MovieChat Forums > Frances Ha (2013) Discussion > After seeing this, anyone else GLAD they...

After seeing this, anyone else GLAD they are no longer in their 20s...?

posted 12 years ago by shempXIV
15 replies | jump to latest

While "F. Ha" was/is a well-made movie, most of the characters -- ESPECIALLY Frances -- were uncomfortable reminders of the artsy-fartsy-spooky-kooky types I knew while I was in my 20s. She seemed sweet but a major FLAKE that talked LOTS but said actually very little. Maturity-wise, she was 27 going on 17. And her friends weren't much better. [SPOILER ALERT] And the way she gets her **** together at the end was a little too good to believe.

Also, BANK MACHINES are EASY to locate in the NYC area -- nearly every corner store has one!

Finally, I've known a "Frances" or 3 in my time -- while they seemed "sweet" they were generally self-absorbed and/or irresponsible people.

[–] gentelg 12 years ago

As someone who basically lived this kind of life from my graduation from Ohio State until I was about 28 (When I got a job in production.) this is quite spot on. The thing that I do like about having lived a easy come easy go life throughout my 20's is that I feel as if I had enjoyed my carefree life and having a few years of no real responsibility except having enough money for rent was good for me. Unlike people who right away after college got married and got a mortgage and had kids and a grown up job who always seem to go through some midlife crisis I don't think that will happen to me. As far as I am concerned I got it out of my system.

Also I lived in Columbus not New York.( I am in Chicago now.) However being a college city it does have a good amount of bohemian hipster types.

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[–] sjr1991 12 years ago

Seeing this movie made me wonder whether that would have been me if I hadn't gotten married at 22. (Probably I would have been Sophie rather than Frances, though -- I couldn't stand being dependent on anyone.) But even though I was married, my husband and I continued our bohemian ways until we were 30. And it was a lot easier back in our day, when our rent was $75/month on the Upper West Side, not $4,000/mo. in Chinatown, either one of our weekly salaries could pay the rent, and the subway was only 15 cents.

[–] oneseat 12 years ago

I was glad I was no longer in my 20s when I was 30! The 20s are an anxious time for people with dreams but without resources. I was in my 20s in the 1980s. Now I have kids who are in their 20s. In the 80s, there was more to go around for everyone: college was more affordable, there were more jobs, and the US government was semi-functional. There was some wiggle room if you made bad decisions and weren't yet decided about the road you wanted to take. The options for my kids, who, like Frances, are educated and grew up in a middle-class family, seem much more limited. It is much harder to make it in the field/profession you love unless you are an engineer or software developer.

Frances Ha shows [SPOILERS] someone starting to overcome these obstacles, whereas Girls shows people being stymied by an economic environment unfriendly to the young.

[–] iMDBhereIcome 12 years ago

Well, I'm 22 and graduating from an all too expensive private school in December. Although I haven't seen the film yet, I'm pretty sure my 20s are going to be like Frances'. I'm going to be a struggling artist: a passionate actor planning on living in NYC with probably at least two jobs. To be honest, I'm really looking forward to the struggle. There's something about not being sure of my future, having little money, but being in the city and enjoying what I do have that gives me chills now when I think about it. Although my 20s may be hard I feel like it's going to be the most exciting and beneficial years of my life.

[–] SnowBoy81 12 years ago

Not "GLAD" to be out of my 20's. I'm not qualified to comment on the movie as a whole, but think it did a nice job of bringing back memories of a lot of quirky, dumb, daydream-y things a lot of us did in our youth (and a few years beyond). I'm GLAD someone made Frances Ha.

[–] shempXIV 12 years ago

I was friends with a real-life Frances Ha and she moved to NYC to live with a friend...and like Frances in the movie, getting a job and paying her bills was not a big "priority" -- she was too busy worrying about her "artistic aspirations," y'see. [She carried a sketchbook everywhere she went.] So after her friend had enough of being taken advantage of, my Frances Ha ended up on the street and then in a shelter for homeless women in NYC. IMAGINE life in such a shelter. When my Frances moved back home, she was CONVINCED that the US government had satellites orbiting the earth emitting "radiation" that was driving homeless people insane. [I'm not making this up.]

I've known a few other F. Has in my 20s and they often took advantage of people and/or were financially dependent on their "families" [whom they frequently disliked or hated] while they pursued their "art." They were often self-absorbed and unreliable.

I still like being around creative people...as long as they are not immature flakes that act like earning a living is beneath them or if they've a sense of "entitlement" because of their creativity. (See also the movie "Rent" for characters like this.)

[–] WWFStern 12 years ago

Having seen this movie, I'm grateful that I was never a Frances Ha, never knew any such people and have no personal memories that reflect living this kind of lifestyle. The movie was well done and entertaining, but Frances was flaky, flighty and zany, none of which I would consider an endearing or positive characteristic.

If I saw somebody running around on the street like her, looking for an ATM in oh-so-quirky and zany a way, I'd just sigh and shake my head.

[–] shempXIV 12 years ago

re: If I saw somebody running around on the street like her, looking for an ATM in oh-so-quirky and zany a way...

I used to live in NYC -- ATMs are EVERYWHERE. That scene was just an excuse to have her run-around and fall down because, as everyone that sees many movies knows, pretty people falling down is supposed to be funny.

[–] WWFStern 12 years ago

Emphasis on "SUPPOSED to be." It just made me annoyed with her five minutes into the screening.

[–] hermione47 12 years ago

No, and by the way growing up is overrated. It's another illusion of humankind, this sense that we become responsible adults, when all we are doing is slowly approach death (and sometimes not even slowly).
Becoming a grown up, making choices, being masters of our own lives is such a stupid illusion it makes me laugh every time I read such platitudes.
Life is but episodes, a narrative without any sense.
We try to give it meaning to feel better, but it doesn't have any.
So, actually, 20 is a good age to be as you are entitled to believe everything is pointless, instead of having to pretend all the time.

[–] activista 11 years ago

@hermoine47

You're depressed,aren't you? Go take your meds,and you'll feel much better.

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