FRANCES HA: The Story of Us
We’re all a little bit like Frances aren’t we.
We’re given a portrait of independent, messy, emphatically believable womanhood that celebrates friendship and self-ownership in a way that would come to define Greta Gerwig’s own directorial debut Lady Bird and its follow up Little Women.
Frances Halladay is inexplicably loud and unexpectedly quiet, quirky and charming, comically unaware of herself. We look into the life of someone who isn’t quite sure of who they want to be or what they want to do. This film is a coming-of-age in disguise, as 27-year-old “undateable” Frances struggles to grow up as the world grows up without her.
She sidesteps romantic advances and clings dearly on to her best friends for support, and is at heart (as we all are if we’re honest) a hopeless romantic, not in love with the idea of love but with the idea of loving life and having a life filled with love in its many myriad manifestations.
I keep thinking about how we can define our lives through other people. A best friend can be our defining characteristic, or the people we live with become indicative of who we are or what stage of life we find ourselves in. Frances, at first, defines herself as Sophie’s best friend, and hopes that Sophie does the same. It’s why she talks about her all the time to other people, it’s why she says that they are one and the same.
Sometimes all it takes is a minor event to significantly alter the course of a friendship; a friendship that was central to our being. Hopefully, we’re able to adapt or find a new normal, and if not, we’ll have the memories of a friendship that felt invincible at a certain point in time.
I’m so embarrassed. I’m not a real person yet.
Simplicity can really do a lot for a film. Frances Ha is a reflection of reality: friendships, relationships, loneliness, obsessiveness, dreams, careers, and identity. Honestly, it’s terrifying, as it captures that isolated and daunting feeling of everything slowly falling apart. It’s trying to tap into some kind of revelation or school of thought that is either unattainable or non-existent. I believe that is how Frances feels too.
By following Frances’ journey for a few months of her life, we witness a woman in a constant state of becoming as she realizes there is no great end-point for who she will become. She enjoys her moments of freedom, lives carefree, because she is always evolving and always on her way to become the next best version of her inimitable self. Her story does not start and end with some identity crisis and resolution. It’s rather about someone a little more representative of the everywoman and everyman, someone whose own name is a work in progress. Her name may be Frances Halladay, but she is more of a Frances Ha. And we rightfully should salute that.
Frances Ha is a movie that can either resonate fully with someone or seem completely dull to someone else, and I believe that’s the beauty of what Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig have created (power couple).
I fear feeling lost and miserable post graduation. I’m sure we all do. But this film gives me a little reassurance that everything will be okay if my future endeavors don’t turn out the way I want them to. So if you can resonate with these feelings and have not seen Frances Ha yet, please do. As always, I would love to discuss with you your thoughts or any feedback in regards to this film, or life in general, as I seem to be developing a recurring theme in these entries.
Thanks for reading and I guess I’ll see you in the movies.
Stay Connected:
Letterboxd: 4 1/2 adam driver’s fedoras out of 5
