Celebrating Spring in Film & TV

By Yasmin Attwood, Second Year, English

It is spring at last. The season of new life, of lambs and daffodils, birds and butterflies, chocolate eggs and hot cross buns. What better time to watch some fun floral films to energise you for the season and prepare for the end of the academic year?

These are some recommendations for films and TV shows I feel encapsulate the feeling of spring!

Big Fish (2003)

No scene could capture the atmosphere of spring better than the daffodil scene in Big Fish. It is one out of a series of fantastical flashbacks to the life of Edward Bloom (Albert Finney older/ Ewan McGregor younger).

You never know what to expect with this film; scenes range from him working in a circus with Amos (Danny DeVito), to living in the secret shoeless town of Spectre, to meeting a witch (Helena Bonham Carter) who tells him how he will die.

This film is said to evoke the tone of Southern Gothic fantasy and is deeply emotional as well as magical. The titular Big Fish is the perfect representation of the rebirth aspect of Springtime, and what better time to watch it than during the season of rebirth?

Ewan McGregor and Alison Lohman in Big Fish (2003) // Courtesy of Colombia Pictures on IMDB

The Good Place (2016-2020)

Speaking of rebirth, The Good Place is a tv series that imagines life after we die, where we are reborn again into an afterlife, either a good place or a bad place, based on our deeds during our time on earth.

Although it is a comedy show, it actually delves into some really interesting philosophical concepts and even has a live-action version of the Trolley problem played out on screen!

Our main protagonist, Eleanor (Kristen Bell), has to navigate the scenic Good Place without revealing to the architect Michael (Ted Danson), that she is actually a bad person who has been put there by accident.

She gets into deeper and deeper trouble navigating life with her soulmate Chidi (William Jackson Harper), neighbours Tahani (Jameela Jamil), Jason (Manny Jacinto), and the assistant robot Janet (D’Arcy Cardan).

Kristen Bell and Jameela Jamil in The Good Place (2016-2020) // Courtesy of Netflix on IMDB

The Sound of Music (1965)

This is another classical film with a gorgeous soundtrack of Spring songs: ‘The hills are alive with the sound of music’ goes the opening line.

Julie Andrews is incredible in her role as a nun-turned-governess who brings music to the lives of the Von Trapp family in the beautiful setting of the Austrian countryside.

Hills, music, and an abundance of music, it can't get any more Spring-themed than this.

Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music (1965) // Courtesy of 20th Century Fox Entertainment on IMDB

Booksmart (2019)

This is a more recent comedy film following the story of two students, Amy (Beanie Feldstein) and Molly (Kaitlyn Denver), who realise on their last day of school that they haven’t made the most of their high school experience.

Feeling pressured that their classmates have spent lots of time partying and still made it into equally prestigious colleges as them, they decide they have one last chance before graduation to go to parties for the first time.

This light-hearted and comedic film encapsulates the joyousness of Spring, and the transitional nature of the film reflects the change of the season.

Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever in Booksmart (2019) // Courtesy of IMDB

He loves me, He loves me not (2002)

This is a French psychological drama starring Audrey Tautou (the lead in Amélie (2001)). She works in a flower shop, and as the title of the film alludes to, she is working out where she stands in her relationship with a cardiologist.

This is a film that it's best to know as little about before going into it but be prepared for a few twists and turns as we see different perspectives on different situations and events can be perceived in completely different ways by different people.

This was a film I really enjoyed, and from which flowers abound, reminding viewers of the beauty of love in spring.

Audrey Tautou in He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not (2002) // Courtesy of IMDB

Pride & Prejudice (2005)

Love and spring immediately come to mind when thinking about the last recommendation on this list: Pride & Prejudice (2005). Adapted from the Austen novel of the same name, this film considers the ‘truth that is universally acknowledged that a single man in profession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife’.

There is something about period dramas that screams spring, from their pastoral green settings to their calmness, to the simplicity of life before mobile phones. This film starring Keira Knightly as Elizabeth Bennet and Matthew Macfadyen as Mr Darcey, is the original enemies-to-lovers storyline, set against the sprawling backdrop of the Regency-era English countryside.

Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen in Pride & Prejudice (2005) // Courtesy of IMDB

These are the films and TV shows that I think are great to watch anytime, but especially in spring accompanied by chocolate eggs, in those days when ‘the sun shines hot, and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade’, to quote Dickens.

Featured Image: Midsommar (2019) // Courtesy of A24 on IMDB

What film and tv do you think encapsulates the season of Spring?