Frances Ha

2013
7.4| 1h26m| R| en
Details

An aspiring dancer moves to New York City and becomes caught up in a whirlwind of flighty fair-weather friends, diminishing fortunes and career setbacks.

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Reviews

SunnyHello Nice effects though.
StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.
Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.
Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful
rogerdarlington The odd title of this quirky comedic film is only explained in the final shot and seems to sum up the lovable eccentricity of the central character, 27 year old Frances who is trying to find her feet (sorry) as a dancer in New York City when she cannot even find a secure place to stay or a loving partner to share her life. The eponymous role is taken by the wonderful Greta Gerwig who gives such a naturalistic performance in a movie in which she is rarely off screen. Director Noah Baumbach and Gerwig co- wrote the script, renewing a partnership of three years earlier for the work "Greenberg".
ensormann Frances Ha seems to beg for love and forgiveness by literally stealing much of George Delerue's music from the wonderful "King of Hearts" (Alan Bates, Genevieve Bujold). It worked in King of Hearts. The music was written well and exactly for THAT movie, but it is casting pearls before swine to have swiped the exact same music and used it for the silly and sophomoric Frances Ha.This is a real problem with movies that have little to offer by themselves. The most desperate of producers and directors have their favorite all-time films to fall back upon, and and when their own abilities fail, many of them feel the need to quote their masters, often without crediting them. For this unfortunate film, it was Le Roi de Coeur.THe music from Le Roi de Coeur is not yet in public domain. If Frances Ha had had wider acceptance, there would have been a lawsuit. Stealing material without credit is plagiarism plain and simple, whether the old fits in the new guise or not--to my mind, Delerue's music is slandered here. Bah. A terrible movie with stolen music. Not much of a recommendation from me, I'm afraid.RM
Beto Ramona This beautiful mumblecore is the typical story of growth and denial. The film tells Frances' story. An aspiring dancer in her late twenties, who looks for her path to maturity in the New York jungle.The film was shot in black/white, perhaps as an attempt to recreate La Nouvelle Vague, so we cannot talk about cromatism itself, but it actually has some nice planes, as the very first one, who irradiates the beauty of youth. However, the core and climax of the story can be traced on the quote said by Frances, having lunch with her new roommate and friends: "Sometimes it's good to do what you're supposed to do, when you're supposed to do it." This phrase is true. She was right, but she didn't understand it then. In most part of the movie she's trying to avoid that sentence. She cannot understand that she needs to take some responsibility, to start building her life brick by brick. She represents everything young adults are today. They want everything right now and with less effort. But they're in a boggy path too, they're fragile and still naive. They're crossing the street between childhood and maturity, as she did in one of those iconic planes in the film. And that's not a easy job, to be honest.In addition, the quote shows that she was struggling with herself, when she could just let things happen and 'go with the flow'. "I'm not a real person yet", she confessed. She was confused and a little sad because all of her friends and acquaintances were kind of fine, stable and, probably, with a well-known future, while she was fighting just to keep a stable place to live. This happen to all of us sometime. Not in the same way, but the same topic. There are moments when you feel that everyone is doing it better than you so you get a little mad with yourself. I think Baumbach was trying to show how things will be alright if you just do what you're supposed to do, when you have to, albeit, it's important to point out this is not always true. To finish, I'd say it's not about being conformist, but realistic. When she understood that, she was happy.Well done, Noah. A simple film with a simple story well developed, integrally. The photography is okay, the script is fine (nothing pretentious), and the acting is fresh and natural, kind of "no-totally-actors", but I enjoy it, somehow, so... 7,5/10.
Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) I am probably going to watch Noah Baumbach's newest "While We're Young" tomorrow, so why not give one of his other films a watch as an appetizer. I watched "Frances Ha" in theater shortly after it came out pretty much exactly 2 years ago and I remember really enjoying it. None of this is lost on rewatch. I have a soft spot for modern black-and-white movies and this one is no difference. I felt there was something truly raw and authentic about everything in here, especially the characters' interactions and dialogs. Apart from that, there is some great music in here, especially the David Bowie song, but also "Everyone's a Winner". Lead actress Greta Gerwig scored a Golden Globe nomination for her portrayal here and it was very deserved I must say, especially as she also came up with the excellent script. I don't want to quote many parts of this film that I found particularly successful, but I have to mention Frances' monologue at the dinner party which was just an amazing piece of acting and storytelling and, of course, the reference to that in the last scene of the movie is also spot-on.It is probably not my number 1 favorite film from 2012, but it's possibly the one film from that year that succeeds the most at combining drama and comedy. There are not that many dramatic moments, but her general life struggles and also crumbling relationships certainly deliver. And this is also a truly hilarious film. Frances is such a goofy, likable, relatable character that it's a complete joy to watch her, for example when she sleeps all the time when she is in France. The restaurant scene was excellent with her running off to get some money to pay. Or the quotes are sometimes hilarious too, for example about a certain French writer being "heavy". It's all very smart, yet never full of itself. It was such a joy to watch Frances have a great night at one point when her new friends ask her to dance and she dances all the way home as well. I would almost want to call this film a must-see, especially for filmmakers who want to come up with a quality comedy film. These 80 minutes (very short film, never drags for a second) were a wonderful experience and I truly hope that Baumbach and Gerwig can repeat this achievement as often as possible. Highly recommended.