Review of Beginners (2011) by Bob B — 28 Jun 2018

Oliver is a quit and quirky young man that is dealing with the hardship of losing his mother and father at different times in his life, and with the fact that, at age 75, his father came out at gay. This dichotomy of both loving his parents, and being frustrated with his parents relationship, has generated internal strife within Oliver, which is made apparent by his constant flashbacks to old memories, as well as the dark colors, slow moving, somber tones of the movie.

Within the darkness that is Oliver's reality, Anna is presented as a beaken of light and hope. She is the first person to acknowledge Oliver's sadness, the first person to bring him joy. The movie is called beginners because for the firs time, the two attempt to hold on to their relationship rather than let their past experiences and destructive tendencies get in the way.

The magic of this movie is how slow and silent it is. Ewan McGregor and Melanie Laurent are excellent in their roles, walking the line between reserved and expressive expertly well. There are no massive declarations of love, and though there are passionate moments, both between Oliver and Anna, and between his father and his father's lover, these moments are much more muted. The movie leaves you yearning for more, for some climactic moment that leaves you feeling satisfied. However, we are never given that. Instead, we are given these beautiful and sweet moments, moments that are still riddled with fear from past experiences and thoughts of doubt. It is in those moments of revealing their dark thoughts and feelings that Oliver and Anna really learn to love each other, but it is also this same thing that threatens to drive them apart. We also see his father, Hall, upon revealing that he is gay, becoming a passionate, fun loving man, a version of himself that Oliver's mom never got to see. Yet we also see that in keeping his cancer a secret, he drives a wedge between himself and his partner. This movie is about learning how to cope with the skeletons in ones closet without letting them get in the way of finding love and happiness.

I highly recommend this movie if you are looking for a sad-but-true love story. One that feels a bit more on par with what love in real life really ends up looking like.