Le Merveilleux Jardin secret de Bella Brown

I spent a very pleasant 100 minutes watching this movie. It was a good STORY. It was not filled with special effects, violence, or nudity. I can/have/will continue to enjoy all those things in movies, but it was refreshing to relax and enjoy a good story. The movie was slightly predictable, but in a good way. As I got caught up in the story I wanted those things to happen. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

source: This Beautiful Fantastic

Sounding like something a preteen on the edge of puberty would come up with, this cutesy fairy tale has something to offer, just not enough to keep interest. Bordering on preciousness, Jessica Brown Findlay, with her odd fashion choices, is a too-dull caricature of a character that should shine with nuance and curiosity but instead lulls you to sleep. A nice diversion but nothing more, kind of like a having a scone with jam at a tea party in Sussex.

I imagine some people (especially the writer-director) will find this charming, but I just couldn't warm to the characters. Tom Wilkinson's performance is straight up and believable, though I didn't understand his character's reliance on Vernon, the cook. Jessica Brown Findlay was so so much better in Albatross (2011). Jeremy Irvine seemed to be channeling Professor Branestawm (sic).

This cliche-ridden tosh is so predictable that halfway through it gives up trying to entertain and almost wilfully disappoints at nearly every turn. Until that point, when it's really clear that there is utterly nothing stopping this tick-boxing it's way to the credits, you had kind of wondered if perhaps the ladles of kookiness would repay with at least a smidgen of insight or some lighthearted whimsy of an actual joke or two. But no, it really is going to be a rom-com minus the comedy, and the romance, aiming to be a kind of British Amelie. I don't know what they were thinking, maybe aiming for the American market with overtly English country-garden-meets-best-exotic-marigold-meets-oh-look-its-Tom Wilkinson from those gangster films? But the warning signs were there at the start, the moment the bumbling "love interest" (think Frank Spencer had a kid with Harry Potter and decided to try and be Hugh Grant but with none of the wit or the charm and ALL of the annoying clunk) comes crashing into the film, in the process kicking off the longest and unfunniest running joke which unfolds every single library based pun/set piece you could ever conceive (that runs the entire film). That the film is utterly predictable doesn't help, and the one saving grace is the aforementioned Tom Wilkinson who, I'm sorry to say, can only drag the film up from a 1 to a 3 out of 10, and even then there were times he looked like he could smell the stench. He was the wild strawberry in the manure of this shambles.

A nice story, walking on the steps of Amelie, but not really getting there. The story focuses on a young woman, who is peculiar in her own ways. She likes her own routine. Everything changes when he next door neighbour complains about her garden, that she had left to go wild. She is forced by the landlord to maintain it, else she should leave the house. However, she is scared of plants and nature. In addition, she takes in her neighbour's cook, who he mistreats, and she meets an ambitious inventor in the library where she works. All in all, the story is cute and sweet, with the garden, the odd girl and the relationships she forms with the people who unexpectedly appeared in her life. However, it felt like something was missing, like something in the romance, or the love triangle (if there was one to begin with, though there were some traces of it and hints here and there). The garden stories were nice and some of the scenes really beautiful. So, 6 out of 10.

This film tells the story of a young woman who works in a library. She keeps her rental property nice, but it's unable to keep the garden beautiful. One day, the landlord gives her one month to make the garden beautiful and fantastic, otherwise she will be evicted. "This Beautiful Fantastic" has a slow pace, and takes time to develop the story. To be honest, the obsessive character trait of the leading woman isn't explored enough, as the trait is shown in the beginning but does not appear anymore after the initial moments. The old neighbour speaks in an old fashioned way, with complicated sentences but impolite as can be. No one speaks like that nowadays. Honestly, the story is less than engaging. I thought there was going to be something magical in the garden, but I waited in vain. The only thing I really enjoyed was the chief librarian who obsessively enforced library rules.

Pleasant is the word that comes to mind. It isn't magic realism even though it seems to start that way. Jessica Findlay is a little too pretty to be what she is but she is a pleasure to watch even with the frumpy clothes and hair. Jeremy Irvine plays the nerd quite well. The little romantic drama at the end is contrived but neat. The neighborly relationships and eccentric characters bring to mind the Jack Nicholson movie "As Good as it Gets". The ending is feel good wish fulfillment and leaves a pleasant aftertaste. This movie isn't laugh out loud funny - it could have been funnier but that's part of it's understated charm.

I spent a very pleasant 100 minutes watching this movie. It was a good STORY. It was not filled with special effects, violence, or nudity. I can/have/will continue to enjoy all those things in movies, but it was refreshing to relax and enjoy a good story. The movie was slightly predictable, but in a good way. As I got caught up in the story I wanted those things to happen. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

My opinion-. This Beautiful Fantastic is a very nice comedy with the dramatic sides of: Simon Aboud who knew to master perfectly his realization that I found very neat. It is a fresh and sensitive comedy with moving human sides and it still makes a little think of the character "Amélie Poulain" to another register of course Amélie Poulain being a wonderful production while here it is a beautiful production. This comedy is easily seen and the character of Miss Bella Brown is extremely well interpreted by: Jessica Brown-Findlay, as to the other two actors: Tom Wilkinson in the role of: Alfie Stephenson and Andrew Scott in the role of: Vernon And finally Jeremy Irvine as Billy. All these actors render a very beautiful quality to the movie by their respective talents with a plus for the delicious Jessica Brown- Findlay. A comedy that I advise, because it is filled with beautiful feelings.