Synopsis
Set against the backdrop of a beautiful garden in the heart of London, this contemporary fairy tale revolves around the unlikely friendship between a reclusive young woman and a cantankerous old widower. Bella Brown is a beautifully quirky young woman who dreams of writing and illustrating a successful children’s book. After she is forced by her landlord to deal with her neglected garden or face eviction, she meets her match, nemesis, and unlikely mentor in Alfie Stephenson, a grumpy, loveless, old man who lives next door who happens to be an amazing horticulturalist.
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Cast
- Jessica Brown FindlayBella Brown
- Tom WilkinsonAlfie Stevenson
- Andrew ScottVernon
- Jeremy IrvineBilly Tranter
- Anna ChancellorMrs Bramble
- Mia FarkasovskaYoung Bella
- Eileen DaviesMilly
- Natalie NasseraldeenRhian
- Nancy NasseraldeenAmy
- Paul HunterO'Brien
Recommendations
- 75
Observer
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. - 70
The Hollywood Reporter
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. - 70
The New York Times
Enjoyable performances keep the tale from becoming too heavy-handed. - 63
Movie Nation
Findlay and Scott don’t force their charm on us, Wilkinson makes the aphorisms, anecdotes and literary quotations poetic and warm. So much of it takes place in the flowers and brambles of a garden that the movie smells like spring. - 63
Washington Post
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. - 50
Variety
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. - 50
San Francisco Chronicle
Far too precious and eager to please to really deserve its self-description as a fairy tale. - 40
Village Voice
There is such a thing as too sweet, and after this film, you'll feel a toothache coming on.
