Our take
Told through a series of flashbacks and personal archival footage, Beginners gives us the story of Oliver (Ewan McGregor), a 38-year-old graphic designer from Los Angeles, and his two parents across three timeframes. Oliver has never had a meaningful relationship. Six months after his mother dies, his father, Hal, played by the amazing, Academy Award-winning, and, sadly, late Christopher Plummer, comes out to Oliver. He lives the last days of his life in liberation and, well, gaiety, before protracting terminal cancer. Some months later, Oliver meets Anna at a party, a young French actress (Mélanie Laurent) who is beautiful and warm-hearted, and they start an affair. Through this all, there’s Arthur, a Parson Jack Russell. But don’t worry. He doesn’t talk. Beginners is a beautiful and intricate film about finding love and happiness. It’s funny, warm, and sincere. A beautiful movie.
Streaming arrival
What it won
Oscars
1 win
Golden Globes
1 win
BAFTA
1 win
Spirit Awards
1 win · 3 noms
Nat. Board of Review
1 nom
The story
Oliver meets the irreverent and unpredictable Anna only months after his father Hal Fields has passed away. This new love floods Oliver with memories of his father, who, following the death of his wife of 44 years, came out of the closet at age 75 to live a full, energized, and wonderfully tumultuous gay life – which included a younger boyfriend.
Elsewhere
"Mike Mills treats love and loss with a disarming tenderness and a refusal of sentimentality that make Beginners, his second feature, something of an anomaly among male identity flicks. What a finely wrought, wryly funny, transcendently sad movie this is."
— Amy Taubin
"Arthur might have stolen this one were it not for a cast that inspires you to empty out your bag of superlatives."
— David Edelstein
Oh my god everyone in this movie needs to take some antidepressants and seek therapy. Don’t get me wrong the movie is artsy and pretty and all but everyone in the movie is so unnecessarily depressing.