It doesn't try too hard for a gift-wrapped ending, but instead makes things look sort of like what most people's lives really are like- full of uncertainty and inconclusiveness. I didn't always take to the protagonist, but at the same time I found her too real to dismiss. Finally, the soundtrack is great. Baumbach's down-to-earth style of filmmaking is not for everyone but I've enjoyed everything I've seen from him so far.
shareThere is a little Frances Ha in all of us. We are all Frances.
Not really...if I were living in very expensive NYC (and I used to live there) I would not turn down a steady, decent-paying job to be a moocher like Frances.
shareWere you a dancer?
Seriously, the film is about someone who makes bad decisions: the audience is set up to feel superior to Frances. Even a clod would feel superior, not just an erudite moviegoer like yourself.
So 'quel surprise' that the practical, successful serious publishing job roommate cohort winds up quitting her career and going off to Japan with someone she has learned to tolerate and is deeply, deeply unhappy with, living in a place she hates.
The movie is about very bad decision making, but some decisions are not life-chagning. Frances is a goof, but she is being true to herself, and finally makes peace with taking the admin job in order to get studio time.
A sort of happy ending, plus she gets that moment looking across the room at her person. A small but important gift.
I dunno... maybe it's just me but I found her friend coming back hating her life abroad and Frances sorting things out for herself to some extent a bit too convenient. I found the tidy ending to break a little from what I perceived to be one of the themes of a person standing still while the world moves forward around them. I'd have preferred the full on indie realism fest myself... like Wendy & Lucy, though not necessarily that depressing.
share[deleted]
Dream job? Doing admin is not a dream job for a dancer.
Yes, she was transparent, but at the same time at the dinner party she really had something important to say, and the hostess finally realized it.
Not everyone was moving away from her; certainly not Benjy. In the case of Sophie, she realized it was a mistake, of course, since they clearly had something intensely special to begin with. Your 'all too eager' doesn't make sense, or perhaps you've never parted ways with an intimate friend before.
I agree. It's very telling that they offered her their apt. in Paris rent free. They don't look like the type to just offer their digs to just anybody. And for all her not being responsible, she didn't trash the apt., burn down the place or throw wild parties or such. She's quirky, odd but not totally despicable. Frances is hard to categorize. I liked this movie. It comes across as very French to me. And I like French movies. Eric Rohmer being my favorite.
sharei found it to have an amelie poulain vibe to it and i don't think its a happy ending but more a realistic one , finding compromise between your quirky self and real life responsibilities , she took the job because that was the responsible thing to do and it allowed her to still do what she truly love which is dancing in some form !
i feel when you have a friendship like she and sophie have there are ups and downs , moments you're not as close or intimate as before but the foundation is so deep , so concrete that you find yourself gravitating back to that person , i guess as life goes on its harder to have that kind of intimacy with someone so its easy to know there's this person who knows you and has seen you puke or pee in the metro and still loves you
"Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments..." sonnet 116