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This Beautiful Fantastic

Name: This Beautiful Fantastic
Director: Simon Aboud
Released: 2016
Duration: 100 min

Representation Score

5.4/10

Fair

2016

Director

Simon Aboud

Runtime

100 minutes

Average Rating

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New Showbiz Analysis

This film is a character-driven drama that prioritizes existential themes over identity-based power dynamics. It explores the intersection of creativity and mortality through an intimate, humanistic lens. The narrative succeeds in providing a nuanced portrayal of women's ability to drive the story and the complexities of aging. However, it remains firmly within the bounds of traditional Western storytelling structures. While the film offers emotional depth, it lacks significant representation of LGBTQ+ identities or racial diversity, maintaining a very conventional demographic profile.

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Category Breakdown

Does This Beautiful Fantastic have LGBTQ+ representation?

Minimal

The film follows a traditional framework that assumes everyone is straight or cisgender. It lacks significant presence of non-binary or LGBTQ+ identities and narratives that challenge standard social structures.

How does This Beautiful Fantastic portray gender?

Fair

Bella Brown serves as a strong female protagonist who play a significant role in driving the story. The story centers her intellectual pursuits and creative ambitions rather than relying on submissive clichés.

How racially and ethnically diverse is This Beautiful Fantastic?

Limited

The cast reflects a predominantly Anglo-Saxon demographic within its London setting. The narrative does not utilize multicultural casting to disrupt conventional expectations of the environment.

How does This Beautiful Fantastic represent religion and culture?

Fair

The story focuses on humanist perspectives and the beauty of the natural world. It avoids critiques of Western institutions, focusing instead on personal connections and individual resilience.

Does This Beautiful Fantastic include disability representation?

Good

The film handles mortality and the fragility of life with nuance. It portrays vulnerability as a fundamental human condition rather than using aging as a mere plot device.

Present on Screen

Provides meaningful women's ability to drive the story through the protagonist's creative and personal struggles.
Offers a nuanced, non-exploitative portrayal of aging and the fragility of life.
Focuses on humanistic connections and the dignity of individual struggle.

Limited or Absent

Lacks significant representation of LGBTQ+ identities or non-binary narratives.
Maintains a predominantly Anglo-Saxon demographic without multicultural blending.
Operates within a traditional Western storytelling framework.

Official 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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