Directed by Noah Baumbach and starring co-writer Greta Gerwig as the title character, Frances Ha hit home video in November 2013, and it’s a movie that manages to be timely, timeless, awkwardly painful, real-life funny, and entertaining all at once.
Twenty-seven-year-old Frances is a dancer whose life as a perpetual understudy is balanced by her close friendship with long-time roommate Sophie. That is, until the day Sophie informs Frances she is moving to a nicer (read: more expensive) apartment in a different part of New York. This – on top of all the other parts of Frances’ life that aren’t quite as she wishes them to be – throws Frances into a matter-of-fact tailspin, and she’s the only one who can ultimately decide what to make of it.
Frances is just enough out of step with those around her that she’s starting to feel it, although it’s probably been noticeable to friends and acquaintances for quite some time. This isn’t the first on-screen depiction of the continental drift that occurs in many relationships – with friends, romantic partners, and one’s perception of oneself – but few productions allow it to unfold so naturally, so realistically and without superimposing value judgments about its cast of characters or their actions.
This film gets many contradictory nuances of female interactions and reactions right: The side effects of assuming a self-deprecating demeanor as a shield. The deeply buried and non-overt competitiveness that can tinge one’s actions even with (or especially with) best friends. And how difficult it can be to counter subtle verbal and non-verbal messages, assumptions and judgments lobbed by those with whom we are theoretically closest.
All that said, it does Frances Ha a disservice to zero in and describe it as strictly a portrayal of one twenty-something woman’s feelings of being adrift in life because those feelings aren’t exclusive to that age group or “just” women. (Yes, the quotation marks are sarcastic. Half of the population, folks!) I also understand critics likening it to the HBO series Girls, but the main thing this comparison underscores to me is how few films and television series make a genuine attempt to depict the reality of the journeys women make – steps forward (and backward) – each day.
More: Official site, Criterion Collection page
Availability: Blu-ray/DVD Combo, Digital Download & Streaming, Subscription Streaming