Frances Ha (2012)

“I don’t know if I believe anything I’m saying.”

            I am not even sure why I wanted to see Frances Ha. No, I lied I do know why I saw it was released through the Criterion collection and Criterion is known for putting out good artistic movies. Also, a movie blog that I follow said Frances Ha was good. I figured I would give the movie a shot since I need to watch more modern movies.

            The story of the movie is really a mix of scenes from the life of a single woman named Frances (Greta Gerwig). Frances is a dancer who lives in New York City. At the beginning she lives with her best friend Sophie in Brooklyn. One day Sophie tells Frances that she has the opportunity to move to Tribeca where she really wants to live. After this Frances moves all over the place and tries to figure out what she wants with her life.

            I am not going to go into too much detail because, one, it is a new movie so there is information for it all over the place and, two, the movie is supposed to take place over a year or so and to explain everything that happens I would make it sound terrible and schizophrenic.

            Frances as a character was interesting. I liked her because I can relate to her in certain ways. She is a student of the arts like me and finding a steady well paying job in the arts is never easy or good enough. She is just a normal young woman trying to find her way and live her life. Her relationship with her friend Sophie is one I think we have all had. It was a relationship that was really close for a long time and then it just floated away and they talked very little. The only way Frances found out anything about Sophie sometimes was through other people.

            I do like how the story and the characters are realistic. These are people you have met in your life or personally know. One of the characters could ever be you. Nothing about this movie was glamorized it was real life. How many times in your life have you felt stuck or had a flakey friend?

            Noah Baumbach’s direction I enjoyed immensely. I love the fact that it is in black and white. I think the color and cinematography add to the reality and force the viewers to just focus on the story and the character in front of you and not her surroundings.

            I am not sure how I feel about Frances Ha. I did not hate it but I did not particularly like it. I can see how some reviewers have called it endearing and how Frances is amusing but I was not impressed. As I said I like the realistic-ness of it I liked that the character was eccentric and not typical but there was something with the story that I was not thrilled with. Maybe it was the fact that Frances was too free spirited and impulsive and did not want to grow up. Hell, it could even be the fact that we are both the same age and she is living in New York City and is just squandering the possibilities in front of her and I am just a jealous bitch. Who the hell knows what I feel about France Ha. I will say if you do get the chance to watch Frances Ha do watch it by all means. It is very original which is refreshing when so many movies today have neat and tidy happy romantic endings that are not real life.