---
title: 'Absolute Beginners (1986)'
type: 'film'
director: 'Julien Temple'
released: '1986-04-18'
runtime_minutes: 106
genres:
  - 'Music'
  - 'Romance'
  - 'Drama'
countries:
  - 'Australia'
  - 'United Kingdom'
canonical: 'https://cinepixo.com/movies/absolute-beginners-1986'
review_count: 0
imdb: 'https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090585/'
publisher: 'CinePixo'
---

# Absolute Beginners (1986)

1986 · 106 min · Music, Romance, Drama · Australia, United Kingdom


## Synopsis

Absolute Beginners is a 1986 British musical film adapted from Colin MacInnes' book about life in late 1950s London, directed by Julien Temple. The film stars Eddie O' Connell, Patsy Kensit, James Fox, Edward Tudor-Pole, Anita Morris, and David Bowie, with featured appearances by Sade Adu, Ray Davies, and Steven Berkoff. It was screened out of competition at the 1986 Cannes Film Festival. It received coverage in the British media but was panned by critics and became a box office failure, although modern reviews have been more favourable. Bowie's theme song was very popular in the UK, spending nine weeks on the charts and peaking at number two. The commercial failure of Absolute Beginners and two other films is blamed for the collapse of British film studio Goldcrest Films and for Virgin Films withdrawing from production.

## Credits

- **Original Music Composer:** [David Bowie](https://cinepixo.com/people/david-bowie)
- **Director:** [Julien Temple](https://cinepixo.com/people/julien-temple)
- **Screenplay:** [Richard Burridge](https://cinepixo.com/people/richard-burridge)
- **Producer:** [Chris Brown](https://cinepixo.com/people/chris-brown)
- **Director of Photography:** [Oliver Stapleton](https://cinepixo.com/people/oliver-stapleton)
- **Editor:** [Gerry Hambling](https://cinepixo.com/people/gerry-hambling)

## Cast

- [Eric Sykes](https://cinepixo.com/people/eric-sykes)
- [Sandie Shaw](https://cinepixo.com/people/sandie-shaw)
- [David Bowie](https://cinepixo.com/people/david-bowie)
- [Paul Rhys](https://cinepixo.com/people/paul-rhys)
- [Ray Davies](https://cinepixo.com/people/ray-davies)
- [Mandy Rice-Davies](https://cinepixo.com/people/mandy-rice-davies)
- [Sade Adu](https://cinepixo.com/people/sade-adu)
- [John Greaves](https://cinepixo.com/people/john-greaves)
- [Anita Morris](https://cinepixo.com/people/anita-morris)
- [James Fox](https://cinepixo.com/people/james-fox)
- [Steven Berkoff](https://cinepixo.com/people/steven-berkoff)
- [Joseph McKenna](https://cinepixo.com/people/joseph-mckenna)
- [Sylvia Syms](https://cinepixo.com/people/sylvia-syms)
- [Shaun Alexander](https://cinepixo.com/people/shaun-alexander)
- [Robbie Coltrane](https://cinepixo.com/people/robbie-coltrane)

## Criticism on CinePixo

No reviews published yet.

Source: https://cinepixo.com/movies/absolute-beginners-1986
Film facts: Wikidata (Q332394); synopsis from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Reviews, themes and notes are the work of this site's members.