Bella, which later forms the basis for her transformation.

Parallelly woven is an interesting subplot featuring Billy, a young, hopeful inventor portrayed by Jeremy Irvine. Billy and Bella form an intriguing bond taking the romance quotient of the movie a notch higher. Bella's eccentric acquaintance and chef Vernon, played by Andrew Scott, adds to the movie's dynamics with his culinary skills and tenderly chaotic personal life.

Director Simon Aboud captures the emotions of isolation, discovery, and connection brilliantly, giving the film an endearing touch. This Beautiful Fantastic not only boasts exceptional performances from the cast but also showcases brilliant production design and alluring scenery. The scenes are aesthetically pleasing and blend seamlessly with the storyline. The narrative also subtly uncovers different life philosophies through wheelchair-bound Alfie's soliloquys on nature, Bella's storytelling aspirations, Billy's unwavering optimism in his quirky inventions, and Vernon's expression of love through food.

The music in the film is delicately scripted to match the progression of the story, varying from joyous to melancholic tunes. It imparts a sense of tranquility and magic, syncing perfectly with the emotional ebb and flow of the story.

This Beautiful Fantastic is a movie where life mirrors garden and garden mirrors life. It's characterized by its magical realism, slowly developing relationships, and charming performances. Enriched with profound symbolism and philosophy, it's a film that ponders on the essence of growth, transformation, and the importance of not just dreaming, but nurturing them too.

The film is much more than a fairy tale for adults. It shows how life isn’t lived in isolation but is an interconnected web of relationships, each playing a key role in our growth and transformation. In capturing the twists and turns of life, love, and friendship, it instills a refreshing perspective on how "life is not a series of grey, hopeless obstacles. It is, instead, a series of brightly colored, hopeful opportunities." This Beautiful Fantastic, despite staying grounded to reality, never ceases to infuse dashes of serendipity, enchantment, and wonder.