Review – Frances Ha

Frances Handley is settled in her life. She lives in a New York with her best friend, works in a dancing troupe, and is in a relationship that’s starting to get serious. But gradually, by turns, her life becomes more and more unstuck, and she must decide just what to do with her future. Mostly, this is a film about things not happening: characters not hooking up, couples not getting married, spontaneity fizzling out in futility, plans ending in dissolution. It’s a deliberately unambitious film, and therein lies its charm.

Greta Gerwig and Buster Keaton.

Greta Gerwig is endlessly watchable as Frances; she brings comedic tragedy to every scene with her frowns of bemusement and disappointment. With the black-and-white treatment, she put me in mind of the great comic actors of early cinema. She is, in this film, a modern interpretations of the melancholic clown, and the film gets as much of its punch from her physical comedy as it does from the flatly ironic lines. (Of which there are many: when Frances can’t pay for dinner, for example, she apologises and explains, “I’m not a person yet.”) I was also interested to see Adam Driver outside of Girls, considering he gives one of the most challenging performances in that show. Alas, he gets little to do with the screen time he’s given, and is not particularly memorable. Like the rest of the cast, his performance isn’t flat – it’s merely strong.

In the screener there was a reviewer having a bit of a dance in the aisle while the credits were playing. Which was nice to see, because for all the serious “life stuff” this film is ultimately a lot of fun. Frances Ha is a solid outing for Noah Baumbach as director, and a great film to catch up with whether you’re out with friends, on a date, or just wanting to spend some time with a cast of strong characters.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9YKHRQkf7k&w=400]