Absolute Beginners

Absolute Beginners

Absolute Beginners

Share

Absolute Beginners

"Welcome to the world of your dreams!"

1986

1h 48m

5.5(70 votes)

Drama

Music

Romance

Overview

A musical adaptation of Colin MacInnes' novel about life in late 1950s London. Nineteen-year-old photographer Colin is hopelessly in love with model Crepe Suzette, but her relationships are strictly connected with her progress in the fashion world. So Colin gets involved with a pop promoter and tries to crack the big time. Meanwhile, racial tension is brewing in Colin's Notting Hill housing estate...

Links & Resources

Social & External

Production Companies

Goldcrest

The people behind it

Cast & crew

10 featured cast members

Starring

Eddie O'Connell

Eddie O'Connell

Colin, Photographer / Narrator

Patsy Kensit

Patsy Kensit

Suzette

James Fox

James Fox

Henley of Mayfair, Dressmaker to the Queen

David Bowie

David Bowie

Vendice Partners

Ray Davies

Ray Davies

Arthur, Colin's Dad

Mandy Rice-Davies

Mandy Rice-Davies

Flora, Colin's Mum

Eve Ferret

Eve Ferret

Big Jill

Tony Hippolyte

Tony Hippolyte

Mr. Cool

Graham Fletcher-Cook

Graham Fletcher-Cook

Wizard

Joseph McKenna

Joseph McKenna

Fabulous Hoplite

Creative team

Directed by: Julien Temple
Written by: Richard Burridge
Don MacPherson
Produced by: Stephen Woolley
Chris Brown

Similar Movies

Needle in a Timestack

Needle in a Timestack

Nick and Janine live in bliss until her ex warps time to try to tear them apart by using Nick's old girlfriend. As Nick's memories and reality disappear, he must decide what he's willing to sacrifice to save -- or let go of -- everything he loves.

Funny Face

Funny Face

A shy Greenwich Village book clerk is discovered by a fashion photographer and whisked off to Paris where she becomes a reluctant model.

White Christmas

White Christmas

Two talented song-and-dance men team up after the war to become one of the hottest acts in show business. In time they befriend and become romantically involved with the beautiful Haynes sisters who comprise a sister act.

Always - Sunset on Third Street

Always - Sunset on Third Street

In 1958 postwar Tokyo, the residents of a humble Third Street neighbourhood struggle, dream, and grow together as rapid modernisation transforms their lives beneath the shadow of the newly rising Tokyo Tower.

Intimate Enemies

Intimate Enemies

A drama following a French platoon during Algeria's war of independence.

Fast Times at Ridgemont High

Fast Times at Ridgemont High

A group of Southern-California high school students ignore their studies in favor of indulging in their teenage distractions.

October Sky

October Sky

The true story of Homer Hickam, a coal miner's son who was inspired by the first Sputnik launch to take up rocketry against his father's wishes.

Holiday Inn

Holiday Inn

Lovely Linda Mason has crooner Jim Hardy head over heels, but suave stepper Ted Hanover wants her for his new dance partner after fickle Lila Dixon gives him the brush. Jim's supper club, Holiday Inn, is the setting for the chase by Hanover and his manager.

How to Blend In

How to Blend In

When a teenage girl gives in to peer pressure and takes a mysterious pill, she soon discovers chilling consequences that force her to confront the cost of changing herself to fit in.

Elaan

Elaan

Naresh Kumar Saxena lives with his widowed mom and sister, Seema. He works as a freelance photographer and journalist. One day he meets with Mala Mehta and her dad, who is the Editor of a Newspaper. Mr. Mehta hires Naresh and assigns him to go to a remote island to investigate and expose some illegal activities there. Naresh goes there in the company of his friend, Shyam. Unfortunately, Naresh is caught by the island guards and lodged in a cell along with two others, one a scientist and Ram Singh, a hoodlum. The scientist confides in Naresh that he has invented an atomic ring that when inserted in someone's mouth will turn that person invisible, and subsequently passes away. Naresh puts the ring in his mouth, takes off his clothes, turns invisible and escapes.

Withnail & I

Withnail & I

Two out-of-work actors -- the anxious, luckless Marwood and his acerbic, alcoholic friend, Withnail -- spend their days drifting between their squalid flat, the unemployment office and the pub. When they take a holiday "by mistake" at the country house of Withnail's flamboyantly gay uncle, Monty, they encounter the unpleasant side of the English countryside: tedium, terrifying locals and torrential rain.

Children of Glory

Children of Glory

During the ill-fated Hungarian revolution of 1956, Karcsi Szabo, star player on the water polo team, is torn between his love for a revolutionary student and his training for the Melbourne Olympics.

Queen of the Night Clubs

Queen of the Night Clubs

Irked by the success of a brassy nightclub owner. her rivals set out to drive her out of business, and frame her for a murder in the bargain.

Road to Singapore

Road to Singapore

Two playboys try to forget previous romances in Singapore – until they meet a beautiful dancer.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

The infamous story of Benjamin Barker, a.k.a Sweeney Todd, who sets up a barber shop down in London which is the basis for a sinister partnership with his fellow tenant, Mrs. Lovett. Based on the hit Broadway musical.

Summer Heat

Summer Heat

Photographer Bob loses his girlfriend. A year later he meets Kathleen. Is she in love? Or does she use him for her dark dealings with the mafia?

The Music Man

The Music Man

Traveling con artist Harold Hill targets the naïve residents of a small town in 1910s Iowa by posing as a boys' bandleader to raise money before he can skip town.

