Arthur
“Arthur has enough money to buy almost anything — except the life he actually wants.”
Director
Jason Winer
Release
22 April 2011
Runtime
110 Minutes
Certificate
12A
Synopsis
Arthur Bach lives in extraordinary luxury without much responsibility. His lifestyle has become an embarrassment to his powerful family, particularly after repeated public disasters. The solution devised for him is marriage. Arthur is expected to marry Susan Johnson, a woman whose ambition and family connections make her an ideal match from a business perspective. Arthur doesn't love Susan. But refusing the arrangement could cost him the fortune that has defined his entire existence. Then he meets Naomi Quinn, an unconventional New Yorker working as an unofficial tour guide. Arthur is fascinated by her precisely because she expects nothing from his money. As their relationship develops, he faces a choice he's never really had to make before: Security or independence. Money or love. The life selected for him or a life he actually chooses. Apple's official synopsis describes the same dilemma: Arthur must choose between an arranged marriage that guarantees his wealth and following his heart.
The Movie Trailer
Arthur is a romantic comedy about a billionaire playboy forced to decide whether keeping his enormous inheritance is worth marrying somebody he doesn't love.
Arthur Bach has spent his life protected from consequences.
Money solves almost everything.
And whenever Arthur can't solve something himself, his lifelong nanny Hobson usually can.
His family finally decides enough is enough.
Arthur must marry wealthy businesswoman Susan Johnson and secure the future his family expects of him.
If he refuses, he loses his fortune.
Then Arthur meets Naomi.
She's spontaneous, independent and entirely outside the carefully arranged world his family has created.
For perhaps the first time in his life, Arthur finds something he genuinely wants that money may prevent him from having.
ARTHUR
Money Has Protected Him from Growing Up
Arthur's fortune isn't the only thing that gives him his lifestyle.
It's what prevents ordinary consequences from reaching him.
Bad decisions can be paid for.
Embarrassment disappears behind another extravagant distraction.
And somebody else is always available to clean up afterwards.
Losing the money therefore threatens more than Arthur's comfort.
It threatens the entire structure he's used to, which lets him avoid becoming responsible for himself.
HOBSON
The One Person Who Doesn't Need Arthur's Money
Hobson has spent Arthur's life looking after him.
That gives her a position almost nobody else around him has.
She can tell him he's behaving like an idiot.
Arthur's wealth doesn't impress her.
His status doesn't frighten her.
And beneath the jokes sits a relationship closer to family than employment.
Arthur's eventual growth depends partly on understanding that being cared for isn't the same thing as being protected from every consequence.
THE CHOICE
Losing His Fortune Might Be the First Decision Arthur Ever Makes for Himself
Arthur's family presents his future as though there is only one sensible option.
Marry Susan.
Keep the money.
Continue living comfortably.
From their perspective, choosing Naomi is absurd.
But Arthur has spent his whole life surrounded by things that were chosen for him.
The marriage forces him to decide whether comfort is still enough.
For somebody who can buy almost anything, choosing the possibility of losing everything may be the first genuinely valuable thing he ever does.