Luckily, Beginners doesn't fall into this trap- it is just arty enough. Whimsical characters and the photographs and drawings that are interspersed throughout the story are simply cute and funny, rather than seeming to scream 'look at me! I'm profound!'. Oliver (Ewan McGregor) is a man in his late thirties who has just lost his father, Hal (Christopher Plummer). Dragged along to a party by his friends, where he dresses as Freud and can't help but take his friendly dog Arthur (who is complete with subtitles), Oliver meets a girl that is equally sad and equally interesting- the beautiful french actress Anna (Melanie Laurent). The movie follows their romance and flashes back to Oliver's childhood and his final years with his father, who came out in his seventies and began a relationship with a younger man.
Each of the different stories complement each other perfectly, explaining why Oliver is who he is now. Plummer is fantastic as a man living the final stage of his life to the fullest, not worrying in the slightest about the years that have passed or the years that won't happen. The closeness that develops between Oliver and Hal is sweet and comforting, while Oliver and Anna's romance is nothing short of lovely: a classic tale of two lost souls finding their place with each other. Of course, one of the highlights is definitely the cute animal: Arthur is a chatty and loyal pet that we can probably all recognise. It's not a movie I'd watch again and again, as it was quite long and heavy at times, but it's definitely worth at least one look.
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