Scrooge

Scrooge

A musical adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic ghost tale starring Albert Finney.

Diner

Diner

Set in 1959, Diner shows how five young men resist their adulthood and seek refuge in their beloved Diner. The mundane, childish, and titillating details of their lives are shared. But the golden moments pass, and the men shoulder their responsibilities, leaving the Diner behind.

The Marzipan Pig

The Marzipan Pig

Narrated by Tim Curry and based on the book by Russell Hoban and Quentin Blake, a lonely, lost marzipan pig reaches out with love, in a strange chain of events, to an owl, a mouse and a hibiscus flower.

Recommended Movies

Quadrophenia

Quadrophenia

Based on the 1973 rock opera album of the same name by The Who, this is the story of 60s teenager Jimmy. At work he slaves in a dead-end job. While after, he shops for tailored suits and rides his scooter as part of the London Mod scene.

Darling

Darling

Diana, a beautiful but shallow and easily distracted model and failed actress, toys with the affections of several men while attempting to gain fame and fortune in Swinging London.

A Star Is Born

Drunken, has-been rock star John Norman Howard falls in love with unknown singer Esther Hoffman after seeing her perform at a club. He lets her sing a few songs at one of his shows and she becomes the talk of the music industry. Esther's star begins to rise, while John's continues to fall. She tries desperately to get John to sober up and focus on his music, but it may be too late to save him.

Rocketman

Rocketman

The story of Elton John's life, from his years as a prodigy at the Royal Academy of Music through his influential and enduring musical partnership with Bernie Taupin.

Crossroads

Crossroads

A wanna-be blues guitar virtuoso seeks a long-lost song by legendary musician, Robert Johnson.

Battle of the Year

Battle of the Year

A down-on-his-luck coach is hired to prepare a team of the best American dancers for an international tournament that attracts all the best crews from around the world, but the Americans haven't won in fifteen years.

O'Dessa

O'Dessa

A farm girl is on an epic quest to recover a cherished family heirloom. Her journey leads her to a strange and dangerous city where she meets her one true love – but in order to save his soul, she must put the power of destiny and song to the ultimate test.

Purple Rain

Purple Rain

A victim of his own anger, the Kid is a Minneapolis musician on the rise with his band, the Revolution, escaping a tumultuous home life through music. While trying to avoid making the same mistakes as his truculent father, the Kid navigates the club scene and a rocky relationship with a captivating singer, Apollonia. But another musician, Morris, looks to steal the Kid's spotlight -- and his girl.

Winter Spring Summer or Fall

Winter Spring Summer or Fall

Remi and Barnes, two very different teenagers, meet by chance in the winter of their senior year, then spend four days together over the course of a year that will change their lives forever.

Marked Men: Rule + Shaw

Marked Men: Rule + Shaw

Shaw Landon has loved Rule Archer from the moment she laid eyes on him. Rule, a fiery-tempered rebel tattoo artist, doesn’t have time for a good girl pre-med student like Shaw — even if she’s the only one who can see the person he truly is. She lives by other people’s rules; he makes his own. But a short skirt, too many birthday cocktails, and spilled secrets lead to a night neither can forget. Now, Shaw and Rule must figure out how a girl like her and a guy like him are supposed to be together without destroying their love…or each other.

Pennies from Heaven

Pennies from Heaven

During the Great Depression, a sheet music salesman seeks to escape his dreary life through popular music and a love affair with an innocent schoolteacher.

Honey: Rise Up and Dance

Honey: Rise Up and Dance

Street dancer Skyler comes out of the shadow of her trained dancer sister, Tosha, & joins a dance competition with the Honey dance studio; the prize is a college scholarship.

Clika

Clika

Aspiring small-town musician Chito is determined to make it big. When a clip of him performing one of his songs goes viral, he seizes the opportunity and pushes to carve out a place for himself in the new wave of Mexican-American music... and ultimately gets caught in a game more dangerous than anticipated.

Newness

Newness

In contemporary Los Angeles, two millennials navigating a social media–driven hookup culture begin a relationship that pushes both emotional and physical boundaries.

Ashes in the Snow

Ashes in the Snow

The coming-of-age tale of 16-year-old Lina Vilkas who is deported to Siberia amid Stalin's reign of terror in the Baltic region during WWII. An aspiring artist, she secretly documents her harrowing journey with her drawings.

Dot the I

Dot the I

A fiery Spanish woman is about to marry a kind British man when she meets a Brazilian actor who ignites in her a flame of lust she can't ignore.

The Testament of Ann Lee

The Testament of Ann Lee

The extraordinary true legend of Ann Lee, founder of the devotional sect known as the Shakers, who preached gender and social equality and was revered by her followers as the female Christ.

Cadillac Records

Cadillac Records

The story of sex, violence, race and rock and roll in 1950s Chicago, and the exciting but turbulent lives of some of America's musical legends, including Muddy Waters, Leonard Chess, Little Walter, Howlin' Wolf, Etta James and Chuck Berry.

The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall

The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall

A disfigured musical genius, hidden away in the Paris Opera House, terrorises the opera company for the unwitting benefit of a young protégée whom he trains and loves. The 25th anniversary of the first public performance of Phantom of the Opera was celebrated with a grand performance at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

Sweet Dreams

Sweet Dreams

The story of Patsy Cline, the velvet-voiced country music singer who died in a tragic plane crash at the height of her fame.